China outraged the Western world last weekend when it classified the Falun Gong religious movement as a cult and began arresting known members.

The actions came after a week of building protest by the religious group, in which 10,000 followers eventually marched on Tiananmen Square.

In the final showdown, the Falun Gong group was met by security forces who broke up the protest as humanely as possible.

The Chinese crackdown has enormous implications for every sovereign nation-state, as well as every religious group. First, the Falun Gong movement was deemed a threat to national security by the Communist Party. This raises the issue of how far a country may go to protect the populace and its own interests.

Second, by labeling Falun Gong a cult, China has confused the issue of by what measure we consider a religious group a cult.

Both issues currently face America, though the enormity of the problem is greater than most people realize.

When China first moved against the Falun Gong movement a number of weeks ago, it was on the basis of charges that the group had defrauded followers and that female minors were being assaulted and raped by Falun Gong members.

Within a matter of days the perpetrators were rounded up, tried and sentenced to death for crimes against the state.

A house that the group used, as well as all the contents, was burned down by authorities (CNN).

Despite protests by various human rights groups, Chinese security forces were well within the law.

The Chinese government is the chief executor of the constitution, which is the supreme law of the land. Governments answer to no one, save the people, and 10,000 protesters out of a billion do not constitute “the people.”

Religious groups, which place a belief in God over that of the state, threaten to undermine the very foundations of a society. Communist China is a sovereign state, and it is not a vehicle by which people can spread religious beliefs.

Church and state should be separate.

If people want to start their own Christian state, they may move south of the border and declare independence.

To challenge the federal government as David Koresh did is to court disaster.

In moving against Falun Gong, China placed the well-being of the people ahead of any religious movement.

They realized that the state must act to protect the people, especially those who could no longer protect themselves.

Consider the events that have taken place within our borders.

Two years ago, the members of Heaven’s Gate committed suicide, hoping an imaginary spaceship in the tail of the Hale-Bopp comet would take them to paradise.

In that mass suicide, the federal government lost more than 20 taxpayers, which was definitely not in the best interests of the state.

In 1978, 913 American citizens were found dead at Jonestown. Many committed suicide, while others were shot and killed trying to escape.

A U.S. Representative and his entourage investigating claimed that people being held against their will were also killed. In that instance, our government failed to protect its citizens from a religious sect that ultimately took the lives of men, women and children.

Considering that and the benign way the group started out in the San Francisco area, state governments have every reason to fear for the safety of their citizens.

They are as justified in moving against the Falun Gongs and Branch Davidians as they are Saddam Hussein.

All of them represent threats to the well-being of the state and the people and should be dealt with harshly.

When China labeled Falun Gong a cult, they changed the definition of the word. Ignoring the dictionary definition, most people view a cult as a small group with radical ideas that is a threat to mainstream society.

According to Beijing, Falun Gong has roughly 2 million members.

Such a group cannot be considered small, which is why Chinese officials considered the threat of the religious cult very real.

The radical ideas that risked state security were downplayed by Falun Gong, which said it wasn’t a threat to the Communist Party or the nation as a whole.

But by trying to foster a system of beliefs that placed their religious convictions above the interests of the state, they were definitely threatening the health of the nation, as well as undermining public support of the government.

By applying the label of cult to Falun Gong, we must re-examine how we view all religious groups.

Christian Scientists, who refuse modern medicine and believe in faith healing, are a cult.

They place their religious views above the health of their followers and are considered “out there” by mainstream society.

With that reasoning we can call any group that places tenets of faith above everything else a cult, and that label applies to every Christian group that follows the “one true path.”

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Aaron Woell is a senior in political science from Bolingbrook, Ill. He is NOT going to Hell.