The American State “Church”
How interesting that in China it is a crime to NOT put your church under the authority of the government but here in the US one of the first things a "church" does is voluntarily become a State corporation and then file for 501(c)3 tax exemption as a State corporation.
"One recent case of persecution is Pastor Wang Yi of the Early Rain Church in Chengdu. Wang Yi committed no crime, but he was sentenced to nine years in prison and fined the equivalent of $7,500 (USD) for refusing to put his church under the authority of the Chinese government. After a year in prison, he was tried in a secret one-day trial that even his wife wasn’t allowed to attend." From a recent email sent by Voice of the Martyrs