CALEB MAUPIN—Even today in China more people attend church each Sunday morning than in the United States. Relations between the Vatican and Beijing have significantly improved in the last few years. The Three Self Patriotic Movement and the China Church Council have existed for decades as religious organizations working hand in hand with the Communist Party. The Chinese government has repudiated and apologized for the persecution of Christians that went on during the Cultural Revolution and huge strides have been made to correct these mistakes, and Christianity is very well alive in China.
However, to Americans the idea that the Chinese Communists have a monument to a group of Christians who laid down their lives to fight for justice is very shocking. Because of people like Patrick J. Mahoney and his Christian Defense Coalition, as well as other anti-China extremists speaking in the name of Jesus, the entire reality has been obscured. Now as the Winter Olympics in Beijing are approaching, these forces have reached a shrill volume in their hatred and deceptions.