NPR Looks at China’s “Explosion of Religious Belief”

This week, NPR’s All Things Considered is running a series of reports on the growth of Christianity in China. The first of five episodes, “ In the Land of Mao, A Rising Tide of Christianity ,” ran on Monday, July 19; the second, “China’s Divided Catholics Seek Reconciliation ,” ran on Tuesday. The three remaining episodes, each just over ten minutes in length, will run today, Thursday, and Friday. All are being posted on the NPR website as both audios and slightly abbreviated transcripts.

This is, of course, a story that was covered first in the pages of First Things , most notably in Francesco Sisci’s article “ China’s Catholic Moment ” in the June/July 2009 issue. That said, the ongoing NPR series is, so far, well worth a listen and a look. In addition to each day’s story, NPR’s website offers slideshows and other images related to the broadcasts. Also available on the website are growing threads of comments from NPR listeners and readers. Sadly, many of these are stridently anti-religion in both their content and their tone.