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#Post#: 7485--------------------------------------------------
Re: Current Events
By: patrick jane Date: August 10, 2019, 10:15 am
---------------------------------------------------------
EXPOSED: Media's Top 5 Mass Shooting Lies! | Louder With Crowder
Steven Crowder exposes the media's worst mass shooting lies in
the wake of the El Paso and Dayton shootings.
15 minutes
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#Post#: 7584--------------------------------------------------
Re: Current Events
By: patrick jane Date: August 20, 2019, 11:53 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLCiQdR6iLQ
#Post#: 7609--------------------------------------------------
Re: Current Events
By: guest8 Date: August 22, 2019, 9:33 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=patrick jane link=topic=546.msg7584#msg7584
date=1566363219]
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLCiQdR6iLQ
[/quote]
wow this format is way off.
Blade
#Post#: 8224--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hong Kong 2019
By: patrick jane Date: October 4, 2019, 9:02 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[img]
HTML https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/92275.jpg?w=700[/img]
HTML https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/september/prophetic-voice-of-hong-kongs-protesters.html
The Prophetic Voice of Hong Kong’s Protesters
The political forces in the region also pose an existential
threat to the church.
The people of Hong Kong have protested for greater freedoms for
years, but the latest demonstrations represent a historic
outcry.
Since 1997, July 1 has marked the anniversary of Hong Kong’s
return as a territory of China after 150 years of British
colonial rule. Beginning in 2003, it is also the date of annual
protests by Hong Kong residents calling for increased democracy.
These demonstrations have been generally peaceful—until this
summer, when a group of protesters stormed the Legislative
Council parliament building. They were angry at what they saw as
China’s most recent, and most egregious, effort to weaken the
freedoms of Hong Kongers.
In April, Carrie Lam, the chief executive of Hong Kong, had
introduced a bill that would allow Hong Kong to detain and
transfer people wanted in countries and territories with which
Hong Kong has no formal extradition agreement, including
mainland China and Taiwan. The bill, she argued, was necessary
to send a Hong Kong man wanted for murder to trial in Taiwan. It
specifically included exemptions for political crimes, religious
crimes, and certain white-collar crimes.
The Hong Kong public, though, saw the bill as a thinly veiled
ploy to give China additional power over the semi-autonomous
territory. The bill has kicked off nearly four months of
protests that have, at times, had as many as 1.7 million
participants—a remarkable number for a city of 7.4 million
people.
Even as the extradition bill was suspended by Lam, and then
withdrawn altogether, the protests against Chinese overreach
have continued, with turnout spiking leading up to another
anniversary: National Day. October 1 marks the 70th annual
commemoration of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Aside from the bill itself, four of the protesters’ five main
demands remain: Lam’s resignation, an inquiry into police
brutality, the release of those arrested, and greater democratic
freedoms.
Many Hong Kong Christians, while comprising less than 12 percent
of the population, have played a prominent role in the
protests—marching, singing hymns, holding prayer circles, and
providing food and shelter to other demonstrators. (The Jesus
People song “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord” became an unexpected
anthem of the protests, as participants sang the tune to calm
confrontations with police.)
For Christians there, the Chinese Communist Party may be the
greatest existential threat to the Hong Kong church. In the past
few years Chinese president Xi Jinping has systematically
cracked down on Christianity in the mainland, razing churches,
arresting leaders, and ejecting foreign missionaries. The
persecution has extended to other faiths, with Xi’s government
detaining as many as one million Muslim Uighur people in
re-education camps in the country’s western region.
Under the Hong Kong Basic Law, a constitution agreed to by the
United Kingdom and the People’s Republic of China when the
former handed Hong Kong back to the latter, none of these things
should happen in Hong Kong—at least not until 2047, when the
Basic Law and Hong Kong’s semi-autonomy expire.
But in the 22 years since Hong Kong became part of China again,
the Communist country has shown a willingness to push the
boundaries of that agreement. The Hong Kong legislature is
stacked with pro-Beijing lawmakers; the supposedly free press is
regularly censored. On multiple occasions, China has pushed for
history curriculum in Hong Kong schools that, among other
things, erases significant events like Mao Zedong’s disastrous
Great Leap Forward campaign and the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Electoral reforms proposed by Beijing, which gave the Chinese
Communist Party more influence over who was eligible to run for
office in Hong Kong, sparked the Umbrella Movement in 2014.
Even without an extradition agreement, China has already shown
its willingness to abduct and detain Hong Kong residents that
have angered Communist leaders. Most notably, five Hong Kong
booksellers who sold books critical of Chinese leaders
disappeared in 2015, claiming later that they had been
imprisoned on the mainland. In a country where as many as 99.9
percent of defendants are found guilty, the idea of justice is
questionable at best.
For Chinese Christians within the diaspora, the threat from the
mainland is no less real. Those born in the 1930s and 1940s grew
up as Mao Zedong and his staunchly atheist Communist Party came
to power. Many Chinese Christians who now live abroad fled after
the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, with Hong
Kong often being one of their first stops toward the freedom to
practice their faith.
Today Hong Kong remains the safest haven on the border of
mainland China for missionaries and ministries, where they go to
purchase supplies, attend trainings, post on social media, or
simply to escape the ever watchful Chinese authorities, known
for monitoring communications and the movements of foreigners.
Hong Kong often serves as the staging ground or headquarters for
missions efforts into the mainland. As China attempts to exert
greater control over Hong Kong, their work is even more at risk.
Of course, no protest movement is perfect in its motivations and
actions. Protesters in Hong Kong have been criticized for
shutting down the city’s bustling international airport on
multiple occasions, damaging government buildings, scuffling
with police, and harming the tourism industry.
But even flawed protest movements can provide a prophetic voice,
bringing to light the forces threatened by a people who are free
and empowered. The demonstrators’ persistent efforts have
highlighted police brutality; they have incurred the aggression
of the Triads, organized crime syndicates in Hong Kong.
Protest leaders, including Joshua Wong, a Christian activist who
rose to prominence during the 2014 protests, and anti-Beijing
lawmakers have been arrested. The Chinese military is amassing
security forces on the Hong Kong border as a stark warning to
the protesters about the possible consequences of their actions.
In recent years, the international community has been more
inclined to overlook China’s curbing of human and political
rights within the mainland and its territories, in hopes of
currying favor with the economic and military superpower. But
with these protests, it has become much harder to ignore the
fact that China ranks 135th on the Human Freedom Index.
Activists from Hong Kong have recently testified before the
United Nations Human Rights Council and the US Congress.
At this point, no one knows how the story unfolding in Hong Kong
will end. Some could even argue that their efforts are futile,
given that, in a short 28 years, Hong Kongers will have lost all
claim to their existing freedoms and political systems. The many
thriving churches and ministries in Hong Kong may be forced to
close their doors or go underground after 2047.
But, for now, they continue to raise their voices. They continue
to march. And the spotlight continues to shine into some of the
darkest corners of Chinese rule.
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#Post#: 8247--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hong Kong 2019
By: patrick jane Date: October 7, 2019, 3:11 am
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD9tunPHsOE
#Post#: 8858--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hong Kong 2019
By: patrick jane Date: November 19, 2019, 10:47 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[img]
HTML https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/113879.jpg?w=700[/img]
HTML https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/november/hong-kong-chinese-diaspora-churches-north-america-response.html
Praying for Hong Kong Can Be Politically Disruptive—Even in
America
Why Chinese diaspora churches remain silent while Christians in
Hong Kong take to the streets.
On the afternoon of Sunday, August 18, about 70 people gathered
for a prayer meeting at a church in Vancouver organized by the
group Vancouver Christians for Love, Peace, and Justice. Their
focus was the same as their three previous gatherings: to pray
for the ongoing demonstrations in Hong Kong, for those affected,
and for human rights and freedom in the city of 7.4 million
people.
Before the meeting ended, the Tenth Street church building was
surrounded by as many as 100 pro-China demonstrators waving
Chinese and Canadian flags. The attendees inside, according to a
spokesperson, feared for their safety and were escorted out by
Vancouver police officers.
This confrontation took place more than 6,300 miles from Hong
Kong and six months after Chief Executive Carrie Lam introduced
a controversial extradition bill that would allow fugitives to
be extradited into mainland China. The proposal was seen as a
ploy to grant Beijing more power over the city, setting off
large-scale demonstrations that have continued to this day.
While Lam canceled the extradition bill in September, unrest has
continued as protesters press for Lam’s resignation, an inquiry
into police brutality during the protests, the release of those
arrested, and greater democratic freedoms.
The situation in Hong Kong hits close to home for the 500,000
Hong Kong immigrants residing in Canada and the more than
200,000 in the US. Many still have relatives and friends in Hong
Kong, which is part of China but governed by separate laws.
Others have directly benefitted from the freedoms and
opportunities offered by the semi-autonomous region.
Pastor John D. L. Young grew up in Guangdong Province in
mainland China, and then spent about six years studying for his
doctoral degree in Hong Kong before immigrating to the US. “I
have great affection for Hong Kong. My studies in Hong Kong were
financially supported by churches there,” Young, who now leads
two Methodist Chinese churches in the New York metropolitan
area, said in a recent interview with CT. Speaking in Cantonese,
he explained, “The church in Hong Kong has given me a lot of
support and encouragement. They provide a lot of love and
financial support to the church in China also.”
But these deep ties to Hong Kong have not been enough for
Chinese churches in North America to take a public stance.
Meanwhile, Christians in Hong Kong have played an active role in
the protests: marching, offering food and shelter to
demonstrators, and attempting to diffuse tensions with the
police.
The Hong Kong Christian Council published a strongly worded
statement in July, calling for the suspension of the extradition
bill and an independent inquiry into police brutality. In
contrast, the Chinese church in North America—numbering more
than 1,000 institutions in the US alone—has been largely silent.
The choice not to publicly comment on the Hong Kong protests is
an intentional one, with Chinese Christian leaders fearing
repercussions from both their own congregants and external
supporters of Beijing.
According to Fenggang Yang, founding director of the Center on
Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University and author of
Chinese Christians in America, the majority of Chinese churches
in the diaspora have members who come from different regions of
East Asia. “In most congregations, you will find people from
Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, and southeast Asia,” Yang
told CT. “Ten years ago, mainland Chinese were still a minority
in many churches. Now many have a majority from the People’s
Republic of China.”
Different origins among ethnic Chinese immigrants can foster
different political views, with more Christians from China
supporting the policies of the Chinese government, and those
from elsewhere often more critical of the Chinese Communist
Party. Even among Chinese immigrants from the same place, views
on the situation in Hong Kong can diverge greatly depending on
age, personal politics, and tolerance for civil disobedience.
“When you have very nationalistic Chinese Christians and more
democratic Chinese Christians, it’s hard for them to have any
meaningful conversation,” said Yang. At his own home church in
Indiana, a longtime member from Taiwan offered a prayer for the
situation in Hong Kong, and another member from China
immediately filed a complaint with church leaders.
The simplest solution, then, among Chinese church leaders and
laypeople in the diaspora, is to remain avidly apolitical. There
is a hard-fought sense of unity within Chinese churches, which
gather immigrants of diverse backgrounds around shared culture
and ethnicity. But this unity can be easily disrupted by
discussions of controversial or complex political issues.
The current situation in Hong Kong is particularly fraught, as
it presses on uncomfortable questions of sovereignty,
nationalism, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, civic
responsibility, and personal loyalties.
“Just as Hong Kong Christians most want peace, those in the
diaspora also want peace in their churches and in Hong Kong,”
explains Justin Tse, a social and cultural geographer and the
lead editor of Theological Reflections on the Hong Kong Umbrella
Movement, which covers the 2014 protests considered a precursor
to today’s demonstrations.
As violence has escalated between Hong Kong protesters,
opponents of the demonstrations, and the police, leading to
several fatalities and serious injuries in recent weeks, prayers
for peace are not inconsequential. Prayers for peace are
certainly significant for the number of Hong Kong pastors who
are regularly serving as front-line peacemakers in the
demonstrations, trying to calm tensions and act as buffers in
confrontations between protesters and police
But Tse is concerned that broad statements or prayers about
peace have become a proxy for more substantive conversations.
“One of my longstanding concerns about the Chinese church is
that when stuff happens that is upsetting to people in general,
they don’t want to talk about it,” Tse explains. “Because they
don’t want to talk about it, they don’t want to learn about it.
But in not talking about it, they are talking about it.”
There’s a belief among many Chinese pastors that it’s simply not
their place. Chinese churches in North America have generally
stayed out of partisan debates, with the notable exception of
being vocal opponents of same-sex marriage.
Joseph Chun, a Hong Kong native who is now the senior pastor of
First Chinese Baptist Church in Los Angeles, said that he has
his own personal views of the demonstrations in Hong Kong. “But
I would not influence my people to have the same opinion I
have,” he told CT. “That is not my role, to press my opinion
upon my people that I am shepherding.” Instead, he focuses on
teaching them biblical principles, such as what is evil and good
and merciful, and lets them make up their own minds.
Several Chinese pastors in the US declined to be interviewed for
this article, citing similar reasons: They don’t want to speak
for their congregations; they don’t want to risk harming the
unity of their community; they don’t feel like they know enough;
or they haven’t discussed the Hong Kong protests at all with
their churches.
Kevin Xiyi Yao, a native of mainland China who is now an
associate professor of World Christianity and Asian Studies at
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, understands why Chinese
congregations in North America choose not to take sides on
controversial political issues. But, in this case, he believes
they’re missing an opportunity to address a fundamental
challenge that extends beyond current events and plagues Chinese
people as a whole: a strong prejudice against other Chinese
based on language, culture, and geographic origin.
In the current demonstrations, “I would say there is a lot of
rhetoric and mentality of parochialism and outright
discrimination,” he told CT in a recent interview. Among many
Hong Kong protesters, there is an overt bias against people from
mainland China. Many mainland Chinese, in turn, see Hong Kongers
as entitled troublemakers. Such prejudices are often brought
into Chinese churches in the diaspora—but they aren’t discussed.
Addressing such biases “could be painful in the short term, but
in the long term it’s good for the health of the church, to make
the church stronger. If you want to cover it over to maintain
the peace on the surface, then you end up with a weak church,”
said Yao. As an alternative, he recommends that church leaders
“talk about what reconciliation means. Let’s talk about issues
of social justice. What’s the Christian vision of a just and
peaceful society?”
For now, these kinds of conversations are rare among North
American Chinese churches. And while church leaders fear that
speaking out about Hong Kong or other hot button topics could
drive out members, silence could very well have the same effect.
Tse, for example, is part of a group of second-generation
Chinese Americans and Chinese Canadians who left the evangelical
church after its refusal to address the 2014 Umbrella Movement
in Hong Kong.
As the few churches and Chinese Christian leaders who have
spoken out have discovered, there are risks to being vocal. Tse
knows of several congregations that support the Hong Kong
protests, including his own Eastern Catholic congregation in the
suburbs of Vancouver, that have been visited by strangers who
photographed all the attendees and posted their images on social
media. Others, like Vancouver Christians for Love, Peace, and
Justice, have been harassed by pro-China demonstrators.
It’s also common for Chinese churches in the diaspora to be
connected to ministries and Christian leaders in Hong Kong and
China through giving, missions work, and denominational ties.
They fear that if they become known as outspoken pro-democracy
advocates, their partners could face harassment and oppression
by Chinese authorities.
And yet refusing to engage with current events, especially when
it concerns human rights and social justice, comes with its own
costs, according to Tenth Church senior pastor Ken Shigematsu.
“There’s a danger in being politically partisan, but there’s
also a danger in not speaking out prophetically and boldly on
the issues of our day,” he told CT. “And I would say that’s an
even greater danger.”
Despite the incident on one of his church’s five sites back in
August, Shigematsu continues to encourage prayer and dialogue
about the demonstrations in Hong Kong within his multiethnic
congregation. He hopes that more pastors will do the same.
“I would say that it’s important to be informed on the issues,
to be praying for wisdom and discernment. But when we see human
rights violated, intimidation and violence, I believe that it’s
important as pastors to speak out against those kinds of
injustices,” he said. “There sometimes is an overlap between
justice issues and political issues. When that happens, we’re
not going to shy away from the issue. We’ll sometimes wade into
controversy.”
#Post#: 8875--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hong Kong 2019
By: guest8 Date: November 19, 2019, 8:13 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=patrick jane link=topic=546.msg8858#msg8858
date=1574182039]
[img]
HTML https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/113879.jpg?w=700[/img]
HTML https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/november/hong-kong-chinese-diaspora-churches-north-america-response.html
Praying for Hong Kong Can Be Politically Disruptive—Even in
America
Why Chinese diaspora churches remain silent while Christians in
Hong Kong take to the streets.
On the afternoon of Sunday, August 18, about 70 people gathered
for a prayer meeting at a church in Vancouver organized by the
group Vancouver Christians for Love, Peace, and Justice. Their
focus was the same as their three previous gatherings: to pray
for the ongoing demonstrations in Hong Kong, for those affected,
and for human rights and freedom in the city of 7.4 million
people.
Before the meeting ended, the Tenth Street church building was
surrounded by as many as 100 pro-China demonstrators waving
Chinese and Canadian flags. The attendees inside, according to a
spokesperson, feared for their safety and were escorted out by
Vancouver police officers.
This confrontation took place more than 6,300 miles from Hong
Kong and six months after Chief Executive Carrie Lam introduced
a controversial extradition bill that would allow fugitives to
be extradited into mainland China. The proposal was seen as a
ploy to grant Beijing more power over the city, setting off
large-scale demonstrations that have continued to this day.
While Lam canceled the extradition bill in September, unrest has
continued as protesters press for Lam’s resignation, an inquiry
into police brutality during the protests, the release of those
arrested, and greater democratic freedoms.
The situation in Hong Kong hits close to home for the 500,000
Hong Kong immigrants residing in Canada and the more than
200,000 in the US. Many still have relatives and friends in Hong
Kong, which is part of China but governed by separate laws.
Others have directly benefitted from the freedoms and
opportunities offered by the semi-autonomous region.
Pastor John D. L. Young grew up in Guangdong Province in
mainland China, and then spent about six years studying for his
doctoral degree in Hong Kong before immigrating to the US. “I
have great affection for Hong Kong. My studies in Hong Kong were
financially supported by churches there,” Young, who now leads
two Methodist Chinese churches in the New York metropolitan
area, said in a recent interview with CT. Speaking in Cantonese,
he explained, “The church in Hong Kong has given me a lot of
support and encouragement. They provide a lot of love and
financial support to the church in China also.”
But these deep ties to Hong Kong have not been enough for
Chinese churches in North America to take a public stance.
Meanwhile, Christians in Hong Kong have played an active role in
the protests: marching, offering food and shelter to
demonstrators, and attempting to diffuse tensions with the
police.
The Hong Kong Christian Council published a strongly worded
statement in July, calling for the suspension of the extradition
bill and an independent inquiry into police brutality. In
contrast, the Chinese church in North America—numbering more
than 1,000 institutions in the US alone—has been largely silent.
The choice not to publicly comment on the Hong Kong protests is
an intentional one, with Chinese Christian leaders fearing
repercussions from both their own congregants and external
supporters of Beijing.
According to Fenggang Yang, founding director of the Center on
Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University and author of
Chinese Christians in America, the majority of Chinese churches
in the diaspora have members who come from different regions of
East Asia. “In most congregations, you will find people from
Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, and southeast Asia,” Yang
told CT. “Ten years ago, mainland Chinese were still a minority
in many churches. Now many have a majority from the People’s
Republic of China.”
Different origins among ethnic Chinese immigrants can foster
different political views, with more Christians from China
supporting the policies of the Chinese government, and those
from elsewhere often more critical of the Chinese Communist
Party. Even among Chinese immigrants from the same place, views
on the situation in Hong Kong can diverge greatly depending on
age, personal politics, and tolerance for civil disobedience.
“When you have very nationalistic Chinese Christians and more
democratic Chinese Christians, it’s hard for them to have any
meaningful conversation,” said Yang. At his own home church in
Indiana, a longtime member from Taiwan offered a prayer for the
situation in Hong Kong, and another member from China
immediately filed a complaint with church leaders.
The simplest solution, then, among Chinese church leaders and
laypeople in the diaspora, is to remain avidly apolitical. There
is a hard-fought sense of unity within Chinese churches, which
gather immigrants of diverse backgrounds around shared culture
and ethnicity. But this unity can be easily disrupted by
discussions of controversial or complex political issues.
The current situation in Hong Kong is particularly fraught, as
it presses on uncomfortable questions of sovereignty,
nationalism, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, civic
responsibility, and personal loyalties.
“Just as Hong Kong Christians most want peace, those in the
diaspora also want peace in their churches and in Hong Kong,”
explains Justin Tse, a social and cultural geographer and the
lead editor of Theological Reflections on the Hong Kong Umbrella
Movement, which covers the 2014 protests considered a precursor
to today’s demonstrations.
As violence has escalated between Hong Kong protesters,
opponents of the demonstrations, and the police, leading to
several fatalities and serious injuries in recent weeks, prayers
for peace are not inconsequential. Prayers for peace are
certainly significant for the number of Hong Kong pastors who
are regularly serving as front-line peacemakers in the
demonstrations, trying to calm tensions and act as buffers in
confrontations between protesters and police
But Tse is concerned that broad statements or prayers about
peace have become a proxy for more substantive conversations.
“One of my longstanding concerns about the Chinese church is
that when stuff happens that is upsetting to people in general,
they don’t want to talk about it,” Tse explains. “Because they
don’t want to talk about it, they don’t want to learn about it.
But in not talking about it, they are talking about it.”
There’s a belief among many Chinese pastors that it’s simply not
their place. Chinese churches in North America have generally
stayed out of partisan debates, with the notable exception of
being vocal opponents of same-sex marriage.
Joseph Chun, a Hong Kong native who is now the senior pastor of
First Chinese Baptist Church in Los Angeles, said that he has
his own personal views of the demonstrations in Hong Kong. “But
I would not influence my people to have the same opinion I
have,” he told CT. “That is not my role, to press my opinion
upon my people that I am shepherding.” Instead, he focuses on
teaching them biblical principles, such as what is evil and good
and merciful, and lets them make up their own minds.
Several Chinese pastors in the US declined to be interviewed for
this article, citing similar reasons: They don’t want to speak
for their congregations; they don’t want to risk harming the
unity of their community; they don’t feel like they know enough;
or they haven’t discussed the Hong Kong protests at all with
their churches.
Kevin Xiyi Yao, a native of mainland China who is now an
associate professor of World Christianity and Asian Studies at
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, understands why Chinese
congregations in North America choose not to take sides on
controversial political issues. But, in this case, he believes
they’re missing an opportunity to address a fundamental
challenge that extends beyond current events and plagues Chinese
people as a whole: a strong prejudice against other Chinese
based on language, culture, and geographic origin.
In the current demonstrations, “I would say there is a lot of
rhetoric and mentality of parochialism and outright
discrimination,” he told CT in a recent interview. Among many
Hong Kong protesters, there is an overt bias against people from
mainland China. Many mainland Chinese, in turn, see Hong Kongers
as entitled troublemakers. Such prejudices are often brought
into Chinese churches in the diaspora—but they aren’t discussed.
Addressing such biases “could be painful in the short term, but
in the long term it’s good for the health of the church, to make
the church stronger. If you want to cover it over to maintain
the peace on the surface, then you end up with a weak church,”
said Yao. As an alternative, he recommends that church leaders
“talk about what reconciliation means. Let’s talk about issues
of social justice. What’s the Christian vision of a just and
peaceful society?”
For now, these kinds of conversations are rare among North
American Chinese churches. And while church leaders fear that
speaking out about Hong Kong or other hot button topics could
drive out members, silence could very well have the same effect.
Tse, for example, is part of a group of second-generation
Chinese Americans and Chinese Canadians who left the evangelical
church after its refusal to address the 2014 Umbrella Movement
in Hong Kong.
As the few churches and Chinese Christian leaders who have
spoken out have discovered, there are risks to being vocal. Tse
knows of several congregations that support the Hong Kong
protests, including his own Eastern Catholic congregation in the
suburbs of Vancouver, that have been visited by strangers who
photographed all the attendees and posted their images on social
media. Others, like Vancouver Christians for Love, Peace, and
Justice, have been harassed by pro-China demonstrators.
It’s also common for Chinese churches in the diaspora to be
connected to ministries and Christian leaders in Hong Kong and
China through giving, missions work, and denominational ties.
They fear that if they become known as outspoken pro-democracy
advocates, their partners could face harassment and oppression
by Chinese authorities.
And yet refusing to engage with current events, especially when
it concerns human rights and social justice, comes with its own
costs, according to Tenth Church senior pastor Ken Shigematsu.
“There’s a danger in being politically partisan, but there’s
also a danger in not speaking out prophetically and boldly on
the issues of our day,” he told CT. “And I would say that’s an
even greater danger.”
Despite the incident on one of his church’s five sites back in
August, Shigematsu continues to encourage prayer and dialogue
about the demonstrations in Hong Kong within his multiethnic
congregation. He hopes that more pastors will do the same.
“I would say that it’s important to be informed on the issues,
to be praying for wisdom and discernment. But when we see human
rights violated, intimidation and violence, I believe that it’s
important as pastors to speak out against those kinds of
injustices,” he said. “There sometimes is an overlap between
justice issues and political issues. When that happens, we’re
not going to shy away from the issue. We’ll sometimes wade into
controversy.”
[/quote]
another Tiananmen Square
#Post#: 14010--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hong Kong 2019
By: patrick jane Date: June 6, 2020, 1:45 pm
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[img]
HTML https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/117645.jpg?w=940[/img]
HTML https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/june-web-only/hong-kong-christians-pastors-letter-china-security-law.html
Hong Kong Christians Respond as Beijing’s Grip Tightens
Pastors repent for staying silent to protect ministry at the
expense of justice.
Moments before law enforcement officers violently cleared
protesters in Lafayette Park so President Donald Trump could
walk from the White House to St. John’s Church and have his
picture taken holding a Bible, a journalist who had recently
spent months on the streets of Hong Kong confidently donned a
gas mask while nearby colleagues looked on confusedly as they
became engulfed in the ensuing melee.
Chemical irritants and flash-bang grenades are not the only
similarities between the clashes taking place in Washington DC
and those that have consumed Hong Kong for the past year. As in
the United States, Christians in Hong Kong struggle to define
their role in a society marred by institutionalized injustice
and sharp division.
An open letter drafted by a group of evangelical pastors,
theologians, and parachurch leaders and signed by more than
2,400 Christians in Hong Kong echoed sentiments shared by many
believers in the US and elsewhere in the world: commitment to
the fullness of the gospel; refusal to submit to an
authoritarian regime; dedication to walk with the people of
their community; and the church’s need to repent of apathy and
inaction.
Whether in Washington or Hong Kong, the current conflicts center
around abuse of official power. In Hong Kong’s case, China’s
central government has effectively thrown out the “one country,
two systems” formula under which the former British colony was
to be governed for 50 years after 1997. Smashing through the
wall of separation that was meant to protect the city from the
vagaries of China’s socialist legal system, China’s leaders are
now unilaterally imposing draconian national security measures
that would render illegal any opposition in word or action to
the regime in Beijing.
While Hong Kong churches and the many Christian organizations
that play a vital role in the city’s social infrastructure
continue to enjoy freedom as before, many have curtailed their
outreach activities in mainland China. (Believers account for
about 12 percent of the population in Hong Kong, compared with
about 7 percent on the mainland.
Under the new security legislation, the appearance of
connections to foreign “anti-China” individuals or groups, or to
local political activists, could have possible legal
consequences. So could speaking out on sensitive issues,
including the treatment of Christians in the mainland.
Declaring God’s sovereignty in the face of this political
overreach, the Hong Kong pastors stated in their letter:
“The King of Heaven does not rule by controlling the world.
Rather, He rules by showing His love and humble servitude….
Thus, as the King of Heaven, His political blueprint is ‘to
proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s
favor.’ (Luke 4:18-19)”
Their letter confessed that churches have been “too focused on
their internal affairs” and neglected social justice—including
speaking up for oppressed minorities in the city—and have been
silent in the face of mounting authoritarianism:
“When facing the authority’s strong governance and the
persecution and suppression towards the dissidents, churches
often chose to protect themselves. They engaged in
self-censorship and remained silent towards the evil deeds of
the authority, with their only wish being the smooth and
uninterrupted operation of church ministries.”
Proclaiming Christ as the highest authority, the pastors offered
“sincere repentance” and vowed not to submit to the leadership
of any government entity or political party whose demands run
counter to biblical teaching.
Pent-up Frustration
Similar to those protesting the murder of George Floyd in
Minneapolis police custody, Hong Kong’s protesters are voicing
the pent-up frustration of years of seeing personal liberties
eroded as the Chinese government has systematically tightened
its stranglehold on the city’s media, schools, civic
organizations, and the business community, including a vibrant
expat population that is key to Hong Kong’s status as an
international financial center.
“Everybody understands that Hong Kong is very useful to China
for the exchange of currency and many other things,” said
Cardinal Joseph Zen, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, in an
interview last month. “And now, they are ready to destroy
everything, and we can do nothing because Hong Kong is a small
thing—[China] can crush it as they like.”
Many local politicians across the US have encouraged their
citizens to seek change at the polls, not merely in the streets.
In Hong Kong, however, the goalposts for universal suffrage
promised under the “one country, two systems” framework continue
to move further downfield with every new decision emanating from
Beijing.
Hong Kong’s protestors have grown weary of tone-deaf local
officials charged with looking out for the city’s interests who
have increasingly defined those interests in terms of Beijing’s
demands. This includes championing restrictive election reform
measures designed to strengthen central government control, as
well as white elephant infrastructure projects that enrich
mainland companies and local business elites.
On the streets of Hong Kong, living under the watchful eye of
what had been considered “Asia’s Finest” brings not reassurance
but fear, compounded by the eventuality of China’s own national
security agents being introduced into Hong Kong as part of the
new national security provisions. In the eyes of those assigned
to protect them, the people of Hong Kong have become the enemy,
some being labeled as terrorists by officials.
Now that the gloves are off and Beijing has chosen to bypass
Hong Kong’s partially elected legislature entirely, the local
government has become largely irrelevant. Like many of those
seen on American streets this week, Hong Kong’s protesters feel
they have reached the end of their rope; there is no legitimate
forum in which to air their grievances.
“We have nothing good to hope for,” said Cardinal Zen. “Hong
Kong is simply completely under [China’s] control. We depend on
China even for our food and water. But we put ourselves in the
hands of God.”
Institutional Sins
The conflicts raging on the streets of Hong Kong and the US did
not appear overnight, but are the result of deep-rooted
institutional sins.
Hong Kong’s lopsided prosperity and its tenuous political
situation are, paradoxically, the twin offspring of
colonization, beginning with Britain’s military conquest in the
opium wars of the mid-19th century. While in the 1980s, hopes of
China’s eventual democratization inspired the optimistic
rhetoric of the “one country, two systems” formula, Hong Kong
has since gone from being seen as a laboratory for what China
could become to an example of what China’s paranoid leaders fear
most.
As these leaders become increasingly anti-foreign, Hong Kong
becomes a casualty in the unraveling of China’s relationships
with the West. How the Trump administration chooses to follow
through on its recent determination that Hong Kong is no longer
sufficiently autonomous to warrant special treatment will
significantly impact the city’s future.
Like a tear gas canister lobbed abruptly into an unsuspecting
crowd, the mainland government’s recent moves have left those
who sought lasting change for Hong Kong gasping for air.
For many Hong Kong Christians, it is neither a time to retreat
nor to take political matters into their own hands, but rather
to double down on their commitment to the people of Hong Kong.
As Mimi Lau, a journalist with Hong Kong’s English daily South
China Morning Post, urged in a Twitter thread:
“#HKers : now is not the time to desert your home. Rise up to
your roles, become a KOL [key opinion leader] in your own fields
and stand by your core values and believes. Most importantly,
have #Faith. #HongKong is worth fighting for.
…
What else can I do as a #HK journalist? What can I do as a
disciple of Christ? What can I do as a friend, as a collegue
[sic], as a member of my community, as a daughter and as a
sister? What would I give to #StandWithHongKong ?”
The pastors in their open letter pledged that “no matter how
tough it gets, we shall hold onto our duty as the church to walk
together with all Hongkongers, and to uphold Hong Kong
ceaselessly with prayers and pastoral care, as a living
testimony of ‘Emmanuel’ — God is here with those who are
suffering.”
Affirming their belief that God will lead Hong Kong people
through the dark days ahead, they offered a reminder that seems
equally appropriate for Christians in the politically fractured
United States:
“The church is neither a political party or a political
organization, therefore, political agendas or demands should not
become the main focus of the church. However, when facing
injustice and evilness in the society, the church should act as
the social conscience and fulfil [sic] its prophetic role to
denounce injustice, to proclaim the will of God, and to bear
witness to truth.”
Brent Fulton is founder and catalyst of ChinaSource.
#Post#: 27046--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hong Kong 2019
By: patrick jane Date: March 17, 2021, 4:25 pm
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China will assume more control and more power in Hong Kong now.
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