A few months into his administration, President Bush told the annual gathering of the American Jewish Committee that China's government "continues to display an unreasonable and unworthy suspicion of freedom of conscience" and "restricts independent religious expression." He has struck this theme several times since, most recently last month to press for the release of Li Guangqiang, arrested for belonging to an "evil cult" known as the Shouters, a charismatic Christian group.
Beijing knows of Bush's interest in religion and, as its prepares for his first state visit, has taken pains to hide its ferocious crackdown against unregistered religious groups. It quickly released Li from prison. As dutifully reported by the Western press, the head of China's Religious Affairs Bureau, Ye Xiaowen, wrote in January that repression is not working and suggested that a more nuanced approach is needed.
In fact, a newly-released trove of classified Chinese government documents reveals that a more clandestine but just as brutal approach is being employed to crush unapproved churches and religious groups.
Earlier this month, on February 11, a Chinese Christian human rights group, the Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China, released seven "top secret" and "confidential" Chinese government documents issued between April 1999 and October 2001, detailing the goals and actions of China's national, provincial and local security officials in repressing religion. (Freedom House had them authenticated by renowned expert and exiled former Chinese government journalist, Su Xiaokung.)
These documents provide irrefutable evidence that China's government, at the highest levels, aims to repress religious expression outside its control and is using more determined, systematic and harsher criminal penalties in this effort. Hu Jin-tao, designated successor of President Jiang Zemin, is quoted in the documents as endorsing a campaign to suppress the Real God church. The Minister of Public Security is quoted as giving the order to" smash the cult quietly."
Several of the documents focus on measures to suppress the Shouters, the South China church and the Real God group. This last group, Chinese authorities state, rivals Falun Gong in its reach and danger. Another document lists Falun Gong, the Unification Church and other banned religious groups. In all, 14 religious groups are identified as "evil cults" that must be eradicated.
China's new tactic of labeling religious groups as so-called cults has significant consequences for the non-approved religions. Under the anti-cult law of October 1999, China no longer treats banned religious activity as a type of misdemeanor, punishable by fines or relatively short labor camp sentences. Now, religious offences are defined as threatening national security, comparable to a felony and punishable by life sentences or even the death penalty.
Normal religious expression within these banned groups is viewed in the documents as criminal activity. Ecumenical church relations, printing publications and developing a diocesan, parish and prayer group-like organizational structure are all seen as dangerous.
Even praying for world peace is suspect: Public Security Bureau officials express alarm, in one document, that "some misled believers were leaving Shijiazhuang and Baoding for Beijing for 'praying for peace.'"
China is an officially atheist state that arrogates to itself the authority to define orthodoxy, determine dogma and designate religious leaders. The documents are notable for their crudeness in understanding the religions the government purports to control. Revealing a fundamental misunderstanding or deliberate misinterpretation of the New Testament, one document accuses a Shouter leader of twisting Christian doctrines by claiming "Christ is I, and I am Christ." It is likely that he was referring to Paul's letter to the Galatians: "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me" (Gal. 2:20), a text that can be heard in any American church.
