Arrested for watching TV...

[*Zion*]

Hoosain Jacobs, 74, and his wife, Tahira, 68, from Hounslow, Middlesex,were halfway through a luxury 47-day sightseeing tour of China with friends when they were arrested by police at the airport, accused of watching a terrorist video in their hotel room. It was in fact a BBC documentary.

 

 

 

 

 

Full article:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/11746637/China-to-deport-foreign-tourists-after-terror-video-case.html

[other one]

I don't think I'll be going to China anytime in the near future.

[rjp34652]

Hoosain Jacobs, 74, and his wife, Tahira, 68, from Hounslow, Middlesex,were halfway through a luxury 47-day sightseeing tour of China with friends when they were arrested by police at the airport, accused of watching a terrorist video in their hotel room. It was in fact a BBC documentary.

 

 

 

 

 

Full article:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/11746637/China-to-deport-foreign-tourists-after-terror-video-case.html

 

There is no doubt more to the story.    Chinese media are heavily monitored and censored.  Would the authorities have allowed a pre-recorded program to be shown?  I doubt it.

 

I have learned that much of what we in the west are told about China is a lie.   The underground church, for example, is not a secret illegal church.  People in China, like people everywhere, love to talk religion and politics.   They call their churches underground because they are home churches.    Everyone knows where they are.   My son just returned from China and was told that if you want to visit or participate in a church, but don't know where they are all you have to do is inquire at the local police station.  They know and they don't care.

 

The name of the game is taxation.  If a church grows to the point a home cannot accommodate a group there are two choices; build another home group or build a venue.   A religious venue is heavily taxed, but not illegal.   As an aside, there are rumors that such a thing may be adopted by the US government in the future.   Taxation of church real estate in America may follow the communist pattern.   If so, home churches would be the answer.  

 

Will it get that bad in America?   No one really knows, but the fact that the fear exists is important.  A generation ago, such an idea would have been dismissed as preposterous.

 

and that's me, hollering from the choir loft...

[*Zion*]

There have been numerous books written concerning the persecution of the Body of Christ in China.  Are all those testimonies a lie?  I do not believe so.

 

The fact that they detained the elderly couple only to release them shows that it was unnecessary to have accused them in the first place.  The Chinese government seems way too paranoid, but that's just my take on things.  

 

And that's me, just sayin'........ (couldn't stay in the choir 'coz I sing the songs too differently )

[D-Dawn]

Just because one tiny pocket of China looks the other way regarding religion does not mean that is what is done throughout the very large Communist nation. The Chinese Government squashes anything and everything that could potentially threaten their authoritarian ways. With just a little bit of investigating it becomes obvious that China has very far to go as far as improving Human Rights conditions and certainly religious freedom. As it stands now, churches may only operate under the strict control of the gov't. While there may be house church exceptions in some smaller pockets of the nation, those house churches are certainly not the norm.

[Bible2]

The arrested (and later released) tourists had watched a DVD purchased in a local, Inner Mongolian market. It was about the Mongolian warrior-hero Genghis Khan.

 

It just goes to show how paranoid the Han Chinese (esp. the Chinese Communist Party, including its very low-level, local functionaries) are about an ethnically-foreign military takeover. As well they should be, with history as a guide (e.g. the Opium Wars).

[MorningGlory]

 

Hoosain Jacobs, 74, and his wife, Tahira, 68, from Hounslow, Middlesex,were halfway through a luxury 47-day sightseeing tour of China with friends when they were arrested by police at the airport, accused of watching a terrorist video in their hotel room. It was in fact a BBC documentary.

 

 

 

 

 

Full article:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/11746637/China-to-deport-foreign-tourists-after-terror-video-case.html

 

There is no doubt more to the story.    Chinese media are heavily monitored and censored.  Would the authorities have allowed a pre-recorded program to be shown?  I doubt it.

 

I have learned that much of what we in the west are told about China is a lie.   The underground church, for example, is not a secret illegal church.  People in China, like people everywhere, love to talk religion and politics.   They call their churches underground because they are home churches.    Everyone knows where they are.   My son just returned from China and was told that if you want to visit or participate in a church, but don't know where they are all you have to do is inquire at the local police station.  They know and they don't care.

 

The name of the game is taxation.  If a church grows to the point a home cannot accommodate a group there are two choices; build another home group or build a venue.   A religious venue is heavily taxed, but not illegal.   As an aside, there are rumors that such a thing may be adopted by the US government in the future.   Taxation of church real estate in America may follow the communist pattern.   If so, home churches would be the answer.  

 

Will it get that bad in America?   No one really knows, but the fact that the fear exists is important.  A generation ago, such an idea would have been dismissed as preposterous.

 

and that's me, hollering from the choir loft...

 

 

Do you mind sharing where you're hearing these rumors?  And, as an aside to you, churches are illegal in China. Granted they're not always prosecuted but you can't even take Bibles or Qu'rans through customs there.  THAT, my friend, is fact. 

[missmuffet]

I don't think I'll be going to China anytime in the near future.

I think traveling anywhere outside your front door is a risk now let alone China.

[rjp34652]

 

 

Hoosain Jacobs, 74, and his wife, Tahira, 68, from Hounslow, Middlesex,were halfway through a luxury 47-day sightseeing tour of China with friends when they were arrested by police at the airport, accused of watching a terrorist video in their hotel room. It was in fact a BBC documentary.

 

 

 

 

 

Full article:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/11746637/China-to-deport-foreign-tourists-after-terror-video-case.html

 

There is no doubt more to the story.    Chinese media are heavily monitored and censored.  Would the authorities have allowed a pre-recorded program to be shown?  I doubt it.

 

I have learned that much of what we in the west are told about China is a lie.   The underground church, for example, is not a secret illegal church.  People in China, like people everywhere, love to talk religion and politics.   They call their churches underground because they are home churches.    Everyone knows where they are.   My son just returned from China and was told that if you want to visit or participate in a church, but don't know where they are all you have to do is inquire at the local police station.  They know and they don't care.

 

The name of the game is taxation.  If a church grows to the point a home cannot accommodate a group there are two choices; build another home group or build a venue.   A religious venue is heavily taxed, but not illegal.   As an aside, there are rumors that such a thing may be adopted by the US government in the future.   Taxation of church real estate in America may follow the communist pattern.   If so, home churches would be the answer.  

 

Will it get that bad in America?   No one really knows, but the fact that the fear exists is important.  A generation ago, such an idea would have been dismissed as preposterous.

 

and that's me, hollering from the choir loft...

 

 

Do you mind sharing where you're hearing these rumors?  And, as an aside to you, churches are illegal in China. Granted they're not always prosecuted but you can't even take Bibles or Qu'rans through customs there.  THAT, my friend, is fact. 

 

 

Not a rumor.   My son returned from visiting Shanghai and Nanjing just a few weeks ago.  He spent the entire month of July there.   Bibles are not illegal.  You can buy one in any book store.  Churches are not illegal and Christians are not arrested for worshipping Jesus.  

 

My son asked a Chinese lawyer to define the term persecution.   In the west, persecution means fines imprisonment social restriction etc.   In China, persecution means that Christians cannot own the venue they use for gatherings.   According to Chinese law, all property belongs to the people.  Therefore private ownership of a building for purposes of commerce or religion is not allowed.    If a group grows too large they are fined and taxed heavily.   Usually this causes the group to split up into smaller congregations which are not taxed.    If you want to find a church in China, any police station can direct you to one.

 

And yes, you can take your Bible through customs.  My son did.......twice ..... coming in and going out.

 

This is what my son said and he was there only a few weeks ago.   This is a fact and this is his testimony.   The US media lies continuously about many things.

 

Have you been to China recently?  Tell us your experience.   Do not quote internet rumor and late night comedians' jokes or the media smoke screens.   Tell us what you know from personal experience or that of someone you trust personally.

 

And please stop accusing someone of lies when you have no reason to do so.   

 

Americans eat drink and wallow in lies - when someone comes along with the truth that contradicts US government policy it seems hard to accept.   Truth is like that in a repressive society such as ours.   Nevertheless I speak it.

 

and that's me, hollering from the choir loft...

[Willa]

A friend of mine was studying Chinese at a Beijing university in the 90s.  All his emails were read and censored and he had to be very careful not to reveal any connection to religion, since he was planning to go into missionary work and Bible translation.    He reported that some provinces were very strict and some were more receptive to Christians, depending on how the laws were enforced.  He was there for many years and traveled widely.  Others have reported that the Canton province was less restrictive.  People who go there to adopt also find the areas around Korea to be less restrictive.  These things also vary with the current political leaders.  I get the impression that it may also depend on the local authorities.  Voice of the Martyrs keeps up with the jailing and persecution of Christians.  It has an interview with people who had been in prison for several years for their faith in western China as of 2013.