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When Macau Daily covered this story it pointed out that Chinese regulations allow individual religious activities, but prohibit missionary work, and public witnessing is strictly forbidden. The tone of the article implied that restricting mainlanders' religious freedom was appropriate and should be encouraged. Apart from the Macau Daily, Hong Kong's Mingpao newspaper also reported Beijing's line on the issue, sending a similar message.
Although China's Constitution grants Chinese people religious freedom, in reality other laws and regulations severely restrict their religious practices. On a scale of 1 to 100, with complete religious freedom at 100 points, the Chinese government would score at most 30 points, due to the many limitations it imposes on normal religious practices.
By contrast, people in Hong Kong and Macau still enjoy a range of religious freedoms, including the right to gather, to preach and to witness in public, thanks to the colonial rule of Britain and Portugal, both Christian countries. Even though both territories have been returned to Chinese sovereignty, they retain these rights under the protection of their respective Basic Laws, designed for these two Special Administrative Regions.
However, whether or not these two regions can maintain this freedom, which is denied to Chinese in the mainland, is a major concern to many religious believers who reside in Hong Kong and Macau. Hence the media in these "free areas" should pay more attention to this issue within the mainland and to those who are persecuted for their beliefs. The media should not debate or speak in favor of the oppression of basic human rights and freedoms.
Complete freedom includes free will and free action. Likewise, so-called religious freedom should include the freedom to express one's beliefs. However, while China's Constitution says the government "protects normal religious activities," the Religious Affairs Provisions prohibit preaching and proselytizing outside of officially registered religious venues -- in other words, state approved churches, mosques and temples. They also prohibit Chinese religious organizations from any connection with their foreign counterparts, which includes receiving funds, guidance or management from abroad.
As for foreign religious groups, they are not allowed to preach in China by any means, including the dissemination of religious leaflets. There is no freedom of speech, gathering, forming associations, or press for Chinese believers. Therefore I only give 30 points to China's freedom of religion, whereas 60 would be a passing mark and 100 would be full marks.
Some international religious and political organizations use formal criteria to rate religious freedom around the world. China is consistently named as one of the countries that enjoy the least religious freedom. Similar to countries that have Islam as their state religion, it can be said that China regards communism as its state religion. Some scholars think that the framework of communism is similar to that of Christianity. The difference is that China has changed "God" into "material" and changed "love and faith" into "contradiction and struggle." Under this national faith, Communist Party members serve as "missionaries."
The Chinese people deserve to know of the objective criteria by which religious freedom is evaluated in the world -- that it includes the right for believers to gather peacefully in public or private, without fear of arrest, and to share their beliefs freely with anyone at any time or place. They can then become aware of their own deprivation of freedom -- which is the precondition for obtaining more freedom.
With China's commitment to a policy of reform and opening up, and with the advancing trend of globalization, if the Chinese Communist Party simply sticks to the principle of separation of religion and government, it can fully allow religious freedom without harming its leading position in China's development.
To all those who believe in God, by whatever name, it stands to reason that God shares humanity's concern for the 1.3 billion Chinese people and would wish to see them prosper and advance, both materially and spiritually. No one with a true desire to benefit China need fear opening up the country to God.
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(Dr. Chang Chuan-fong is Asia director of the International Educational Foundation and former associate professor in the Department of Education at Minghsin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. @Copyright Chang Chuan-fong.)
