These Chinese Christians Were Branded A Criminal ‘Cult.’ Now They Have to Flee

Holly Folk, a professor at Western Washington University, is sympathetic. “Once you examine the track record,” she says, “you realize none of the accusations are true.” Analyzing the campaign against the CAG, “You see the exact same move by the Chinese government against the Falun Gong.”

As for the image of God incarnate, says Folk, “they are extraordinarily Calvinist, their theology is similar to the theology of the Puritans.” A theme, she says, is predestination —the sense that God has preordained the fate of all living things.

Sure, she concedes, “there are certain things they do, they use false names and are doing this covert stuff,” but that’s because “they are worried about immigration”—permanent residence abroad—to save them from forced repatriation to China. As for those elusive leaders in New York,  they “are concerned about assassination.”