China: Twenty Million Communists at Prayer
When, last January 9, speaking to the diplomatic corps, Benedict XVI lamented the absence of religious liberty "in some states, even among those who can boast centuries-old cultural traditions," everyone thought of China.
But very few knew about a surprising article published just before this in an important Hong Kong magazine, which stated that some religious faith is believed and practiced – in the more or less clandestine way – by fully one-third of the members of the CCP, the Chinese communist party, or 20 million members out of a total of 60 million.
The news of the article was extensively covered by the magazine "Mondo e Missione" of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions in Milan.
The article appeared in the November 2005 edition, on pages 8-9, of the monthly magazine of sociopolitical analysis "Zhengming [Discussions]", which is printed in Chinese in Hong Kong and is distributed on the mainland only among highly placed leaders.
"Zhengming" cites statistics from the general secretariat of the CCP. According to these figures, 12 million members of the communist party in the cities participate in religious activities, 5 million of whom are regular practitioners, while there are 8 million in the countryside, of whom 4 million participate regularly.
A significant proportion of these are Christians, mostly Protestant. In some cases the entire family adheres to a religion. "Zhengming" writes:
"In Shijiazhuang, int the province of Hebei, thousands of party members maintain that going to church and participating in Mass constitutes an important part of their lives. Some members of medium to high level have created a 'church' in their homes in order to avoid trouble."
The data of the CCP list the provinces where the religious adherence of party members is most pronounced. Among these there are provinces where the Catholic Church is especially present, like Baoding, a stronghold of the underground Catholics.
"Zhengming" relates:
"During a recent meeting of the secretariat of the central committee, vice-president Zeng Qinghong revealed that the influence and infiltration of religion is more extensive, more deeply rooted, and more resistant than is the case with Western values. Furthermore, he stated that some of the high level leaders have proposed allowing religious faith and the communist creed to exist together within the party. Some maintain that religious faith can make society harmonious and stable and help it to progress, and so religion must be permitted to spread and the members of the CCP must be permitted to practice religion."
The leaders of the CCP have decided to react to this phenomenon. They are afraid, in fact, that this "will change the ideology of party members and lead to the disintegration of their political belief. The spirit of the party will tend to degenerate, and this will create all kinds of social and political crises in the party and in the country."
"Zhengming" reports that "on October 12, 2005, the central committee of the CCP approved the distribution of a document concerning the organizations and members of the party who are involved in, adhere to, and participate in religious activities."
The document delineates a five-point strategy, which the magazine sums up as follows:
"1. The organizations of the party, on whatever level, are not permitted under any sort of pretext to organize or participate in activities of a religious nature.
"2. Party members are not permitted to belong to religious organizations, including foreign religious organizations and activities. Particular situations must be examined by party committees on a provincial level.
"3. Those who already belong to religious organizations and participate in religious activities must, after receiving a warning, leave these immediately, suspend their religious practices and, on their own initiative, present a report.
"4. Anyone who participates in illegal and religious activities will be expelled and will be precluded from holding any post within or outside of the party. If illegal activities are involved, these will be investigated according to the law."
"Zhengming" follows these measures with its own comment:
"Marx said that religion is the opium of the people. This is the basis for the anti-religious policy of the CCP. But Engels said that the best way to help spread religion is to outlaw it. The Chinese communist party has turned a deaf ear to Engels' warning, and has always pursued a policy of hostility toward religion. […] Among the three great religions of the world, the one that the CCP hates the most is Christianity, because it is in the closest contact with modern civilization. This is why Christianity is a religion that undergoes the most serious attacks. But it is precisely for this reason that Christianity is more deeply rooted in the hearts of believers, and also why their influence is increasingly more widespread."
In conclusion:
"It is no wonder that those who hold the power in the Chinese communist party are afraid of this phenomenon, because it is the premonition that their dominion is on the verge of crumbling: therefore they think that they must bring it to a halt and severely control it. But these measures, apart from making party members hide their religious activities, can only reinforce their religious faith and bring it about that more and more members of the party draw near to religion."
In regard to the report issued by the Hong Kong magazine – which is generally held to be reliable and well-documented – "Mondo e Missione" requested an analysis by an expert on China, Fr. Angelo Lazzarotto, of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions. Here are a few of his responses.
On the diffusion of religion in China:
"In the absence of statistics, there is no lack of analysts who speak of more than 300 million adherents, out of 1 billion, 300 million Chinese. The official Chinese publications themselves for some years now have not hesitated to advance the hypothesis that there could be more than 100 million believers in China, referring especially to Buddhism and folk religion. The Protestants of evangelical origin who are promoting themselves vigorously and confidently in China also give credence to inflated figures of the number of Christians."
On the anti-religious policy of the Chinese Communist Party:
"It must be noted that the document of the central committee of the CCP speaks of the 'corruption' that religious ideology is supposed to exercise on party organizations and members. That is, it is imagined that religious ideology corrodes the very nature of the materialist ideology at the party's foundation. It is not for nothing that the statutes of the CCP, while they have been modified in a variety of ways over the course of the decades, to the point of opening the door of the proletarian party to the entrepreneurs and capitalists themselves, have always remained intransigent in the matter of religion. The incompatibility between adhering to a faith and belonging to the apparatus destined to guide the country along the way of prosperity and greatness has never been brought into question. Those who are nostalgic for ideological purity thus do not hesitate to run to the ramparts and raise up new barriers every time there appears the danger of ‘infiltrations’ capable of deforming the soul. But it must be admitted that the multiplication of these norms confirms that they are of little effect."
On the possibility for members of the communist party to adhere to a religious faith:
"The admission of vice-president Zeng Qinghong is significant, in that it shows that even the most highly placed leaders dare to speak of an hypothesis that, until now, seemed unthinkable. In reality, president Hu Jintao's intention, expressed in repeated assertions that he wants to foster the construction of a ‘harmonious society’ in this phase of tumultuous economic growth in Chinese society, cannot be realized if the pathological mistrust of religion, which is today the occasion of much gratuitous violence, is not overcome. It must be remembered that the Chinese constitution, in article 36, assures all citizens of ‘freedom of religious belief.’ And permitting the members of the CCP to enjoy all the constitutional liberties would make the party a more credible guide for the people of China."
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The magazine of the Pontifical Council for Foreign Missions, in which the article was published in the February 2006 edition:
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Even the "Beijing Review" Is Burning Incense
A follow-up editorial published in the "Beijing Review" last January 12 revived the discussion on the role of religion in China.
The "Beijing Review" is an official weekly magazine in English, intended for distribution abroad. Right from the title, it poses the question in problematic terms: "Do we need religious education?"
The author of the note is the magazine's director, Lii Haibo, who appears in the photo at the top of the article and provides for the readers his own e-mail address: [email protected]
Lii Haibo begins with an observation:
"Against China’s fast economic development, people’s ethical quality as a whole seems to be stagnant and even on the decline. Money worship prevails, turning many into greedy and selfish person buckled by profits. Moral landscape is polluted and part of society is saturated by promptings to degeneracy."
And this leads him to a proposal:
"The point is that education is the key to the chain of problems. To clean and mend the contaminated moral landscape, the introduction of religious precepts may be necessary as a supplement to a comprehensive educational campaign that is imperative for China."
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The complete text of the editorial in the January 12, 2006 edition of the "Beijing Review":
> Do We Need Religious Education?
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English translation by Matthew Sherry: > [email protected]
Sandro Magister’s e-mail address is [email protected]
This item 6913 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org
