Letter to the editor: A great price

Notes: [Re: 'Some Christian leaders attend Beijing Olympic opening' (Aug. 9 Journal Web site)]. "Like Catholics in Jacobean England, Christians in Maoist China were suspected of treason for their perceived loyalty to a foreign power, when after centuries of civil war national unity was the top priority. They were exiles in their own land because it was said: 'One more Christian, one less Chinese'." "Red Guards made Florence Li Tim-Oi cut up her vestments with scissors. Brain-washing drove her towards suicide; only consciousness of her priesthood saved her. Their endurance bought at a great price today's recognition of Christianity as a Chinese religion rooted and flourishing in its own soil. The University of Guangszhou has now appointed a 30-year-old woman to lecture on the history of Christianity in China".

Subjects: Three-Self Movement; Christians - China - History; Church and state - China; Religious persecution - China; Li, Florence Tim Oi, 1907-1992