Religious Freedom
- Date: Mar 27,2008
China has a long and extensive record of religious freedom and rights abuses.
Quick Facts…
- The Chinese government recognizes only five “patriotic” religious associations and those groups which register with them. Unregistered religious groups and faiths are illegal.
- The Chinese government has a history of arrest, detainment and execution of those religious leaders who speak out against the government or who refuse to register with one of the five “patriotic” Chinese religious organizations.
Government regulation of religion
In practice, the government recognizes five religions which it monitors through “patriotic associations:” the Chinese Buddhist Association, the Catholic Patriotic Association, the Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the Chinese Islamic Association and the Chinese Daoist Association. All religious groups must register with the appropriate religious organization. According to Regulation 145, “On Management of Places for Religious Activities” issued by the Religious Affairs Bureau of the State Council in January 1994 and “Regulation Procedures for Religious Activities” issued in May 1994, applicant groups must have a professional religious leader approved by the relevant patriotic association, a fixed meeting point and activities confined to a specific area. Any unregistered activity is illegal and may be prosecuted under the “Regulations Governing Public Order Offenses” which was amended in 1994 to include “Carrying out activities under the name of a social organization without registration,” “organizing activities of superstitious sects and secret societies to disrupt public order,” and “disturbing public order and damaging people’s health through religious activities.” (src)
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
During the period covered by this report, the Government’s respect for religious freedom and freedom of conscience worsened, especially for members of some unregistered religious groups and spiritual movements such as the Falun Gong. The Government intensified its repression of the Falun Gong spiritual movement and “cults” in general. The atmosphere created by the nationwide campaign against Falun Gong had a spillover effect on unregistered churches, temples, and mosques in many parts of the country. The Government tends to perceive unregulated religious gatherings or groups as a potential challenge to its authority. During the period covered by this report, the Government also moved against houses of worship outside its control that grew too large or espoused beliefs that it considered threatening to “state security.” Police closed “underground” mosques, temples, and seminaries, as well as large numbers of Catholic churches, and Protestant “house churches,” many with significant memberships, properties, financial resources, and networks, and banned groups that it considered to be “cults.” An unknown number of places of worship and roadside shrines were destroyed, primarily in Wenzhou.
Overall, the basic policy of permitting apolitical religious activity to take place relatively unfettered in government-approved sites remained unchanged. Official sources, religious professionals, and members of both officially sanctioned and “underground” places of worship all report that the number of religious adherents in the country continued to grow. While the Government generally does not seek to suppress this growth outright, it attempts to control and regulate religious groups to prevent the rise of groups or sources of authority outside the control of Government and the CCP. The Government also makes demands on the clergy or leadership of registered groups, requiring, for example, that they publicly endorse government policies, or denounce Falun Gong.
The Government officially permits only those churches affiliated with either the Catholic Patriotic Association or the (Protestant) Three-Self Patriotic Movement/Chinese Christian Council to operate legally. Official tolerance for religions considered to be traditionally Chinese, such as Buddhism and Taoism, has been greater than that for Christianity, and these faiths often face fewer restrictions than the other recognized religions. However, as these non-Western faiths have grown rapidly in recent years, there are now signs of greater government concern and new restrictions, especially on syncretic sects (sects that blend tenets from a number of beliefs).
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Underground Protestants and Catholics in the northern and central parts of the country, especially in Beijing, Henan, Hebei, Shaanxi, and Shanxi, reported an increase in efforts to force them to register. Police continued their efforts to close down an underground evangelical group called the “Shouters,” an offshoot of a pre-1949 indigenous Protestant group. However, the situation in the southern province of Guangdong improved somewhat during the second half of 2000, following a period of harassment of house churches earlier in the year. Harassment of underground Catholic Churches that occurred in late 1999 and early 2000 in the southeastern province of Fujian, subsided during the period covered by this report.
Local officials destroyed some unregistered places of worship during the year. In late 2000, in the central coastal city of Wenzhou, in Zhejiang Province, officials razed or closed an unknown number of unregistered places of worship. NGO’s report that hundreds of places of worship were demolished. Local officials claimed that they had destroyed the churches as part of an urban renewal campaign and a crackdown on unregistered places of worship. However, a government notice posted at the site of at least one church demolition cited the Government’s anti-cult law for the action. Authorities maintained that properly registered places of worship would be rebuilt elsewhere. However, observers have noted that a number of the razed churches and temples were not in areas undergoing urban renewal and that many of the buildings had existed for more than 50 years. In addition, local authorities have destroyed thousands of local shrines dedicated to traditional folk religion.
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Tensions between the Vatican and the Government have caused leadership problems for the Catholic Church in the country because of tension between some bishops who have been ordained with secret Vatican approval (or who obtained such secret approval after their ordination) and others ordained without such approval. While both Chinese and Vatican authorities say that they would welcome an agreement to normalize relations, problems concerning the role of the Pope in selecting bishops and the status of “underground” Catholic clerics have frustrated efforts to reach this goal. Some “underground” Catholic priests have indicated they are unwilling to accept the authority of bishops ordained without Vatican approval. Newly nominated bishops seeking unofficial Papal approval frequently find themselves at odds with other church leaders who are sympathetic to the Central Government, and who insist that ordinations of new bishops be conducted by more senior bishops not recognized by the Vatican.
Priests or bishops who served in seminaries were disciplined if they did not overtly support official criticism of the Pope’s October 1, 2000, canonization of 120 saints with ties to the country, many of whom had been killed during the Boxer Rebellion. The canonization, which occurred on the anniversary of the founding of the PRC, was seen by the Government as an affront. As disagreements between the Government and the Vatican intensified in 2000, there were reliable reports that the official Catholic seminary in Beijing forced most of its students to attend political training courses in lieu of theology courses. A number of Catholic seminarians who sided with the Vatican in the dispute have resigned in opposition. In addition, foreign teachers at the official Catholic seminary in Xian were forced to leave the country after the head of the seminary criticized the Government’s position in its dispute with the Vatican. However, many Catholic teachers at other sites continued to work as teachers. (src: U.S. State Department Interational Religious Freedom Report, 2003)
