Bitter Winter
A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

NEWS FROM CHINA

China’s New Year Gift to Mount Kailash Pilgrims: More Checkpoints, Less Pilgrimage
Fearful of the event’s increasing success, Beijing attempts to diminish the holy journey to the point of insignificance.
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: Create Abundance and the Vague Science of Spiritual Persecution
Members of the self-help group are persecuted. The authorities claim they belong to yet another xie jiao.
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
How Chinese Propaganda Erased Mongolian Identity—and Much More
Soyonbo Borjgin’s PropagandaScope provides an effective new lens on the CCP’s machinery of erasure.
FEATURED INTERNATIONAL
Mapping “Subtle Energies”: From Occult Physics to Eco-Spirituality and Politics
A monumental book explores the many incarnations of prana, qi, kundalini, and other invisible yet influential forces.
OP-EDS CHINA
The New Law on Ethnic Unity: A Threat to Tibetan Buddhism
The new policy assaults the Tibetan language and thus Tibet’s cultural and religious foundations.
OP-EDS INTERNATIONAL
“Brainwashing,” Steven Hassan,and the OneTaste Case. 1. Weaponizing Anti-Trafficking Laws
Anti-cultists persuaded prosecutors to reintroduce discredited mental manipulation theories by interpreting anti-prostitution and forced labor statutes.
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 5. 国際法違反
「社会的相当性」と「公共の福祉」を理由として宗教または信条の自由を制限することは、自由権規約(ICCPR)によって禁じられている。






