Carmina Burana? Really?

The linked Telegraph article deals with China's decision to ban Western religious music. What I don't understand is how Carmina Burana fits into that equation:

Cai Jindong, a Chinese-born conductor and professor of music at Stanford University in the United States, was asked to drop a section from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, an arrangement of raucous Latin and German medieval songs, which he conducted in Shanghai in August.

Not really Latin and German medieval songs, but Latin and German poems set to music by Carl Orff in the 1930's. It is laughable to put Carmina Burana into the category of religious music, given that the full title in English is Songs of Beuern: Secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magic images.. Coming to a church near you!

Back to the point of the article, I find it an interesting development. It is clear that the Chinese government does not know how to respond to the explosion of Christianity in its country, torn between taking advantage of the obvious social benefits while fearful of its power.

As a fan of Bach, Handel, and Mozart, it is sad to see the restrictions against music as beautiful as Bach's St. Matthew's Passion or Handel's Messiah. At the same time, I understand the move.

Most people in America today do not seem to have an open ear for this "antiquated" style of music anymore, but the glory and spirit present in so many Christian masterpieces is obvious to those who listen. A favorite exhortation of mine from Jesus was "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." I like to think that not only was he being sensitive to the deaf, and maybe a little sarcastic to everyone else, but also talking about a way of listening to really understand the message he was giving. I still remember hearing the Hallelujah Chorus the first time, and my wife thought I had lost my mind the way I fondled my recent purchase of a German import recording of St. Matthew's Passion and insisted on having her sit there while I listened to the entire first half. I can imagine how Chinese citizens, in a country going through such tremendous change, could hear and be affected by the divine message proclaimed within not only the text but woven into the music of these Christian works. And so I understand a fretting government wanted to limit the power these pieces can exercise over its people, or more perhaps more appropriately, God's people.