Myths, Fake News and the Internet: The Case of The Church of Almighty God

Sensationalizing new religious movements is a usual practice. One popular Internet practice is to use “lists” to attract users. Lists of “cultic” or objectionable features of certain movements are used to perpetuate stereotypes, badmouth religious minorities, and spread fake news.

The Church of Almighty God (CAG), the largest Christian new religious movement in China, has been a frequent victim of these campaigns. Some fake news come from the Chinese Communist Party, which should find reasons to justify a massive, cruel, and decade-long persecution. Others come from Christian religionists disturbed by the phenomenal growth of the CAG in China (government sources claimed in 2014 it had reached four million members), which happened largely at their expenses.

Unfortunately, fake news is also used to deny the asylum requests of those CAG members who managed to escape China and settle in other countries as refugees.

Massimo Introvigne, probably the most knowledgeable scholar of the CAG internationally, has now debunked the ten most widespread myths about the Church in an article written for the daily magazine about religious liberty in China, Bitter Winter. The article is available at https://bitterwinter.org/the-church-of-almighty-god-eastern-lightning-10-false-myths/.

It also includes a movie about the most common, but false, accusation against the CAG, that it was responsible for the murder of a woman in a McDonald’s diner in Zhaoyuan, Shandong, in 2014. The murder was actually perpetrated by another, smaller religious movement, and the movie includes a statement from the very voice of the main assassin, who was executed in 2015, that she never had any contact with the CAG.

Marco Respinti

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

 

About The Church of Almighty God

The Church of Almighty God is a new Chinese church. Since its establishment in 1991, the church has grown rapidly and now has about 4 million members throughout China. As a new religious movement outside of those approved by the Chinese Communist Party, the church has suffered severe persecution. The church has four congregations in South Korea.
A collection of academic articles on the Church is available here.
Please find the 2018 Annual Report here:
https://centerna.kingdomsalvation.org/yearly-figures/en_US/annual-report-2018.pdf?n=0.1552530400

Studies and analyses from the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR) are available here:
https://www.cesnur.org/cag_page.htm

About religious liberty and human rights in China, see Bitter Winter:
Site: https://bitterwinter.org/

Bitter Winter is an online magazine published in English, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, French, Spanish and German.
It was launched in May 2018 by the Center for Studies on New Religions, headquartered in Torino, Italy. Scholars, journalists, and human rights activists from different countries are working together to give the voice for the voiceless by publishing news, documents, and testimonies about persecutions against all religions in China.
The unique feature of Bitter Winter is its network of several hundred correspondents in all Chinese provinces. At high risk for their security – some have been arrested – they report daily on what happens in China and how religions are treated or mistreated. They often supply exclusive photographs and videos.

Pubblicità

이탈리아 신문, 저우 자매를 위한 캠페인 동참 ([Korean:] Italian Newspaper Joins the Campaign for Sister Zou)

이탈리아 국정 보수 신문 리베로(Libero)가 중국의 신흥 기독교인 전능하신 하나님 교회의 지역 지도자 추 더메이(鄒德美, Demei Zou)를 위한 국제 캠페인에 동참했다.

추 자매는 중국 내 금지된 종교 운동의 지도자 중 한 명으로 현재 수배 중에 있으며 사형으로 이어질 수 있는 간첩 행위로 기소된 상태이다. 그녀는 미국에서 망명 신청이 거절된 후 현재 디트로이트 주 감옥에 구금되어 있으며, 즉시 중국으로 강제 송환될 위기에 처해있다.

비터 윈터의 총괄이사인 마르코 레스핀티(Marco Respinti)는 리베로 지에 “도널드 트럼프는 사람의 목숨을 구할 수도 있다”고 설명하면서, 전능하신 하나님 교회에 대한 중국의 박해는 “특히 잔혹하다”고 지적하였다.
레스핀티는 또한 “트럼프 대통령에게는 시진핑에게 관세를 부과하는 것과 더불어 중국의 독재정권에 항의함을 보여줄 수 있는 절호의 기회일 것”이라고 말했다.

출처: 리베로(Libero)

Published, under the same title,
in Bitter Winter: A magazine on religious liberty and human rights in China
(Korean version), July 11, 2018

 

意大利報紙加入為鄒女士呼籲的活動 ([Chinese:] Italian Newspaper Joins the Campaign for Sister Zou)

意大利國家保守派報紙《自由報》（Libero）今日加入了支持中國新興基督教團體全能神教會地區帶領鄒德美女士的國際行動。

鄒女士是被中共禁止的宗教團體中的一名帶領，因此在中國被通緝，並被中共當局扣上「從事間諜活動」的莫須有罪名，被定該罪名的人通常會被判處死刑。鄒女士在美國申請政治庇護遭拒，現被關押在底特律市，並且面臨即刻被遣返中國的危險。

兼任《寒冬》主任的馬可·萊斯賓蒂(Marco Respinti)先生在《自由報》上寫道：「就在此時此刻，唐納德·J·特朗普可以救一條性命。」同時，他指出全能神教會在中國所遭受的迫害是「極其殘忍」的。

萊斯賓蒂先生說：「如果特朗普總統在其以關稅重創習近平之外，能夠用行動表示他對中國的獨裁政策的反對，那麼這將是一個壯舉。」

Published, under the same title,
in Bitter Winter: A magazine on religious liberty and human rights in China
(Chinese version), July 7, 2018

Italian Newspaper Joins the Campaign for Sister Zou

The Italian national conservative newspaper Libero has joined the international campaign in favor of Sister Zou Demei, a regional leader of The Church of Almighty God a Chinese Christian new religious movement.

Sister Zou is wanted in China for being a leader of a banned religion, and for trumped up charges of espionage that normally lead to the death penalty. After her asylum application has been rejected, Sister Zou is in jail in Detroit and threatened with immediate repatriation to China.

Writing on Libero, Marco Respinti, who also serves as director-in-charge of Bitter Winter, noted that “Donald J. Trump may save a human life right now,” and that the persecution of The Church of Almighty God in China is characterized by “a special cruelty.”

“It would be a big shot for President Trump, Respinti concluded, if, in addition to hitting Xi Jinping with tariffs, he would show that he protests China’s totalitarian policies.”

Published, under the same title,
in Bitter Winter: A magazine on religious liberty and human rights in China
(English version), July 6, 2018