Massive Church Rising in Mao's Birthplace — Another Sign of Dramatic Christian Revival in China
Mao Zedong must be turning in his grave in China as a massive church is being built not far from his birthplace.
When completed, the Xingsha Church in Changsha, Hunan province will be bigger than "even the biggest statue of Mao Zedong in China," according to CBN News.
Mao is remembered as the former head of China's Communist Party who launched the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" in August 1966 to reassert his authority over the Chinese government, according to the History Channel.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Some 1.5 million people were killed during the Cultural Revolution, while millions of others suffered imprisonment, seizure of property, and torture or general humiliation, the cable TV network states.
For a span of 10 years, ending with Mao's death in September 1976, China's communist authorities severely persecuted all religious and political organizations. They destroyed churches and temples. They also ordered pastors, Buddhist monks, and Catholic priests beaten, executed or sent to harsh labor camps.
But now, with Mao's policies dismantled and reformists at the helm in China, the world's most populous nation is seeing a rebirth of Christianity, as demonstrated by the huge church that forms part of a $617-million Christian-themed ecological park.
According to CBN News, the church was inspired by Noah's Ark and measures 260 feet tall—more than double the height of Mao's 32-meter (105-foot) tall monument, less than 10 miles away.
Chen Zhi, president of the Christian Council of Hunan Province, says the park, which covers an area of 150,000 square meters, will open this summer.
China watchers say the "monument to Jesus in the city of Mao" is yet another indication of the dramatic Christian revival sweeping China.
CP earlier reported that China is seeing an "explosion of faith" that could turn the atheist country into the world's biggest Christian nation in less than 20 years.
According to Pulitzer-prize winning author Ian Johnson, the "religious revolution" is being driven by the China's underground churches and is happening despite increasing persecution.
He said what's driving the Chinese people towards Christianity is their search for new moral guideposts, which they could not find in their country's communist ideology.
"Hundreds of millions of Chinese are consumed with doubt about their society and turning to religion and faith for answers that they do not find in the radically secular world constructed around them," he said.
