Beijing Church Works to Get House of Worship

In China, a well to do Christian congregation called Shouwang or Lighthouse, has raised from its one thousand members four million dollars to fund a house of worship for themselves. Yet the atheist Communist Chinese government claims the church is illegal, because it is not state controlled. The attention Shouwang receives is due to its congregation, well educated elite looking for a nonpolitical outlet for their faith. After legally buying the space where they worship, the congregation has been evicted several times from the space by the state. The church decided that they would pray openly in the outdoors before moving underground once more. All church leaders and many parishoners have since been rounded up, arrested and held indefinitely. The crackdown on dissent within China has included the arrest of artists like Ai Wei Wei, bloggers, human rights lawyers, and even people who have not spoken out but are somehow related to dissenters. This is all in response to the recent waves of protests in the Middle East, leading to the downfall of dictators and long term presidents. Experts estimate that China has a population of about 60 million Protestant practicing Christians in the country. by Margaret Nunne http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/world/asia/18beijing.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=world