The Olympics in 2008

I have family in China so I thought I might go see the games there. Then I pondered the current state of the Church now and in recent history. Can I in good conscience attend or even watch the Olympics next year? It's something I need to prayerfully consider, though my initial, visceral reaction is no. My other, more cerebral response is to consider the logic of engagement leading to a better situation for the oppressed Christians in China (a more EU approach if you will).

Reporters Without Borders calls on the National Olympic Committees, the IOC, athletes, sports lovers and human rights activists to publicly express their concern about the countless violations of every fundamental freedom in China.

After Beijing was awarded the games in 2001, Harry Wu, a Chinese dissident who spent 19 years in prisons in China, said he deeply regretted that China did not have “the honour and satisfaction of hosting the Olympic Games in a democratic country.”

Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky’s outraged comment about the holding of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow - “Politically, a grave error; humanly, a despicable act; legally, a crime” - remains valid for 2008.