Would you believe it? Red China’s constitution protects freedom of religion.
Article 36 states:
(1) Citizens of the People’s Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief.
(2) No state organ, public organization, or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion.
(3) The state protects normal religious activities. No one may make use of religion to engage in activities that disrupt public order, impair the health of citizens or interfere with the educational system of the state.
(4) Religious bodies and religious affairs are not subject to any foreign domination.
With protections like these, how can believers be so ruthlessly persecuted?
The means
One answer is via an administrative apparatus that makes the rules and then interprets them. Another involves the delegation of religious oversight to local authorities. A third involves the central government and something called “sinicization.” This is the fifth year of communism’s five year “sinicization” plan for worshippers in China.
In late June 2024, officials reiterated that “church leaders must make President Xi Jinping’s teachings on socialism and other communist teachings central to any preaching and sermons in Chinese churches.” Central to any preaching: Xi has become an ecumenical prophet.
In 2023, sinicization got a major boost through mandates that any clergy who are managing religious institutions (i.e., pastors) be approved by Beijing’s religious affairs officials.
Some other edicts:
● Clergy must “love the motherland and support the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system.”
● “The content of sermons shall be appropriate for the Chinese national situation…and embody socialist core values.”
● “It is prohibited to invest in, contract and operate religious activity sites….”
Radio Free Asia also notes that the rules “include a ban on accepting teaching posts from overseas religious groups or institutions without prior authorization, and on accepting donations from overseas. Religious groups are also banned from carrying out unapproved activities outside their pre-approved, scheduled programs, and [from] hosting unapproved religious activities in a site not approved for such activities.”
Crossed out
The communist Chinese constitution already bans children 18 or younger from acquiring “any formal religious affiliation…. There is also a ban on religious education, including Sunday schools, religious summer camps and other forms of youth religious groups.”
One of the oddest features of sinicization is the requirement that places of worship look Chinese. This has led to the removal of crosses from churches and domes from mosques and even to the destruction of historic buildings of special architectural interest. One estimate says that 7,000 places of worship were destroyed in 2023.
Apart from sinicization, there is plenty of Internet bullying to be had as well. Since assuming power in 2014, Xi has outlawed evangelization on the Internet. Christian websites and church websites have been shut down. “Words like ‘Jesus,’ ‘Savior’ and ‘Amen’ on the Chinese social media platform WeChat” are banned.
China’s censors run wild: “Through the ‘Administrative Measures for Internet Religious Information Services’ enacted in March 2022, the CCP stipulated the appointment of trained and licensed Internet Religious Information Auditors who are students of religious schools or religious clergy officially registered with the government.” Religious Information Auditors—Beijing is blazing new trails with this idea.
Meanwhile, the government has its own religious apps—also very helpful. “People in the Henan province register before attending worship services. They’re supposed to use a ‘Smart Religion’ app, which records each person’s name, address, date of birth, occupation, and government ID number.”
Three-Self
Churches in mainland China are divided into the official, unofficial, and international (or foreign). Churches must be registered with the government under the banner of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement.
The three selfs are “self-governed, self-funded, and self-propagated.” The Gospel Coalition writes: “See? No movements, no denominations. Every church is to exist under the leadership of the municipal and provincial council, but without outside influence and without forming networks, presbyteries, or other such groups.” No outside influence means, for instance, that the government appoints Catholic bishops.
International (foreign) churches exist in some major metropolitan areas, but these “are typically asked to check passports at the door to ensure the congregation is indeed international and not local.”
The government-approved Three-Self churches compete with a larger number of underground churches that are subject to harassment for (among other things) financial “fraud,” i.e., collecting and distributing money.
And all clergy, whether Three-Self, underground, or international, are subject to being disappeared for years at a time. Radio Free Asia reports that mobile extra-judicial brainwashing centers have been set up to indoctrinate errant believers:
“You have to accept the statement they prepare for you,” one victim said. “If you refuse, you will be seen as having a bad attitude and they will keep you in detention and keep on beating you…. There is no time limit for the brainwashing process. I don’t know the longest time anyone has been held there, but I was detained for eight or nine months. You can’t see the sun, so you lose all concept of time.”
Love, love, love
And yet Beijing well understands the connection between faith and love. In 2024, says Open Doors, “the government passed regulations requiring churches to post signs that read, ‘Love the Communist Party; Love the country; Love the religion.’ ”
If you are communist, you love the power, love the control. □
James Roth works for a major defense contractor in Virginia.
