China's Christians Face Harsh New Rules

On the eve of a major U.S.-China meeting in Washington, the Chinese government has circulated rigid new regulations to control religion in China. The new policies make illegal several dozen specific kinds of religious activity, including evangelistic outreach outside officially permitted church buildings.

Hu Jun-tao, the man picked by Communist Party leaders to be the next top leader of China, will arrive in Washington on Monday to meet with President George W. Bush. When Bush was in Beijing, Hu hosted Bush at a university where the president told students and a national television audience about the importance of his Christian faith. Hu has been one of the key government leaders in planning religious policy in China.

Christianity Today has obtained a confidential advance copy of the new rules that will be issued by the Jiangsu Religious Affairs Bureau to take effect in June. The new guidelines are evidently part of a centrally directed implementation of uniform religious rules throughout China.

Sources who have read them in other provinces say that all the guidelines appear to be identical. Some knowledgeable observers in China say government leaders have opted to issue the rules only on the provincial level, not nationally, in order to keep a low profile and to distance themselves from any protests of the new clampdown.

These rules give government officials license to disregard objections from religious believers. In Section 3, Article 21, the government declares that religious groups must “accept the people’s government’s administrative management.”

Both official and unofficial religious groups have complained in the past that “administrative management” has meant that whatever government officials arbitrarily wanted to do in managing religious affairs had the force of law.

Experts say this wording appears to be a direct rebuke of those complaints from religious leaders. It sweeps aside objections and tells the religious groups that they should obey or face drastically increased fines or worse.

“Any time the government uses the term ‘administrative management’ it gives them carte blanche to run the show,” says Jason Kindropp, a Brookings Institute expert on Chinese religious policy. “To say point blank that all religious groups must accept the relevant government departments and their actions is a key statement buried in these regulations.”

The government is drastically increasing the fines that can be leveled against religious believers who don’t hew to the government line. It doubles the maximum fine to the equivalent of $2,500 for a variety of offenses. That is more than the average annual income in China.

It appears that the official religious organizations have lost ground. Up to now, the government required that Protestant Christian churches must be under the control of the official Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM). Although there are many evangelical pastors in this official church, its top leaders are either agnostic or overtly Marxist in their ideology.

As a consequence, most church leaders in China have refused to register with the TSPM. The new rules appear to open up the possibility that the unofficial churches may register. If this is indeed the situation, then the TSPM may be the big loser.

“If the new regulations mean that Christian churches no longer have to register through the Three Self Church, then that will be the end of the Three Self,” says a nationally respected Chinese scholar who studies churches in China.

Chinese house church leaders, however, are sharply divided on whether to risk registering directly with the government under the new policies. In a recent meeting of several of the major unofficial house church networks, some leaders applauded the opportunity to open independent of the TSPM.

But other leaders warned that it is still too early to say what the government’s intention is in light of the arrests of hundreds of Christians in the last six months. Indeed, the guidelines repeat the ominous charges that unofficial religious groups are a threat to national security.

The rules warn that “religion cannot be used to threaten national security and social stability.” In arrests of local unregistered house-church pastors, the government usually has charged that their preaching, singing, and praying without government approval threatens “social stability.”

In one court case last fall, an official complained that a Bible study group was disturbing the tranquility of the neighborhood by its singing. In the court proceedings, there was no evidence presented of neighbors complaining. In what the government calls “the big cases” of arrests of national Christian leaders, the government usually charges the pastors with undermining “state security.”

Tony Carnes is Senior News Writer for Christianity Today.

Related Elsewhere

Christianity Today’s exclusive March cover package by Tony Carnes examined the secret documentation of China’s religious persecution:

‘New’ China: Same Old Tricks | Top communists, despite their denials, endorse arrest and torture of Chinese Christians by the thousands. (February 15, 2002)

The Unlikely Activist | How a bitter athiest helped besieged Christians—and became a believer. (February 15, 2002)

What China’s Secret Documents Reveal | The New York archive of religious persecution in China contains numerous government documents that show how the government controls religion. (February 15, 2002)

China Persecution Dossier: Zhang Wu-Ji | Tortured to the point of death. (February 15, 2002)

China Persecution Dossier: Shi Yun-Chao | Beaten for Hosting Bible Studies. (February 15, 2002)

China Persecution Dossier: Gu Xiangmei | Surviving on “tiger’s diarrhea.” (February 15, 2002)

Freedom House has the full text of the China persecution report online with an analysis (pdf) of the contents.

The State Department’s 2001 International Religious Freedom Report on China said the “government seeks to restrict religious practice to government-sanctioned organizations and registered places of worship and to control the growth and scope of the activity of religious groups.”

See Christianity Today’sBearing the Cross article on the persecution of Christians in China.

For more articles on religion in China, see Yahoo full coverage and Christianity Today’sWorld Report.

Previous Christianity Today stories about persecution in China include:

Bush: ‘I’m One of Them’ | Religious persecution allegations set the stage for George Bush’s visit to China. (February 27, 2002)

Gong’s ‘Accusers’ Claim Torture Induced False Confessions | Letters from imprisoned Christian women in China describe assaults with electric clubs. (Feb. 1, 2002)

Church Leader Gets Reprieve | China’s case against Gong Shengliang now on hold. (Jan. 24, 2002)

Chinese House Church Leader Granted Time to Appeal Death Sentence | Sentence likely to be commuted to imprisonment, but church remains in danger. (Jan. 8, 2002)

Free China’s Church | The Communist country may ease some religious restrictions, but they still want an apolitical church. (January 3, 2002)

Communists May Recognize Independent Christians | Communist leaders in China are preparing to give formal recognition to unregistered religious groups, but house-church leaders are wary. (November 19, 2001)

Changes in China’s Religious Policy Imminent? | Several respected house-church leaders consulted about official registration. (November 16, 2001)

House Churches May Be ‘Harmful to Society’ | But China’s unofficial congregations resist “evil cult” label. (Jan. 25, 2001)

China’s Religious Freedom Crackdown Extends to Foreigners | It is against the law for visitors to teach the Bible in China’s house churches. (Nov. 13, 2000)

China’s Smack Down | 53 Christian professors, students, and church-planters detained. (Sept. 11, 2000)

House Approves Divisive U.S.-China Trade Pact | But will permanent normal trade relations status help human rights? (May 25, 2000)

China Should Improve on Religion to Gain Permanent Trade Status, Commission Says | Religious liberty in Sudan and Russia also criticized. (May 8, 2000)