How long before Christianity takes over in China ?

Question

China keeps news of this as secret as possible in keeping with Chinese censorship

There could be 50 million new Christians in China now and it is spreading. Soon we may see the Chinese bible belt.

http://www.thepolitic.com/archives/2005/08/03/christianity-in-china/

Answer 1

You are absolute right. China has the fastest growing Chrstian population in the world. The main stream media has failed to report this.

Answer 2

LOL..LOL..LOL..LOL..LOL..   never.. the Chinese government will never allow it

Answer 3

The above answers are absolutely correct.

Answer 4

I would say about 1million years!

Answer 5

A long, long time, if ever!

Answer 6

50% to 91% of the Chinese population are Buddhists (see source).

So unless the version of Christianity being spread in China is unorthodox enough to allow a person to have more than one religion, I don't think Christianity is going to dominate any time soon.

Answer 7

my guess will be, ahhhh, never.

Answer 8

Such sensationalist reports need to taken with caution. Much of it is based on anecdotal evidence of selected local developments. The problem with such reporting is that they often do not give the complete picture, just as reports of local corruption and human rights violations often do not give a truly representative picture. For instance, when placed beside the fact that the traditional religions of China, such as Buddhism and Taoism, are also growing rapidly, the fact that Christianity is growing is not as amazing as it seems at first.

The other point that needs to be made is that what may seem to be 'secrets' to many westerners are often merely commonplace knowledge to any one living in China. It is a secret because the western media has deemed them unimportant or because many of us never bothered to find out what is really happening. Only a yesterday, the Boao Forum for Asia held in China closed its sessions after a few days of deliberation. Yet there was hardly a mention of it in the western media. The global environment and threats to it were a major theme, yet the BBC news today in discussing global warming in relation to China did not even think the Boao Forum was worth mentioning! If there is any censorship(and no country is ever free form it), one may be excused for thinking it may be operating more actively on the western side.

Whether there will be a 'Bible-belt' in China is in the hands of God. But any Christian China-watcher will be cringing at the idea that any Christian development in China has to be described by a phenomenon taken from the American religious south, with all its unwanted connotations. I think the Chinese believers will not thank us for such unwanted comparison and interest. As long as such western attitude persists, it's little wonder the Chinese govt will view Christianity as an 'alien' religion.

Your amazement at the realisation that Buddhism 'tolerates' atheism underlines my point that we in the west are often unaware of ideas commonly known outside our realm. I'm not trying to suggest that you are more ignorant than the next westerner. We are all in the same boat. Language barriers and other man-made obstacles often prevent us from finding out these things easily. The propensity to reject alien ideas is also hinderance. The tendency of the media to edit out many things they deem 'unimportant' also prevents us from finding out more. No wonder we are then surprise when we find out.

BTW, true Buddhism, as discovered and taught by Guatama Buddha, the Tathagata himself, is atheistic and agnostic to its core. The Buddha-nature is not divine, or even supernatural. Unfortunately the west has often been sold an adulterated article which involves mantras, mandalas, hocus-pocus, prayer-wheels, Rinpoches, lamas, fund-raising, dabbling in politics, etc. As enlightened Buddhists, we used to say: 'The gift of Truth excels all other gifts'. Unfortunately, that cannot be said of the stuff they are fobbing us with.

Answer 9

Considering the general level of religious repression by the Chinese government and the fact that even 50 million Chinese Christians represents a tiny fraction of the overall Chinese population, the idea of a Christian "bible belt" in China is somewhat farfetched.

Answer 10

Probably next week.  Let's see.  The world population in 2025 will be 7.8 Billion.  Pentacostals and Charismatice have the greatest advantage.  Maybe two weeks?

Answer 11

Not just xtians but fundamentalist proddy xtians!  Be afraid.

Answer 12

dream on