On this episode of China Uncensored,
religion in China is getting sinicized.
Hi, welcome back to China Uncensored.
I'm Chris Chappell.
You've probably read so-called reports
that under the Communist Party in China,
people who practice religion
are constantly oppressed,
arrested,
even tortured.
Well, good news, everyone!
The Party has just released some new regulations
that should convince you that everything's
going to change for the better.
Religions are going to "sinicize."
No, that's not what your new-agey friend
does with a neti pot to clear their sinuses.
English state-run China Global Television Network explains.
"The new regulations highlight religious
and social harmony;
they call for respect between believers
and non believers;
as well as between religions."
Wow, these new regulations
sound like real progress has been made!
I can see now why the Communist Party
was so upset by that recent US report
criticizing China's religious freedom.
That US report claims that
"the Chinese government tortures and imprisons
thousands for their religious beliefs."
Including Tibetans, Muslims,
Falun Gong, and Christians.
But that report covered China in 2016.
That was the old,
antiquated China.
Now is the new,
cool China—
the enlightened China
that's totally on board with religion.
Unless for some reason
China's state-run media
isn't giving us the full picture
and this is instead part of some elaborate scam
to spread propaganda to the West.
But that wouldn't be very Christian of them,
would it?
China has five officially recognized religions:
Buddhism, Taoism, Islam,
Christianity and Catholicism,
yes, in China
those last two things are different.
And if you want to practice religion,
and not get in trouble,
you need to belong to
one of those official religions.
That's what Article 36 of China's constitution
means when it says,
"Citizens of the People's Republic of China
enjoy freedom of religious belief."
The catch is that citizens enjoy
freedom of religious belief
so long as they belong to one of those
state-approved religions,
where the leaders are hand-picked
by the Communist Party.
It's like, if you're given total freedom
to pick your school's vice principal
from among these three guys.
I'm sure they're all good choices.
Well, following China's announcement
of the new regulations,
the Party-approved leaders
from the five official religions
held a forum together
and decided they're all totally on board
with the CCP's request
that they sinicize their religions.
"Sinicize" is just a fancy way of saying
"Chinese-ify."
Which in this case has nothing to do with
Chinese culture.
This time,
it's a totally made up way of saying,
"[Religious] leaders must steer religions forward
with Chinese socialism."
That's how one Politburo member explained it.
He also said,
"Whatever your belief is,
you must first abide by law."
So to be clear, the hierarchy is:
The Communist Party;
Then socialism—
or whatever current system
the Communist Party decides to promote;
Then Chinese law—
not the "freedom of religion" law,
the, um, other laws;
And then God.
So in China,
the "thou shalt have no other gods before me" thing
is...more of a suggestion.
The new regulations
that Chinese state-run media
are so eager to promote
are essentially about controlling religious institutions
and forcing religious believers
to do what the Communist Party tells them.
The Party also has a specific concern
they're hoping to address with this:
Islamic extremism.
Mu Kefa,
deputy chairman of the China Islamic Association said,
"The goal of sinicizing the religion actually is to
guard against 'desinicization' in Islam,
a trend of misleading use
of the halal concept."
Yeah, Halal Guys,
you aren't doing enough to sinicize.
Where's my General Tso's Chicken gyro?
But seriously,
it's like these Party-approved religious leaders
are just regurgitating mindless Party slogans.
But the real question is,
"Have these new regulations that
'highlight religious and social harmony'
achieved anything?"
Let's take a look at the scene on the ground.
Oh, they're still demolishing Christian churches.
Yeah.
It turns out there's
a bit more to the new regulations
than what English language state-run media told us.
The new regulations massively restrict religious freedom.
Impressive, considering I didn't think they had
any more room to squeeze.
But the Communist Party leaders
are real miracle workers.
Also, with the new regulations:
online religious discussion
will be under surveillance.
Not that they weren't under surveillance before,
but you know,
it's always nice to have more laws
making it official.
They also limit religious gatherings.
There's a bunch of new restrictions
on building places of worship
and financing religious groups.
Foreign donations are outright banned,
and local "donations over 100,000 yuan
need to be reported to authorities."
The Chinese regime also gets new powers
over setting up religious colleges.
Now all that is related to the official
state-run churches and temples.
But let's say that you weren't interested in
having any of these guys for your vice principal.
You were looking at more of a Mr. Belding kind of guy.
Which is to say,
you're one of the millions of Chinese citizens
who worship in non-state approved churches.
Well, time out,
because for you,
things get even worse.
The regulations "increase existing restrictions
on unregistered religious groups
to include explicit bans on
teaching about religion or going abroad
to take part in training or meetings."
But what's really amazing
is that so many people in China
are religious—
despite all the harsh regulations,
and a legacy of communism
that banned all religions under Chairman Mao.
Over the last 40 years,
religious belief has been on
a sharp rise in China.
According to one study,
"85 percent of the Chinese
either hold some religious beliefs
or practice some kind of religion."
And by 2030,
China might have more Christians
than any other country on Earth.
But the Communist Party is worried.
That's why they're encouraging people
to report on parents
who lure their kids into religion,
and ordering Churches
to install surveillance equipment.
The fundamental problem with religions
is that they provide an ideological alternative
to the wonderful world of
Marxist Leninist Maoist Thought.
So the Communist Party views religions
as as a challenge to their rule.
Which shows you how much confidence
they have in their own wonderful system.
So the Chinese authorities
continually try to clamp down on religions,
making sure they can never be
more powerful than the Party.
And they try to reduce religious belief
to Chinese patriotism,
to make sure believers
put the Communist Party before their God.
And if religious believers refuse to comply,
well, let's just say they might be
going to Heaven a lot quicker.
What do you think of the new regulations?
Leave your comments below.
Thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored.
Once again I'm your host Chris Chappell.
See you next time.
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