Mike Farris:
David, you’ve written a book called Jesus in Beijing. As an expert on China, what insight can you give parents as they try to make sense of the daily news from China and explain it to their students?
Dr. David Aikman:
Well, I think the long-term significance of what’s happening in China, is China is a country that is discovering that Christianity is actually a rather good way of running the country. I have had several books that have quoted conversations from my book, Jesus in Beijing, in particular one conversation where a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is saying, “We wanted to discover why the West was so successful; we thought it was economics; we thought it was democracy; we thought it was military technology, but then we realized that the core of the success of the west was Christianity because the Christian spirit has enabled the development of science, the faith and exploration and so forth.” So knowing what made America great is a good way of seeing how the Chinese are beginning to look at their own society.
Mike:
What’s the Chinese attitude on religion, what do you seeing on that front right now in China?
Dr. Aikman:
Well, right now in China there is quite a crack-down on Christians, particularly Christian leaders, serious crack-down on foreign missionaries in China. I think, because they’re frightened that with the Olympics coming along they may be much more open to foreign missionary penetration than hitherto.
Mike:
Thanks so much, David. I’m Mike Farris.
