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Chinese Doomsday Cult Goes On Killing Spree

Ashley Yang |
June 24, 2014 | 10:39 a.m. PDT

Executive Producer

A tragedy has escalated into the latest expression of tension between religion and the state. (Brandon Themes, Wikimedia Commons)
A tragedy has escalated into the latest expression of tension between religion and the state. (Brandon Themes, Wikimedia Commons)
A member of the radical Chinese Christian sect Eastern Lightning viciously beat a woman to death in a McDonald’s restaurant. Her offense? For declining to give him her phone number (via The Daily Beast).

The attacker, Zhang Lidong, was arrested within minutes along with five others, including his children. In a confession broadcast on CCTV last week, he claimed that the woman was a “demon” and an “evil spirit.” He asserted with an eerily calm demeanor that his group “give[s] no thought to the law” and “believes only in God.” 

According to former adherents, Eastern Lightning was established in the early 1990s and quickly developed a following amongst underground Chinese Christians. It is known for using material bribes to recruit followers and for using violence when the former fails. Its brainwashing tactics to convert new members blur the line between mainline religion and cult worship. 

Combined with media censorship and the atheist position of the Communist party, the McDonald’s killing has sparked the most recent discussion of the degree of influence religion should be permitted to have in the state, as well as the potential for religion to motivate violence. This bout of violence was recently preceded by the wave of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang province, for which 13 alleged Islamist separatists were executed earlier this month. 

Immediately after the killing, many people supposedly associated with Eastern Lightning were swiftly detained in a wave of arrests. Many have been found guilty and received prison sentences in speedy, yet not-so-public trials - a hallmark of the Chinese justice system.

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