Xi Worship and Autonomy of Religion
China defines religious personnel as people who have “legally obtained the qualifications and are allowed to engage in religious and religious activities.” Under President Xi Jinping’s administration, this group of workers are required by law to “support the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system,” “practice the core values of socialism” and “adhere to the Chinese principle of independence and autonomy of religion.” While these policies may seem at odds with one another, it has allowed scrutiny placed on Chinese churches to significantly increase over the years. Xi pledged to exercise “more control” over its people and authorities have employed new methods to persecute Christians in China, including fabricating charges of fraud and deeming international travel of church leaders a crime.
XI’S VIEW ON ORGANIZED RELIGIONS
In China, the concept of freedom of religion is specifically qualified and restricted by a general concept of an arbitrary “Chinese self-administering principle.” For instance, China’s state-sanctioned churches must actively promote Xi’s thoughts, including worshiping Xi, converting into political propaganda centers to broadcast Xi’s speech during the Party Congress and holding study sessions on party policies. Human rights activist, Bob Fu, further described that, since China labeled the Christian cross as a “national security threat” and began a “cross demolition campaign,” some pastors who refused to remove the cross from buildings received 12 to 14-year prison sentences.
Additionally, the Public Security Bureau uses technology to monitor religious activities, including
facial recognition software that allow the security services to identify and track an individual’s movements and note with whom they associate and where
harvesting of biometric data, smartphone scanners, voice analysis and satellite-tracking systems for vehicles allow for surveillance round the clock
introducing 5G technology to monitor all aspects of life in real-time around the globe
The government has also reportedly censored words like “Jesus,” “Savior” and “Amen” on WeChat while new regulations have been implemented to shut down church websites and Christians’ social media accounts. In other words, all religious content posted online – every word, image and video – must be approved by the authorities.
Meanwhile, China has demanded that schools “oppose and resist Western erroneous views” and encouraged students to report on professors who speak positively about western concepts of governance. Xi has also ordered that foreign religions be “sinicized” before operating in China, namely that the Communist Party must “guide the adaptation of religions to socialist society.”
PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN CHINA
Here are a few recent examples of how attempts to promote religious democracy in China have triggered the authorities’ willingness to use force in nationwide crackdowns on churches and other religious:
Chengdu (2023): Members of a church were questioned by the police about their attendance at a church service and arrested on suspicion of “conducting illegal religious activities.” It is also interesting to note that during Xi’s tenure, a similar case reached Chengdu’s court where a senior pastor was arrested and sentenced to nine years in prison and three years of deprivation of political rights for “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business operation.”
Beijing (2023): A pastor from a large church was arrested and detained for 10 days during a communion service on suspicion of “illegal assembly.” Since the church was targeted by the government in 2019, a number of meeting points have closed, its members have been taken away for investigation and church supplies were seized.
Xi’an, Chengdu and Wenzhou (2023): Two pastors from Xi’an were arrested and detained on suspicion of fraud after being placed under house surveillance for six months. In Chengdu, the police laid out cot beds outside a pastor’s home to guard his activities and prevent him from attending the Sunday service. Meanwhile, a bishop from Wenzhou was taken away by the authorities to prevent him from attending the funeral of another “underground” bishop.
Shenzhen: In 2019, nearly 60 members from a church fled the country and upon failing to seek refugee status in South Korea’s Jeju Island, sought the same in Thailand. It should be noted that the Chinese consulate in South Korea refused to grant citizenship to one of the newborn children in the group, which shows how the government is tightening its grip on religious freedom among its people, even if they are abroad.
Baoding: In 2022, there were mass disappearances of priests who were reportedly taken away for “Party ideology training.” The condition for release was to agree with party policies. Otherwise, they would serve a sentence for an “arranged crime.” As a result, many priests went into hiding and cut off contact with the outside world for protection.
Datong: The police began demolishing a hundred-year-old diocesan house as a way to affirm “Sinicization” and a Christianity “according to Chinese characteristics.”
Freedom of religion is a lie when the ruling dictator must be worshiped, all religious content is curated by the government and priests and crosses vanish. The work of Crossing Borders in China and many other groups helping North Korean refugees continues to be done through the church. We believe that the health and protection of North Korean refugees in China is threatened as the church is further monitored and scrutinized.
