I really like Jim Slagle's Religion Blog over at the OregonLive.com, the website for The Oregonian newspaper. He has two relatively new posts that I've found especially interesting and recommend: a post on why the Islamic world really isn't adequately condemning terrorism, and a post mentioning the possibility of more than 100 million Christians in China.
I know you guys are lazy and aren't really going to read that stuff, so I'll summarize Slagle's insights. On the topic of Islamic terrorism, he points out that many of the American Muslim groups condemning terrorism also have ties to terrorist organizations such as Hamas. Also, the vast majority of Muslims overseas actually believe Israel and the CIA are the ones behind terrorist bombings. As for Christianity in China, Slagle says it is very possible Christians outnumber Communist Party members in China. And being a Christian in China is not as easy as it is here in America, mind you, so these numbers are not just for "nominal" Christians.
4 comments:
Wow. It't really amazing when people can stick to their ideals in the toughest of circumstances. Fortunately, Christianity is the only light these people see, and it helps get them through the day. I can't imagine what it would be like go live in a communist country. See, someimes I do appreciate being an American.
polanco, i really have to discuss the issue of china with you. it's something i've been meaning to do. i've read the china boycott blog you have a link to, and think it's totally whacked. china is not really as bad as you think. i mean, yeah, the chinese communist party sucks duck eggs, but life for the average chinese is not like it was 15 years ago.
and a note to everyone: this anonymous poster is a perfect example of someone trying to get you to download SPYWARE and turn your computer into zombie! please don't be the stupid one percent that actually falls for these things!!
So tel me more about China!
i could tell you, but there are some excellent blogs and other resources that i think would do a better job of it. here are a couple of excellent china blogs:
http://journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/chinadn/en/
http://zonaeuropa.com/weblog.htm
from my humble viewpoint, i think china is neither a major threat to the united states nor is it the most terrible country to live in. yes, there is zero political freedom and limited religious freedom, but besides that, people can pretty much do what they want nowadays. (well, besides having more than one kid ... guess they still can't do that.)
and while people in china certainly seem quite brainwashed about certain things from our perspective (japan, democracy, taiwan), if you understand the roots of those opinions and compare them to silly things we believe in here in america, then hopefully chinese animosity toward japan will become more rational, for example. while the ccp certainly manipulates public sentiment on those issues, i wouldn't chalk it all up to policial indocrination.
pick a topic, and i will try to explain the chinese viewpoint to you in a new post. (i'll play "china's advocate" in our discussion.)
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