China's Religious Intolerance

Apparently some folks want to boycott China and relocate the Olympics somewhere then than Bejing. We agree. In China, kids cannot bow down to the Batman or sing praises to Captain Jean Luc Picard without the fear of reprisal. Slave wages, Communist Party sanctioned labor boards instead of independent labor unions, and shooting people for saying the wrong thing is OK by us, but how can a country be whole without Starfleet Command or the Justice League of America?

China's Director of Religious Affairs came to the U.S. in an attempt to quell this story about the nation's religious oppression. From the AP:

Ye Xiaowen told reporters Wednesday, after talks with Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky, that China's peaceful development depends upon its respect for human rights and religious beliefs. Ye said he also met with President Bush's ambassador for international religious freedom, John Hanford, and with Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the retired archbishop of Washington.

China has been a target of international criticism that its communist-led government abuses and stymies the voices of its people and ignores violence in Sudan's Darfur region. Some have demanded sanctions involving the August Olympics, but the Chinese government has said repeatedly the games should be kept separate from politics.

Ye criticized as groundless last year's State Department report on religious freedom that said China continued to repress religious groups and was cracking down ahead of the Olympics.

China's leaders allow worship only in government-monitored churches, temples and mosques. Members of unofficial congregations frequently are jailed and harassed.

Well, we got a glimpse of what one of these official Chinese churches look like and they look something like this:



As many of you surely realize, this picture was taken before the Black Manta sailed up the Kanawha and found some prime real estate in West Virginia for the Legion of Doom- complete with a shiny, golden dome to house their new base. (And for those who still don't believe, Gorilla Grodd was apparently spotted in our mountains and was mistaken for Bigfoot.)

Nevertheless, we now know that China ranks right behind the United States in catering to Legion of Doom sympathizers and Joker worshipers.


Tags:
China, Olympics, Bejing, Religious Oppression, Communism, The Borg