Arrests of Pastor Signal Religious Freedom Setback

Li Dexian repeatedly detained.

Li Dexian, one of the best-known Protestant pastors in China, was detained and released again in December and January. This is the most recent incident in a long series of threats, arrests, and beatings he has experienced for 20 years.

“I will preach until I die,” Li reportedly said before one of his arrests in the mid-1990s. Amnesty International says police in China once beat Li, breaking his ribs, until he vomited blood.

One document from the mid-1990s, which Chinese Christians close to Li say is an authentic government report, claims that “Li Dexian is Gwangzhou’s [Canton’s] illegal religion organization’s leader.”

In 1998, during a new round of attacks, police told Li he was “creating a public disorder by illegal preaching.”

The case of Li Dexian signals an increase in religious persecution in China. Stanley Roth, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, warns that “China’s human rights record has gone backwards, in our judgment, in 1999.”

One reason could be the significant social turmoil created by the move toward a market economy. “Everyone feels both ambitious and hopeless at the same time,” says a Chinese government official who asked not to be named. “The basic criterion of social morality is changing. Modern commercialism has replaced traditional agrarian values.”

The worship of money is China’s main new religion. Social pluralism is giving everyone more freedom, whether to do good or evil. The growth of crime keeps pace.

Some people, including a few high-ranking officials, have unexpectedly turned to religion, including Christianity or the Buddhist-Taoist sect Falun Gong. Jiang Zemin, China’s paramount leader, decreed last year that severe pressure should come against any religious group that threatens state stability.

“The bottom line is how far the government can allow you to go,” the Chinese official told Christianity Today. “If you want to go … to young people to explain the gospel, that’s some thing that the government really doesn’t want. They have to stop you. They never tolerate these things.”

Many significant Chinese Christian leaders, such as Peter Xu Yongze, have been arrested in the last two years (CT, July 13, 1998, p. 30). Some trials of Falun Gong leaders have ended in heavy sentences, with more to be completed soon.

Li has been detained at least eight times since October 1999. The October arrests attracted a great deal of publicity because of the subsequent arrests of an Australian, John Short, and Li’s wife, Zhao Xia.

Police accompanied a wrecking crew that ransacked his church’s building annex. “It looks like the aftermath of an earthquake,” Li said at the time.

The main church building was saved when its excited landlord threatened to defend his property with force. Li was again detained in late December 1999, but was released in time to open the first service after January 1. About 600 people attend his two Bible studies every Tuesday at the church in Yongming Village in the Gwangzhou suburb of Huadu. An estimated 65-75 million people attend similar unregistered Protestant churches throughout China. In the meantime, police further downtown have also threatened pastor Samuel Lamb, whose church gained some protection after a visit from former President Bush.

“A big gap [remains] between the still-prevailing pattern of direct government control over religious bodies and the ideal of rule of constitution and law to regulate religious activities,” a government official told CT. “The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] decided to stop work on religious legislation that might supersede government regulations. This decision will further inhibit any trend toward openness in religious affairs.”

Pastor Li’s friends remain wary and prayerful that the government will not exercise the option of sending him to a reeducation labor camp, which it can do without a trial.

Related Elsewhere

See our earlier coverage of this story, “Li Dexian’s Detention Extended for ‘Showing No Remorse’ | Three-year jail term possibly lies ahead” (Nov. 24, 1999) and “Chinese Pastor Released | Li Dexian free after 15-day detention” (Nov. 29, 1999)

Li Dexian’s case is also discussed in the U.S. Department of State’s Annual Report on International Religious Freedom.

Copyright © 2000 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also in this issue

Have We Become Too Busy With Death?' As AIDS kills 4,900 Africans daily, Christians there struggle not only against the killer virus, but against spiritual exhaustion.

Cover Story

What's the Good News?

Cover Story

Have We Become Too Busy With Death?

What's the Good News? A Mystery Revealed

Your World:Psalm 23 and All That

Classic & Contemporary Excerpts from February 07, 2000

Popular Culture:Take a Little Time Out

An Elder Statesman’s Plea

First Pages:Dad's New Prayer Hobby

In Summary:Biblical Studies

The Back Page | Philip Yancey:Would Jesus Worship Here?

What's the Good News? Reconciling Love

T.D. Jakes Feels Your Pain

What's the Good News? For Us—and Creation

What's the Good News? The Gift

What's the Good News? Wonderful News

Did Jesus Really Descend to Hell?

What's the Good News? The Truest Story

What's the Good News? Divine Fellowship

What's the Good News? Mighty to Save

What's the Good News? Good News of Jesus

The Gospel Statement Revisited

Apologetics Journal Criticizes Jakes

Walking Where Lewis Walked

A Peacemaker in Provo

Mere Mormonism

Might for Right?

The Back Page | Philip Yancey:Would Jesus Worship Here?

Southern Baptists: Evangelism in Chicago stirs debate

Wire Story

Indonesia:2,000 Die in Muslim-Christian Conflict

Videos of Hate

States Discuss Marriage Laws

Bioethics:New Stem-Cell Research Guidelines Criticized

Updates

Business:Thomas Nelson Buys 60 Percent of New Life Treatment Centers

People:North America

Comics:The End of the Peanuts Parables

House Chaplaincy Stirs Catholic Controversy

Law:Do Computers Cross the Church-State Divide?

Wire Story

Orthodox Leaders Closer to Unity

'Sexual Revolution,' AIDS, and the African Church

Nigeria:Churches Challenge Islamic Law

Sweden:Lutheran Church, State Divide

Jubilee 2000:Poor Nations Get Debt Relief

Briefs:The World

20 Copts Die as Village Tensions Flare

Church Leaders Confront AIDS

Letters

God vs. God

View issue

Our Latest

News

Ghana May Elect Its First Muslim President. Its Christian Majority Is Torn.

Church leaders weigh competency and faith background as the West African nation heads to the polls.

Shamanism in Indonesia

Can Christians practice ‘white knowledge’ to heal the sick and exorcize demons?

Shamanism in Japan

Christians in the country view pastors’ benedictions as powerful spiritual mantras.

Shamanism in Taiwan

In a land teeming with ghosts, is there room for the Holy Spirit to work?

Shamanism in Vietnam

Folk religion has shaped believers’ perceptions of God as a genie in a lamp.

Shamanism in the Philippines

Filipinos’ desire to connect with the supernatural shouldn’t be eradicated, but transformed and redirected toward Christ.

Shamanism in South Korea

Why Christians in the country hold onto trees while praying outdoors.

Shamanism in Thailand

When guardian spirits disrupt river baptisms, how can believers respond?

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube