The Ottawa Citizen: We fail to understand Falun Gong

Saturday 9 December 2000

We are watching an amazing development as the Chinese government faces a crisis over a rapidly growing "spiritual threat" to its existence ("Falun Gong to dog PM's China trip," Dec. 6).

What makes it even more amazing is our lack of understanding that the only way monstrous oppressions can be destroyed is by the spiritual awakening of the people. Falun Gong is a phenomenon which we in the West are ill-prepared to understand because we have so far distanced ourselves from our own spiritual roots. This, in turn, makes us very vulnerable to oppressive ideologies masquerading as liberating forces that give total individual freedom.

A second aspect of the Chinese situation which has gained little attention in the West, and certainly in post-Christian Canada, is the incredible growth of Christianity in China. Again, we are ill-equipped to understand this, having shucked off the chains of Christianity for the greater enlightenment of eclectic personal fulfillment without traditional religion. The growth of the underground Church in China is one of the greatest threats Communist China faces. As with Falun Gong, the leaders are arrested, tortured, and sometimes killed. The followers are beaten, disenfranchised, and imprisoned by the tens of thousands.

The media in the West have done little to inform us, preferring to ignore this, as they prefer to largely ignore the religious and cultural genocide in Sudan.

Vincent Marquis,

Russell