<story><title>China cracks down on religion, crosses burned at Christian churches</title><url>http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-25/crosses-burned-in-china-religion-crackdown/10301956</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>colechristensen</author><text>&amp;gt;People are happy where they’re at right now.&lt;p&gt;Are they though?</text></item><item><author>torgian</author><text>Yeah this is pretty on point. They don’t hate the religions, they just want to minimize any gatherings that could potentially set off a movement to up-end the current rule.&lt;p&gt;Funny thing is, a lot of students that I teach here talk about how they feel like they will have more freedoms in twenty years than they do now.&lt;p&gt;I’m doubtful. People are happy where they’re at right now. As long as that continues, China will do what China does.&lt;p&gt;I’m actually more surprised nothing has happened back in the States yet</text></item><item><author>mc32</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s simple.  They cannot allow any ideology to subvert the party (CCP) ideology.  They don&amp;#x27;t hate religion for the sake of hating religion.  They don&amp;#x27;t hate FG&amp;#x2F;FD, Christians or Muslims (or Buddhists for that matter) for being who they are.  They do hate and will remove anything which may subvert the supremacy of the state.  Simple as that.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mc32</author><text>They have experienced unrelenting growth for over 30 years and counting.  Greatly improving their lives along the way. They are in a better place than ever before.  Of course they are happy.  More than anything, Chinese are pragmatic.  will that continue into the future as the population ages?  Remains to be seen.</text></comment>
<story><title>China cracks down on religion, crosses burned at Christian churches</title><url>http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-25/crosses-burned-in-china-religion-crackdown/10301956</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>colechristensen</author><text>&amp;gt;People are happy where they’re at right now.&lt;p&gt;Are they though?</text></item><item><author>torgian</author><text>Yeah this is pretty on point. They don’t hate the religions, they just want to minimize any gatherings that could potentially set off a movement to up-end the current rule.&lt;p&gt;Funny thing is, a lot of students that I teach here talk about how they feel like they will have more freedoms in twenty years than they do now.&lt;p&gt;I’m doubtful. People are happy where they’re at right now. As long as that continues, China will do what China does.&lt;p&gt;I’m actually more surprised nothing has happened back in the States yet</text></item><item><author>mc32</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s simple.  They cannot allow any ideology to subvert the party (CCP) ideology.  They don&amp;#x27;t hate religion for the sake of hating religion.  They don&amp;#x27;t hate FG&amp;#x2F;FD, Christians or Muslims (or Buddhists for that matter) for being who they are.  They do hate and will remove anything which may subvert the supremacy of the state.  Simple as that.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jessriedel</author><text>My anecdotal experience talking with Chinese nationals is that they basically approve of the government and would not choose to switch to democracy.</text></comment>