Bloody Red China

Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China, is wrapping up his visit to the U.S. Along the way, he has been met by various protesters, including a woman who disrupted a Washington press conference by calling on the Communist leader to end persecution of the Falun Gong. Though the Falun Gong is a semi-religious movement drawing on Buddhism and Taoism, the government opposition to the movement is similar to their harsh treatment of Chinese Christians.

In Communist China, human rights abuses against Christians are widespread. Though the State allows registered churches to exist without harrassment, these institutions are primarily little more than puppet churches, publicly supporting the Communist party. Those Christians who wish to worship conscientiously, without the approval and strict oversight of the State, have formed what have come to be known as "house churches". Though official numbers are not obtainable, some demographers believe there are upwards of 80 million house church Christians.

The State has been ruthless in their persecution of house church Christians. Christians and church leaders are routinely taken into custody by the police, and subsequently subjected to hours,days, or weeks of interrogations. These interrogations make frequent use of violence in the form of beatings and physical and mental torture, occasionally resulting in death. Humiliation and sexual harrassment of detainees is not uncommon. The Christian watch group Voice of the Martyrs has reported over 1300 arrests for 2005 alone. The U.S. State Department has declared China to be one of the "most systematic" violators of human rights in the world today.

Coptic Trials

Alexandria, Egypt. Police are detaining about 100 individuals in the aftermath of three-day sectarian violence that began last Friday when a knife-wielding man attacked worshippers at a local Coptic Church, killing one individual. In the rioting that ensued, many were injured, and one Muslim man was killed. Although the original instigator of the attacks has been labled "mentally unstable", the violence brings to the surface some idea of the perils of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority. The Coptic Church, which accounts for an estimated 10% of the population, has been in Egypt for over 1800 years, surviving the Muslim conquest of North Africa in the seventh century. In ages past, the church was able to live in relative (albeit servile) peace under the various Islamic rulers of Egypt. However, in recent decades, the rise of a more militant, radical Islam has had dire consequences for the Copts. Egypt's President Mubarak stated today,"Egyptian people don't ditinguish between Muslims and Copts". This is simply not true. Constitutionally, Muslims are given preferential treatment under the law. Copts are discriminated against politically and in employment. Church buildings can not be built or even repaired without the approval of local authorities. In addition, the Coptic community is being increasingly subject to physical harassment, to which the police often turn a blind eye. The Egyptian governtment has good reason to want to present a facade of freedom and tolerance; historically and currently, Egypt is regarded as the scholastic capital of the Islamic world, setting the standard for what the rest of the world views as the ideology of Islam. In addition to this, Egypt is the second largest recipient of U.S. aid in the world.

An Introduction

This is a blog dedicated primarily to raising awareness about the state of the Church in regions around the world where religious persecution is a daily reality. Other topics for discussion, regarding various religious and theological issues, may be periodically posted. However, the main purpose here is as stated: to publish a true account of the thousands of Christians who are today subject to horrendous human rights abuses, yet receive precious little attention in the Western media. In the twentieth century, more Christians were killed, expressly because of their faith, than in all the past nineteen centuries combined. At this moment there are people in prison for the sole crime of being a Christian.