Enlightened Martyrdom - The Hidden Side of Falun Gong - James R. Lewis

Enlightened Martyrdom - The Hidden Side of Falun Gong - James R. Lewis

Burning Faith: Interpreting the 1.23 Incident

Enlightened Martyrdom - The Hidden Side of Falun Gong - James R. Lewis

James R. Lewis [+-]
Wuhan University
James R. Lewis is Professor of Philosophy in the School of Philosophy at Wuhan University. He is well-published in the field of new religious movements. His publications and edited volumes include The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements, Controversial New Religions (with Jesper Petersen), Scientology, Children of Jesus and Mary (with Nicholas Levine), and, most recently, Violence and New Religious Movements.

Description

On the 23rd of January 2001, a small group of Falun Gong practitioners set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square. One practitioner died in the square and four were seriously burnt (plus the youngest burn victim subsequently died in a hospital). The government quickly held up the incident as an act of “cult violence,” while the Falun Gong movement just as quickly accused PRC authorities as having staged the incident in order to discredit Falun Gong. In “Interpreting the 1.23 Incident," James R. Lewis sets out to assess the plausibility of these conflicting interpretations. Naturally, the two major parties to the controversy which form the background for this incident dismiss each other’s perspectives as self-evidently false. Specifically, PRC authorities consider that FLG’s defenders have been duped by Falun Gong propaganda, while FLG supporters summarily dismiss everyone who gives serious consideration to the Chinese position as either being on Beijing’s payroll or mindless zombies, and every single piece of accusation against them as Beijing-backed propaganda. Lewis restricts his analysis to discussing what the strong points made by each side of this controversy regarding the details of the 1.23 Incident, and then puts forward evidence to support an alternate interpretation of the event.

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Citation

Lewis, James. Burning Faith: Interpreting the 1.23 Incident. Enlightened Martyrdom - The Hidden Side of Falun Gong. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 85-109 Oct 2019. ISBN 9781781794999. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=30555. Date accessed: 11 Dec 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.30555. Oct 2019

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