Readers of The Forum may have recently received a free newspaper, The Epoch Times, and assumed it came from some local church. As far as I know, it did not. It came from an ultra-conservative religious group called Falun Gong.
They also produce and heavily advertise a Chinese dance and song group called “Shen Yun,” which appeared a year or so ago at the Chester Fritz in Grand Forks. My wife and I went to a Shen Yun performance in California. It was very impressive, but its politics were explicit.
It claims to be reviving ancient Chinese traditions, though a review we read discounted this claim. Nevertheless, the dances were beautiful and impressive. Here is part of a Wikipedia article on Falun Gong, minus footnotes; the emphasis was in the article: “Led by Li Hongzhi, who is viewed by adherents as a deity-like figure, Falun Gong practitioners operate a variety of organizations in the United States and elsewhere, including the dance troupe Shen Yun.
They are known for their opposition to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), espousing anti-evolutionary views, opposition to homosexuality and feminism , and rejection of modern medicine , among other views described as " ultra-conservative. " These views are explicit in the show. The show culminated in Li Hongzhi or someone representing him set against a huge golden aura, as a messianic figure, with triumphal music.
This is not a Christian group. The Epoch Times is their main medium aside from their heavy advertising of Shen Y.
