In a story on Hong Kong's democracy protests, the Los Angeles Times provides this background:
In Beijing, the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily continued to condemn the protests in Hong Kong. The newspaper said the demonstrations are aimed at challenging "China's supreme power organ" and are doomed to fail.
"There is no room to make concessions on issues of important principles," the commentary said.
Hong Kong, a former British territory, returned to Chinese rule under a formula known as "one country, two systems." Those in the territory of 7 million were promised greater civil liberties than their mainland counterparts.
Chinese leaders have said Hong Kong voters can for the first time cast ballots in 2017 for the chief executive, now chosen by a Beijing-friendly committee of 1,200 people. However, authorities want to limit voters' choice to two or three candidates who pass muster with Beijing, which protesters say amounts to "fake democracy."
The Times story gives no hint of a religion angle. Ghosts, anyone?
Enter the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal nails the religion angle:
The protests now roiling Hong Kong are about democracy. But there is an undercurrent of another, much older tension: Between Christianity and Communist China.
Hong Kong’s churches are playing a quiet but important role in the city’s protests, offering food and shelter to demonstrators, with some organizers and supporters citing Christian values as inspiration in their fight.
At least three of the founders of the main protest groups are Christians, including the 17-year-old leader of a student groupand two of the three heads of Occupy Central. One of the group’s founders is a minister and the city’s former Catholic bishop is a vocal supporter.
Churches are deeply embedded into the fabric of Hong Kong society, in contrast to mainland China, where religion is strictly controlled. The Catholic Church established a foothold in the former colony in 1841, the very year that the British wrested control of Hong Kong Island from China, with other denominations following soon after. Christian institutions have since become part of Hong Kong’s civil sensibility.
If there's a holy ghost in Hong Kong, who ya gonna call? The Wall Street Journal, of course.
