\u201cThe Three Self continues to live at the beck and call of the Religious Affairs Bureau, or to give it its most recent official name, the State Administration of Religious Affairs (SARA). This is the political agency that reports to the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party on how China\u2019s religious life is being administered and controlled. Privately, Three Self officials often complain about the interference and restrictions imposed even on China\u2019s \u2018open\u2019 churches by SARA officials. They decide how many pastors the Three Self can ordain in any six-month period, how many meetings Three Self pastors can hold in any one-month period, and who is permitted to teach and graduate from China\u2019s seventeen official Protestant seminaries.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAll SARA officials are Communist Party members, and thus are not permitted to adhere to any religion.\u201d \u201cThe Three Self continues to live at the beck and call of the Religious Affairs Bureau, or to give it its most recent official name, the State Administration of Religious Affairs (SARA). This is the political agency that reports to the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party on how China\u2019s religious life is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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\u2014Jesus in Beijing<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"