Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales

That was his name

I went to it three years ago, it was pretty awesome

It's in Florida btw, not Georgia

Oh. My bad lol.

Gah I should know that too

This is on my bucket list

It's usually referred to in the west as a Buddhist pagoda

Yeah it looks like it.

But it's well known in China for what it really is

Old catholic place?

It faces east. Buddhist and Taoist temples only face north or south

I know Christianity spread to the east.

Interesting.

Actually it's Nestorian

Not familiar with that term.

There's a painting of the nativity on the walls inside

I've been to two Buddhist temples. They don't have nativity scenes.

Yeah. Wouldn’t make sense to have one.

Nestorians believed that there was a distinction between the human nature and divine nature of Jesus

Nestorius who came up with the idea was the Patriarch of Constantinople in the 5th century

So it was deemed heresy, and his followers moved eastward, as far as China, and built the church in the photo in 640 AD

Oh that’s cool.

The Tang Dynasty was cool with Christianity, but later dynasties persecuted it severely

Still do, don’t they?

Chinese that is.

Not since Mao died

It's a foregone conclusion to them that God exists, just like gravity

Always has been

Meaning they believe God exists?

Dunno if you could necessarily call them Christian, but the existence of God, Jesus, and Heaven are just as accepted as the rotation of the earth

Church however, isn't a big thing. The only legal churches are government agencies basically

Interesting. I thought I had read recent government persecution of Christian churches in China.

Three Self Patriotic Movement for Protestants, and Chinese Patriotic Catholic Church for us

The problem is that the government doesn't see any difference in church and nonchurch

It doesn't get a special respect or status

Ah

Officially to join the party you must be atheist. And party membership is required for any higher government position or "elected" office

Interesting that their society accepts God as real, but also accepts that their rulers renounce God.

To non-believers there, or even just people who don't practice Christianity, being Christian is something of a novelty to them. When I met my wife's family and she told them I'm Catholic, they automatically assumed I must be a good guy