Why are Chinese Christians so concerned about new religious affairs regulations?

[rug]

Those organising illegal religious activities could be fined up to 300,000 yuan

Mimi Lau
[e-mail]
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 23 October, 2016, 11:45am
UPDATED : Sunday, 23 October, 2016, 1:12pm

The only light shining along a dark hallway in a commercial building undergoing renovation in northern Guangzhou belongs to the Christian Guangfu Church.

But repeated raids over the past year have left the grass-roots church in Yuantianxia village with little else. Its congregation – mostly migrant workers – has a new keyboard, a guitar and a few dozen plastic stools.

At least three of the 10 “house churches” in Yuantianxia have been shut down or forced to move since May last year, according to Guangfu’s pastor, Ma Ke, who is petitioning the authorities over the treatment of his church. A third-generation Christian from rural Anhui province, he’s been detained more than 20 times for evangelism since 1994.

“I grew up in an environment watching the authorities removing our cow, donkey, chicken and wheat to intimidate my preacher father and brother,” Ma, 42, told the South China Morning Post.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2038929/why-are-chinese-christians-so-concerned-about-new

[DetlefK]

1. Because China is absolutely horrified of alternative ways of thinking.

Religion is such a thing they are afraid of: Because it's beyond their control. That's why they are moving to control the christian preachers in China and that's why they have long ago set a plan into motion to declare the next Dalai Lama once this one dies. The most likely successor has somehow disappeared, along with his whole family. Disappeared as in: "Nobody knows where they are and what happened to them." But there's another high-ranking Lama, loyal to the communist government, who would then be the best candidate.

Another thing China is afraid of is time-travel: Time-travel is outlawed in chinese fiction. (Don't want people to start pondering "what if...&quot