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Chinese government: "Terminate illegal Christian activities"
Human rights organization Voice of the Martyrs has posted what it says is a top secret document from the Chinese government—"the first one of its kind ever seen by the public"—ordering "an ongoing, systematic campaign to expose and destroy unregistered Protestant churches in Hebei Province."

"This directive is a smoking gun," Voice of the Martyrs spokesman Gary Lane says in a press release. "It proves the Public Security Bureau is working on the provincial level to destroy unregistered churches and severely punish their leaders."

 "To embrace the victorious opening of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and create a sound and secure social environment, in light of the demand of the meeting on Christian issues in our city, a concerted citywide action will be taken, under the unified leadership of Party Committee and Government of our city, against illegal Christian activities from August 20 to October 20," the August 20, 2002, memo (English translation) from the Public Security Bureau says.

Know clearly all illegal Christian activities, and bring their organizers and freelance missionaries to justice; ban all illegal Christian meeting places; make sure that the spread of illegal Christian activities in our city is effectively contained. Establish a secret force which has wide coverage, and can acquire deep-depth intelligence and information; make sure reliable information needed in discovering, fighting illegal Christian activities is available. Ban, according to the law, various cultic organizations operated in the name of Christianity. Make religious work a daily work of all grassroots police stations, set up detailed plan, and make sure religious activities develop normally and according to the law.

The memo also tells officers to differentiate between "normal Christian activities" and illegal ones. "Cracking down should be confined to a small group of people," the memo says. "For majority of people, education serves as the main ways to stop them from engaging in illegal activities."

"This is not just some rogue police department doing its own thing," Lane says in a reaction statement available only in audio and video formats at the Voice of the Martyrs site. "It's a well thought out, planned strategy on the part of the government, a campaign, a systematic effort to eradicate, infiltrate, and then eliminate evangelical churches that are unregistered in China, in this case, at the provincial level, Hebei Province."

In related news, The Orange County Register today tells the story of local resident Timothy Ho, who is working to free his nephew, "Philip" Xu Guoxing. Xu was arrested in Shanghai December 8 for unlicensed preaching and sentenced to 18 months in a labor camp.

European Union constitution won't mention God
Despite the efforts of Poland, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, and other nations, the European Union's future constitution won't mention God, according to the first 15 draft articles released by the EU's "praesidium" (steering committee) yesterday. Many member states wanted the constitution to credit "God as the source of truth, justice, good and beauty."

"There were a lot of objections to a reference to God," an unnamed British diplomat told The Independent of London. "If you have to keep Christians, Muslims, agnostics and atheists happy, it is all a little difficult."

Several news agencies note, however, that the battle to include God is likely to be reignited when the constitution's preamble is written.

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February (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47