Bitter Winter
A magazine on religious liberty and human rights
LATEST ARTICLES
NEWS FROM CHINA
China’s Battle for the Dead: Guangdong Villagers Oppose Crematorium Project, Clash with Police
Residents of Shuikou Town protest for days as authorities deploy riot police and tighten control. It is another chapter in a “war” about burial practices in rural China.
NEWS FROM THE WORLD
Pakistan Blocks Ahmadi Muslims From Eid Prayers
Police and legal bodies coordinated the crackdown. India denounced Pakistan’s treatment of Ahmadis at the UN as a form of Islamophobia.
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TESTIMONIES FROM CHINA
China: The Party Bureaucrat Who Married His Deceased Sister
A national scandal exposes the struggles of impoverished local bureaucrats. Zhao Gongpin used creative fraud to get by. It didn’t work.
TESTIMONIES FROM THE WORLD
A Judicial Suicide: The Tokyo Decision Against the Unification Church. 3. Subjective Interpretation and “Social Norms.”
The High Court based its decision on a biased view of the church and a vague notion of what is socially acceptable.
FEATURED CHINA
Death Toll of the Abrupt End of Zero COVID in China: Likely, Two Million
In December 2022, Xi Jinping declared victory over the virus and ended the restrictive policy overnight, fearful of unprecedented protests. It caused a disaster.
FEATURED INTERNATIONAL
The Fear of the Jesuits in 17th-century Poland and Lithuania: The First “Cult” Panic
An exploration of anti-Jesuit polemics reveals a much older genealogy behind today’s campaigns against groups branded as outsiders, manipulators, or “cults.”
OP-EDS CHINA
Women’s History Month Must Not Forget Uyghur Women
Detention in mass camps, forced sterilization, coerced birth control, and sexual abuse are rarely mentioned. Perhaps economic ties with China make criticism inconvenient.
OP-EDS INTERNATIONAL
“Brainwashing,” Steven Hassan, and the OneTaste Case. 2. The Prosecution of Nicole Daedone
The anti-cult movement needed a “legal precedent” to reintroduce the discredited idea that “cults” use “mental manipulation.”
INTERVIEWS
The Vissarion Template: An Interview with Katya Palkina
After the harsh Russian sentence against the Church of the Last Testament’s leader, a member speaks out.
DOCUMENT AND TRANSLATIONS
統一教会に対する東京高裁の決定 4. 2009年「コンプライアンス宣言」
2009年以降、不相当な献金勧誘とされる事例はほぼゼロにまで減少した。しかし裁判所は、問題は依然として存在すると主張している。