Results for: Air+Antilles+Airlines+Airlines+Reservation++800-299-7264++Official+Site++Phone+Number

Lead Article

The Three-Self Patriotic Movement

Divergent Perspectives and Grassroots Realities

Why do Chinese Christians today hold such starkly different views of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) association and its official churches? Are the TSPM and its churches “compromised,” as some house church leaders claim? To answer these questions, it helps to return to the origins of the Three-Self idea, sketch how Communist victory led […]

Articles

Policy, Implementation, and Shifting Official Perceptions of the Church in China

[…] of incidents mentioned at the outset of this article continue to occur, this gray area between “normal,” or registered, religious activities and those activities that result in official prosecution has grown significantly. Without discounting either the reality of incidences of Christian persecution or their seriousness, what is remarkable is how much Christian activity takes […]

Blog Entries

Unmasking China’s “Official” Church

China's " official" churches (those operating under the auspices of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement) are fairly often associated with terms such as "restrictive," "government-sanctioned," or even "Communist-controlled." Granted, one does not have to look too far within China's religious bureaucracy and its associated policies and practices to find evidence that would justify such notions. […]

Blog Entries

House Church and TSPM: Surprising Admissions in China’s Official Press

A recent article appearing in Global Times, the English-language mouthpiece of the authoritative People's Daily, raises interesting questions about how China's leaders view the relationship between the official and unofficial church.

Blog Entries

Beyond “Two Camps”: The Complex Relationship between Official and Unregistered Church in China

[…] religious policy, and in the unregistered church community, all of which have brought, and continue to bring, a new level of complexity to the relationship between China's official and unregistered church streams. These developments have resulted in a tense yet synergistic relationship between these two main segments of the church. The Chinese Communist Party […]

Blog Entries

Reading Tea Leaves from the 2021 National Religious Work Conference

[…] lose meaning as they blur together. So why is it worthwhile spending any time on this at all? In fact, the work conferences for China’s religious affairs officials are where the real work of governing starts. The tone and emphasis, the language, and the concepts in the major speeches are all scrutinized by officials […]

Blog Entries

“The Air that I Breathe”

Personal Reflections on Pollution in China

“Sometimes all I need is the air that I breathe.” I loved the 1974 hit “The Air That I Breathe” by The Hollies when I was a kid. The song is really a love song and has little to do with air pollution, the environment, or the main things I wish to reflect on […]

Blog Entries

Official Protestant Groups Plan Next Five Years of Sinicization

What Does the TSPM/CCC 5-Year Plan Tell Us about the Direction of Official Protestantism?

What are we to make of last year’s announcement that the official Protestant group leadership, the national Three Self Patriotic Movement association together with the China Christian Council, gathered to discuss a five-year plan for 2023–2027? Do China’s official churches typically have five-year plans like any other Communist Party organization? What is new about […]

Blog Entries

The 2023 Regulations for Religious Activity Site Registration

What the Party Doesn’t Want You to Know

Under Xi…steps toward liberalization have ended and even reversed…. Xi has removed term limits on his rule, called upon the media to serve the party, arrested outspoken lawyers and feminists, and renewed pressure on house and official churches; all sectors…have fallen under the CCP’s oversight and control.

Blog Entries

Fair is foul and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air

January saw some of the worst pollution in China with readings as high as over 800 for PM 2.5.