China’s attempts to secularize religion have spilled over into rewriting the Bible.
Under the direction of the Chinese government, two Protestant organizations in China, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the Chinese Christian Council, created a five-year plan to reorient the Bible to promote socialism and create a new Christianity that favors the communist government’s agenda.
The goal is to eradicate
any form of Christianity deemed to threaten the authority of the Chinese state
and replace it with a form that advances the Communist Party’s ends. This
secularizing process is known as sicinization.
New reports on the
five-year plan from the Rev. Bob Fu, founder of the persecution watchdog
organization ChinaAid, come in the wake of intensifying
persecution of Christians throughout China.
In particular, government
officials forced closure of hundreds of churches in 2018 alone, in addition to imprisoning
or detaining pastors. Three
major churches were closed between September and December last year,
including Zion Church in Beijing, Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, and
Rongguili Church in Guanzhou.
Mounting claims of
Christian persecution in China have put many in the human rights community on
alert.
The Chinese government’s
attempts to rewrite the Bible come just months after China banned all purchases of the Bible on the internet,
one of the last legal ways to obtain a Bible in the country.
In line with China’s renewed efforts to cement nationalism within Judeo-Christianity, the government will incorporate Buddhist and Confucian teachings in the Old Testament and provide additional commentary on the New Testament.
Also included in the
five-year plan are efforts to marry Chinese characters, architecture, and other
expressions of Chinese culture to a Christian’s expression of his or her faith.
China’s latest infringements
on religious freedom bring back memories of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution
from 1966 to 1976, when the communist leader attempted to abolish religion
completely.
However, it does not
appear that President Xi Jinping intends to follow suit. Rather, he aims to tie
the national mandate to Christianity in a way that hinders the genuine practice
of the faith in China.
Government altering of the doctrine of a historic religion provides the U.S. firm ground on which to stand against those attempting to impede religious freedom. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have led the way in advocating enforcement of Global Magnitsky Act sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for violations of religious freedom.
The U.S. cannot sit back
while these injustices persist, and should seek to hold Chinese officials accountable. The Heritage Foundation will host an event
Tuesday on religious freedom in China featuring Fu that will explore steps the
U.S. could take.
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