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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rolla Coasta who wrote (708)	1/21/2001 11:38:36 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23908

I like Christianity though. Then why has your government taken to burning Christian churches? foxnews.com Officials: China destroying hundreds of churches 7.30 a.m. ET (1245 GMT) December 13, 2000 By Joe Mcdonald, Associated Press SHANGHAI, China (AP) — China is demolishing hundreds of churches and temples as it cracks down on unauthorized worship in a southeastern coastal area known for its flourishing religious life, officials said Wednesday. The demolitions began at the start of December in rural areas around the port city of Wenzhou, said a spokesman for the city Foreign Affairs Office. "In rural areas, religious superstition is still very rampant,'' said the spokesman, who would give only his surname, Zhou. "The government's goal is to demolish those illegal buildings as well as correct those decadent rural lifestyles.'' A spokesman for the Wenzhou city propaganda department, Lu Tianlei, said as many as 450 buildings have been destroyed. Most were in the Ouhai district of Wenzhou and in nearby Yongjia and Yueqing counties, Lu said. A Hong Kong human rights group put the number of destroyed buildings much higher, at 1,200. The Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said the buildings, some more than a century old, were being dynamited. China's communist government, which recognizes only five religions, is in the midst of a crackdown on the Falun Gong meditation sect and other unauthorized religious activity. It accuses many illegal groups of defrauding or abusing followers. Nonetheless, a religious revival has swept China in recent years. Lively underground church movements service Catholics and Protestants, who refuse to worship under state control. Unorthodox groups influenced by Buddhism, Christianity and other faiths also have sprung up. Traditionally isolated from central government control by the sea and inland mountains, Wenzhou has a reputation as a spot where religion, private enterprise, smuggling and other unauthorized activities flourish. The area around Wenzhou has numerous small Christian churches built by European traders in the 18th and 19th centuries, though it wasn't clear whether they were targeted in the crackdown. Officials gave conflicting accounts of whether the demolitions were linked to the national crackdown. Zhou, the Foreign Affairs Office spokesman in Wenzhou, said they were a local initiative. "This could be a good example for other cities,'' he said ***************** hvk.org More than 1,200 churches have been destroyed in Zheijang alone this year, according to the Hong Kong-based Center for Human Rights and Democracy,