{"id":5138,"date":"2017-02-02T10:00:59","date_gmt":"2017-02-02T15:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thediplomaticenvoy.com\/?p=5138"},"modified":"2021-01-22T18:06:01","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T23:06:01","slug":"5138","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2017\/02\/02\/5138\/","title":{"rendered":"Focus on Religious Persecution: China"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mariah McCloskey
\n<\/b>Web Editor<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom 2015 <\/span>report<\/span><\/a> listed China<\/span><\/a>\u00a0alongside sixteen other nations as a \u201ccountry of particular concern\u201d for inhibiting the religious expression of its citizens. The report detailed various restrictions Chinese authorities have placed on Christians, Uighur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, and other faith groups, noting that \u201cpeople of faith continue to face arrests, fines, denials of justice, lengthy prison sentences, and in some cases, the closing or bulldozing of places of worship.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A report conducted by <\/span>ChinaAid<\/span><\/a> revealed that a total of 20,000 Chinese Christians suffered religious persecution at the hands of the Communist Chinese government in 2015 alone.<\/span><\/p>\n

In China\u2019s Zhejiang province, the government made public a new\u00a0<\/span>draft proposal<\/span><\/a>\u00a0calling for the removal of crosses from the tops of churches and outlining a rigid policy that would greatly restrict their display. The government has forcibly removed the crosses from several churches in the province over the past year, and even\u00a0<\/span>tore down<\/span><\/a>\u00a0the 180-foot spire of state-sponsored Sanjiang Church in Wenzhou, China May of 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the <\/span>New York Times<\/span><\/a> the regulations will \u201creduce the Christian symbol to obscurity, mandating that they only be installed on the side, not the top, of structures, be a color that blends into their surroundings, and extend no more than one-tenth the height of the building\u2019s facade.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Carsten Vala, a\u00a0research fellow at Purdue University\u2019s Center on Religion and Chinese Society, told <\/span>ThinkProgress<\/span><\/a>, that the government\u2019s actions in Zhejiang could also hurt the local economy\u00a0since the new policies challenge a longstanding truce between the city and its Christians \u2014 many of whom are major players in local markets.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of those Christians are entrepreneurs, so they bring a lot of business and jobs,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I interview people [in Zhejiang], they say Christians there only care about two things: God and making money.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In China, only five major religions are granted permission from the Communist Party to undertake \u201c<\/span>lawful<\/span><\/a>\u201d practices: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism. Even amongst the five recognized religions, if the government decides that their practices are \u201cunlawful,\u201d oppression follows.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christian communities and non-traditional Protestant communities are monitored and limited in their freedom of religion. While a considerable part of persecution targets Christians, small convert minorities among the Tibetans and the Muslim Uighurs face increasing restrictions too.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Chinese government has been <\/span>openly<\/span><\/a> discriminating the Muslim population of over 10 million living in the Xinjiang autonomous region. Teachers and civil workers are prohibited from participating in any religious activity, and on top of this, minors are not allowed to receive education in religion. Xinjiang university students are prohibited from participating in the Ramadan fast\u00a0and are forced to eat and drink food distributed by the government.<\/span><\/p>\n

The official Xinhua News Agency issued a report on “cults” in the United States. The Chinese government has adopted much of the terminology of the Western anti-cult movement.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The Chinese government <\/span>quoted<\/span><\/a> Berkley psychology professor Margaret Singer\u2019s report on anti-cult movements. The report discusses \u201cspiritual poisoning.\u201d Cults are said to \u201cnot obey the law, they upset social order, and they create a menace to freedom of religion and social stability. Under the pretense of religion, kindness, and being non-political, they participate in political activities. Some of them even practice criminal activities such as tax evasion, fraud, drug dealing, smuggling, assassination, and kidnapping.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201ccult\u201d label has proven especially dangerous for members of banned religions, like Falun Gong, <\/span>introduced to the Chinese public in Changchun during 1992 by its founder, Li Hongzhi. It is a largely spiritual movement and is seen by its followers as more of a way of life<\/span>. Falun Gong practitioners have <\/span>reportedly<\/span><\/a> been sent to camps and subjected to organ harvesting.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to current <\/span>president Xi Jinping<\/span><\/a>, religion must conform to and benefit a socialist society. At a national conference on religion held in April of 2016, he urged his administration to ensure that religions \u201cmerge religious doctrines with Chinese culture, abide by Chinese laws and regulations, and devote themselves to China’s reform and opening-up drive and socialist modernization in order to contribute to the realization of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom 2015 report listed China alongside sixteen other nations as a \u201ccountry of particular concern\u201d for inhibiting the religious expression of its citizens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3454,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[976,5,1097,1406],"tags":[393],"class_list":["post-5138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-february-2017","category-focus","category-1097","category-religious-persecution","tag-china"],"yoast_head":"\nFocus on Religious Persecution: China - The Diplomatic Envoy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2017\/02\/02\/5138\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Focus on Religious Persecution: China - 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