Church demolition illuminates China's religious tensions

[hrmjustin]

Bill Savadove

Wenzhou (China) (AFP) - The destruction of a towering church by Chinese authorities has sown fear in a thriving Christian community and highlighted tensions between a rapidly growing number of worshippers and the Communist state.

Massive slabs of concrete on a hillside were all that remained Wednesday of the Sanjiang Church after an army of excavators smashed into the building this week, following government claims it was an illegal structure.

The church stood above the village of Pudong, part of the city of Wenzhou.

The metropolis has a reputation for greater leniency towards religion and is known as China's Jerusalem with more than a million Christians, as well as being a freewheeling centre of capitalism.

http://news.yahoo.com/church-demolition-illuminates-chinas-religious-tensions-191830963.html