After receiving a copy of The Epoch Times, Aarland Jacobson of Moorhead researched the paper's origins.
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.
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-evolutionaryviews, 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 Yun. Those who receive The Epoch Times need to know where it’s coming from.
Arland Jacobson lives in Moorhead.
Source Link: https://www.inforum.com/opinion/letters/letter-the-origins-of-the-epoch-times
