China will create own Christian belief system amid tensions with church, says official

[United westand]

Those are just much harder than the Bible to learn. And in today's China, anything from western countries are viewed as "cool" and popular. On the other hand, our own culture and theology are more viewed as out of date.

Sorry to hear !!!

 

[JSCh]

Don't they have philosophical/spiritual values in the form of Confucianism and Taoism aside from the traditional ancestor worship?

Yes, there are supernatural element in some form of Confucianism/Taoism.
Confucius do not deny/reject the existence of the supernatural world, he just believe that scholar should not dwell or depend on it too much.
The historical record of Chinese court show that the vast majority of decision making is rational.

 

[William Hung]

I am a Christian in America, and this is so incorrect I don't know where to start. There are a huge number of different sects in the US. Some of them disapprove of drinking alcohol. Most only disapprove of drinking to excess (getting drunk). Most American churches would disapprove of a woman "dress(ing) like (a) hooker". But... your definitions (in both the US and Germany) about how hookers dress is going to be different too, so that's a hard comparison. I don't know of any church that would completely ban makeup, as if makeup is done correctly it can be hard to tell someone is wearing it - it's supposed to look natural (in the US, other countries have other aesthetics).

I personally grew up in a church that disapproved of drinking and dressing like a hooker, but they were pretty understanding about the drinking (in moderation) on the part of some culturally similar sects. Sort of...well, they looked down their noses at it... its complicated.

But no one in either country would suggest it is the government's job to tell churches what their rules should be. Well, Germany _might_, but they have a history of issues with religious tolerance and still have a state church.

The only rules I can think of that the US government has cracked down on with churches are polygamy, refusing to pay taxes, and snake handling. Yeah, there are some sects in the US that believe handling poisonous snakes is proof of God's blessing. Seriously. Government keeps telling them to cut it out, they keep doing it secretly... its an ongoing thing. More about the kids than the adults, really.

I used a simple caricature to get my point across. My point was that in Christianity, and all religions in general, there are elements that are not necessarily religious in nature but are just cultural imports.

You agree that various Christian sects disagree with each others on certain views, such as how much alcohol it's member can drink, if at all. What kind of clothes is appropriate, what kind of music should be played in church, etc.

Why do they disagree? it is because they interpret their religious texts differently. And how they interpret some of their texts depends on/influenced by their culture and environment.

Take this Amish Christian sect as example:

You will probably disagree with their views on how a Christian should dress and live. They might say real Christians should never drink or should only dress in a certain way, etc. Now don't you agree that these religious interpretations are not purely spiritual/religious but are partially cultural imports? don't you think they came up with these "religious" beliefs due to their culture/environment? at least, you must accept that their culture/social environment influenced some of their religious beliefs like the ones I mentioned.