A Chinese pastor is released after 7 years in prison, only to find himself unable to get an ID
apnews.com
A pastor in China has been released after serving seven years in prison. But The Rev. John Sanqiang Cao, who had studied in married in the U.S., says he's without any legal documentation in his country, unable to access even the most basic services without a Chinese identification.

This article, written by a Taiwan-based “sinologist,” has been copied and pasted over several major outlets and a dozen other Christian clickbait news sites. The pastor in question is John Sanqiang Cao, and was charged with human trafficking upon returning from a mission trip to Myanmar.

I don’t know anything about the validity of the charges he’s facing, and I’m quite certain that IF the events alleged by the article are true, then this is a clear miscarriage of justice.

There is something very funny about this story appearing all over American media, though. As if ex-convicts in the US don’t deal with very similar problems…

  • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
    0·
    3 months ago

    Say what you will of Islam, there have been ethnic groups with ties to Islam in China for 500+ years, but before 1800 no meaningful Christian presence.

    This is not true. Christianity was introduced to China by Syriac (Syria and Iraq) missionaries and believers of Nestorian Christianity who traveled the Silk Road in the 7th century in 635. Literally 1400 years ago.

    These missionaries settled in Xi’an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, built around 20-30 churches across China, and translated the Bible into Chinese.

    • Comprehensive49@lemmygrad.ml
      0·
      3 months ago

      Fair point. However, the modern trend of Western Christian missionaries is explicitly associated with colonialism. Anyone who willingly contributes to spreading that kind of poison should be viewed with scrutiny.

      • NikkiB@lemmygrad.mlOP
        0·
        3 months ago

        I think it might be fair to say that while Christianity did exist in China for over a thousand years, it’s probably also true that the Christianity introduced by colonial missionaries barely resembled Chinese Christianity as it existed.