Secret Missionaries, Smuggled Bibles: China’s Religious Boom
It’s a choice that a historic number of people in China are making. In the countryside, Christianity seems to be filling a spiritual void, building a greater sense of community, and often providing a local financial boost. It feels more complicated in cities, where many see the religious rush closely interwoven with chaotic urbanization and a rise in materialism. You’ll hear lamentations from Chinese about how there is no ideology, no morality, no spirituality anymore, with some seeking Christianity for some kind of balance, and others associating it with the West and seeing it as an enabler of greater material wealth.
Some say that what’s happening spiritually in China is “nothing short of remarkable.” One scholar calls this religious revival “one of the greatest awakenings in human history.”
So is China’s changing religious landscape a “spiritual crisis,” as some have said, or a spiritual miracle?
Perhaps it is both.
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