Religious Freedom in China 'Poor,' Says U.S. Human Rights Report
Freedom of religion in China remained poor with the government trying to control and regulate religious groups, stated the 2005 U.S. Human Rights Report.
Freedom of religion in China remained poor with the government trying to control and regulate religious groups, stated the 2005 U.S. Human Rights Report released on Wednesday.
Although the official law in China provides freedom of religious belief, the government restricts religious practice to government-sanctioned organizations and registered places of worship, controlling the growth and scope of the activity of religious groups, according to the report.
Protestantism and Catholicism are among the five main religions that the Chinese government recognizes.
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Although the government recognizes religious groups, it continues to try to control them, especially unregistered groups, to prevent a potential source of authority outside of the control of the government and the Communist party.
Regulations of unregistered Protestant “house churches” varied widely with registered and unregistered Protestant and Catholic churches existing openly side-by-side and worshipping openly with the full knowledge of local authorities in some areas, while in other areas a house church meeting of more than a handful of family members and friends was strictly banned, the report noted.
It also made mention of the ongoing crackdown against unregistered Protestants and Catholics among other religious groups.
In some areas, “underground” churches were closed down by police, particularly in locations where unregistered churches were growing rapidly growing in numbers or places with a history of conflict between official and unofficial churches such as with Catholics in Baoding, Hebei Province, or with evangelical underground Protestant groups in Henan Province and elsewhere.
The human rights report also documented that Protestant house churches and their leaders were subjected to a selective crackdown and, in many areas, authorities frequently disrupted house church meetings and retreats, detaining leaders and church members. In May 2005, authorities reportedly detained hundreds of house church member f rom different groups in Jilin Province. In June authorities reportedly held approximately 100 pastors at Henan Province’s Qi County detention center after detaining them at religious retreats in the province. The human rights report also listed dates and information on other cases of Christians detained, abused, and raids of church meetings.
The case of Protestant Pastor Cai Zhuohua, his wife and two other relatives was included in the report and according to “reliable reports” was described by the central government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as “one of the most important cases in the campaign to prevent foreign infiltration under the cover of religion.”
Zhouhua and his family were sentenced f rom 18 months to three years in prison in November for printing Bibles and Christian literatures without authorization. Authorities seized over 200 thousand volumes of religious literature f rom a warehouse they owned in September 2004 according to the report.
However, the U.S. Department of State did recognize that freedom to participate in officially sanctioned religious activity continued to increase in most areas in China although the amount of religious freedom varied widely within the country.
The report also noted that Bibles and other religious texts were available in most parts of the country although some members of underground churches complained that the supply and distribution of Bibles, especially in rural locations, was inadequate.
There are also credible reports that the Chinese government sometimes confiscated Bibles and other religious material.
