- cross-posted to:
- nottheonion@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- nottheonion@lemmy.world
In their effort to “exert total control” over religion and to “sinicise” Catholic and Protestant Christianity, the authorities have “ordered the removal of crosses from churches [and] replaced images of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary with pictures of President Xi Jinping,” the report said.
The report concluded that “every facet of religious life for Buddhists, Catholics and Protestant Christians, Muslims, and Taoists” was facing pressure to incorporate CCP ideology, and religious elements considered contradictory to the state’s political agenda were being eradicated.
An outrageous claim from the Telegraph. I need a second source.
because China has always been oh so welcoming of other religions right? Sources are great but calling this an outrageous claim is a bit much given the historical context.
I mean, it’s a pretty big step from “we need to pre-approve priests” to “actually, your religion is about something completely different now”.
And, more importantly, it’s the Telegraph. If it was the Guardian I’d go “gee whiz, that’s a whole new level, very unexpected”.
replaced images of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary with pictures of President Xi Jinping.
Its not saying actually Xi is your god now, its just making churches one more place where you see the dear leader. Still bad but not at the insane level of trying to rewrite one of the world’s largest religions.
Religion is the opiate of the masses and the CCP insists on being the only dealer around
Saint Winnie the Pooh
Seriously the onion can’t keep up with reality.
That’s a fairly direct transition.
Lmao that’s fucking hilarious.
NK levels of brain rot here we come!
Right on track to repeat the horrors of the past with complete blind faith in himself.
I can’t wait to watch him fall on his face royally.
Keep waiting, bud.
This worked out great for Lenin and Stalin who just skipped the middle step and outlawed the church, then put their statues everywhere
Dictators always do that.
And, not because they’re atheists as the butthurt Christians so often claim.
It’s all about centralized control and not allowing for divided loyalties or spaces for people to gather outside the party’s control.
The US has it figured out, give the churches that support you special privilege
And slaughtered a lot of clerical people in the wake. There is a monastry where more than 1000 monks have been murdered under Stalins influence in Mongolia.
Overall tens of thousands of clerical people must have been murdered under Stalin
I watched “The Man in the High Castle”, and the Christian imagery and symbolism in a former Christian Church were replaced with Nazi symbolism. I thought it was a bit farfetched, but now hearing something similar being done by China as part of totalitarianism, it is rather spooky. I’ve heard religious buildings being destroyed, but converting places of worship and blatantly removing its past to align with state ideology is far more surreal and haunting, and I am an agnostic atheist.
Yeah that’s positive christianity and it was an actual thing.
I can’t wait to go Christmaos Jinping this year! They just put in a new Target in the workers quarter.
The Americanization of China would be rather complete.
I had to double check to see if this was an onion article.
she came into the manger, way overdue,
and plonked herself down next to the ewe.
then – leaning back on the cow –
did she, the great chairman mao,
immaculately embirth winnie the pooh.
Don’t give them ideas!
No, this would be a fun one to watch! Imagine them claiming that Xi is 2000+ yrs old and he just came to power…now?
ಠ_ಠ
IYKYK 🤪
So techically these are Chinese sheeps, Chinese fodder, Chinese cloaks… A lot of things are coming to mind
A Chinese Mohammed A Chinese Jerusalem A Chinese Israel
Ai had difficulty to do a nativity scene without Mary 😀
Maohammed when?
As a Muslim this is one of the times I’m glad paintings of humans and animals are haram in Islam. We don’t got none of that shit in mosques (or anywhere else, really).
Also Islam rejects intercessors. We pray to Allah s.w.t. and only to him. We asked for forgiveness for our sins from him and him alone. The prophets and messangers a.s. were all humans of best character and faith, which is why they were honored but also challenged with their tasks.
This is why countries like China are particularly oppressive towards Islam. The faith is structured in a way that makes it more difficult to coopt it into exerting control over people for a government. Unfortunately we see (partly) successfull attempts at it like in Saudi Arabia. But they also control two of the holyest sites with Meqqa and Medina.
If i understand correctly China is oppressing Buddhism more strongly too because it is also not well controllable. But i have to admit that i know little about the details of buddhist spirituality/religion.
Most religions in China get the same treatment from the CCP.
Christian communities have had similar experiences.
In 2016, thousands of crosses were torn down from churches throughout Zhejiang Province. The authorities have also broken up congregations that have not been approved by the state, while church leaders have been arrested and jailed.
The demolition of domes, crosses and minarets and their replacement by Chinese-styled tiled roofs and Buddhist-styled pagodas. It involves mandatory patriotic education for Buddhist, Christian and Muslim clergy and it entails party-approved sermons and prayers.
South of Xinjiang in Tibet, the authorities have restricted the practice of Tibetan Buddhism over the last decade. Religious festivals have been banned more frequently and government employees, teachers and students have been barred from participating in religious activities.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/26/a-jealous-god-china-remakes-religions-in-its-own-image
Many mosques in Xinjiang are reportedly damaged or destroyed though. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-67483202.amp
Yeah Muslims are a bit sensitive when it comes these kinds of things
That’s like saying “catholics are a bit sensitive when it comes to eating meat on fridays”. It’s a nonsense statement
Well you could look at incidence where things got out of hand like the “Muhammad cartoons crisis”.
Or just look what happened in Sweden with the Quran
I think Muslims take this more seriously because, as someone who grew up in a region where most people identified Catholic (and most of the rest just had no religion) but didn’t practice much, I wasn’t even aware of that rule.
It is quite weird with catholics also. You should not make an image of god is part of the commandments, yet there is all the depictions of some old bearded white dude like in the sixtine chapel.
Technically the “give something up for Lent” thing isn’t a requirement. It’s encouraged, as long as it’s actually leading you to be a better Christian, but it isn’t needed. The only requirements, in the US, are:
- On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, you fast from food. The minimum that counts is, basically, one meal and two snacks.
- On every Friday of Lent and also Ash Wednesday, you abstain from eating the meat of land-dwelling animals. In the US, the bishops have said it’s alright to substitute this penance with something else for the rest of the year; but during Lent, it’s a requirement.
That’s one of the dumber things I’ve heard today. Luckily it’s still early, plenty more dumb stuff to read.
Is this just militant atheism or are you trying to make some kind of point?
the spectre of communism immaculately impregnated mao, who gave birth to xi.
The holy Xinity
Please someone paint a Mohammed with Mao or Xi’s face on it :)
the father son and holy ghost
The father, the son, the Winnie the Pooh.
I need to see the nativity scene version of this! But with Xi’s old face on baby Jesus.
Replace Mary in the manger with Mao. Now Mao is giving birth to Jesus. Weirdo.
Replace baby Jesus with adult Mao in the manger.
I wouldn’t be able to stop laughing in that church.