30 May 2018

The Chinese Underground in the Spotlight


The Chinese state knows about the underground church. They know where many of them meet and who attends them. They do not want to simply arrest everyone. The logistics are too difficult. What Beijing really wants is for everyone to formally register and become normalised. At that point, the state can apply the bureaucracy in an efficient and patient manner. The underground knows this and that is in part why they will not capitulate.

29 May 2018

26 May 2018

24 May 2018

The Phony Debate Over Haspel and CIA Torture


The media has once again played a false card. This time it's in reference to their coverage of the Gina Haspel nomination. Now director of the CIA, Haspel was and is a controversial figure due to her sadistic reputation and participation in the Bush administration's post-9/11 torture schemes. 

20 May 2018

Confusion in Reporting on Christianity in China


This CNN story includes a short video which juxtaposes the official state sanctioned Catholic Church (CPCA) with the underground movement. The same state of affairs exists within Protestantism with its Three-Self Patriotic Churches (TSP) and its underground.

Turkey and NATO/ Brunson and Gülen


Is Erdogan some kind of monster? Is he an irrational dictator?
He's hardly some kind of godly leader but the media portrait is disingenuous and frankly misrepresents who he is and certainly why he's doing what he's doing.

15 May 2018

Indonesia: Caught in the Great Game


The article interestingly mentioned the Soviet relationship with the Sukarno government but neglects to mention the US role in his overthrow, the anti-communist genocide and the thirty-plus year military dictatorship of Suharto.... a rule wholly supported and in no small part sustained by Washington.

12 May 2018

The Guardian and the Dalits of Nepal


In the Hindu sphere it is almost natural that the Dalits or Untouchables would be the most likely group to embrace Christianity with its message of universal salvation and its largely egalitarian ecclesiastical construct. I use the term egalitarian with hesitation because it is used by others in different ways and I don't want to be misunderstood. Biblical Egalitarianism does not mean the elimination of male and female roles both in the family and in the Church but it certainly does mean an elimination of class distinctions, something at the core of many Asian societies.

06 May 2018

Inbox: Has the Christian Right Properly Represented the Alfie Evans Case?


This is one of those questions in which I cannot win. There's no way to answer something like this... honestly... and not upset folks. But I will attempt to do so.
Indeed Right wing and Christian circles are in a bit of a tizzy at the moment concerning the issue of the now dead toddler Alfie Evans. A tragic story to be sure it reminds me of so many of these types of cases in which I find myself largely dissatisfied with the positions of all parties involved.