WASHINGTON — The Chinese
government intensified its pressure against Christians in 2010 for a “fifth
straight year of escalating persecution,” according to ChinaAid Association, a
Christian human rights organization based in Washington.
Beatings, torture, arrests, harassment and church demolitions are among the 90
recorded cases of persecution, a nearly 17 percent increase over 2009,
according to a report released March 31 by ChinaAid.
A photo shows the moment the cross at the Chengnan Three-Self Church was torn down when authorities in China’s Jiangsu province forcibly demolished the building on Nov. 19 of last year. |
The cases “are just the tip of the iceberg,” according to a ChinaAid news
release. “The Chinese government’s stranglehold on information and the
authoritarian regime’s other security measures make getting a true picture of
the extent of persecution impossible.
Nevertheless, the fact that the
documented incidences of persecution came from all parts of China and involved
people from all levels of society makes the report a useful guide.”
The report suggested the increase in persecution may have been triggered by the
awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiabao and the
thwarted attendance by more than 200 delegates from Chinese house churches at
the Lausanne Congress on Global Evangelization in South Africa.
The report stated that Chinese authorities, in addition to continuing to target
house churches and their leaders in urban areas, are adopting three additional
tactics of persecution:
- The government is severely cracking down on Christian human rights lawyers,
who have increasingly defended persecuted Christians in the country’s court
system. More than two-thirds of persecution cases in Beijing involved such
lawyers, who are subjected to harassment, beating and abduction.
- While the government is decreasing official prison sentences against
Christians who can defend themselves against such measures in the legal system,
mafia-type violence and intimidation (some people have simply disappeared) is
being used, which leaves Christians no legal recourse.
- The government is punishing Three-Self Patriotic Movement Churches (official
churches) that have failed to submit to its complete control. Congregants are
beaten, churches forced to disband, and some buildings torn down.
The report documented 3,343 people who were persecuted in 2010, a nearly 14
percent increase from 2009. Detentions increased by 43 percent, and 336 house
church leaders were persecuted. Overall, the report said persecution was more
than 193 percent worse in 2010 than 2006.
Concerning the three new tactics of persecution, the ChinaAid report noted:
- “Full-scale suppression of Christian human rights lawyers groups: In 2005,
Dr. Fan Yafeng, a Christian constitutional law scholar, launched a movement
within the church to use legal means to protect citizens’ rights, a model based
on the principle of non-violence and in accordance with the actual political
and legal situation in China. In the years since, working in partnership with
Li Subin, Li Baiguang, Zhang Kai, Gao Zhisheng, Jiang Tianyong, Li Fangping and
other prominent Christian lawyers and legal professionals, he established
Christian Human Rights Lawyers of China, an unstructured non-governmental
organization. From its original single mission of defending the rights of the
church, the group’s legal rights defense work has gradually expanded to
defending the rights of other citizens and groups, including other persecuted
religious groups and individuals, rights defense of petitioners, peasants who
have lost their land, victims of the compulsory family planning policy who try
to defend their rights, etc. In 2009, the government severely cracked down on a
number of large house churches and sentenced a group of influential house
church leaders to long prison terms. During this process Christian Human Rights
Lawyers of China publicly participated in many major cases (Linfen Church in
Shanxi, Alimujiang in Xinjiang), thus greatly raising the church’s awareness of
rights defense through legal means. In the meantime, the model of the church
defending its rights spread rapidly to the rest of the country and reached its
climax in the latter half of 2010. Also in the latter half of 2010, the
government began to severely crack down on the members of Christian Human
Rights Lawyers of China in a full-scale campaign, and the focus of their
persecution was Dr. Fan Yafeng.
- “Abuse, torture and mafia tactics: As a result of the vigorous rights defense
movement activities of Dr. Fan Yafeng and Christian Human Rights Lawyers of
China in effectively using the existing legal system in China, some local
governments were forced to appear in court and hold dialogs with persecuted
Christians or non-Christians. This greatly increased the cost to the government
of its persecution activities and in some cases resulted in the failure of the
persecution. Therefore, beginning in the latter half of 2010, the government
began to circumvent regular legal means and instead began to allow law
enforcement officers to wreak physical and mental havoc on the targets of their
persecution rather than punishing them through legal and accepted methods. In
December 2010, Dr. Fan Yafeng was tortured during his nine-day detention. What
is worrying is that, judging from the cases in the first three months of 2011,
such persecution tactics are being promoted.
- “Severe crackdown on Three-Self Patriotic Movement churches that do not
accept government control: 2010 was also a year of persecution of Three-Self
churches. This is a special phenomenon and it signifies that it is not just the
house churches but the whole of Christianity that the government regards as a
threat. Any Three-Self church that dares to adhere to true Christian belief and
is not willing to be controlled by the government will be the victim of a
severe crackdown sooner or later. These persecuted churches are all large
churches led by pastors who adhere to the principles of the faith. The
persecution methods are severe and include beatings, abuse, and forced
demolition of church buildings. Of course, as a result of the persecution, the
reputation of these churches is being turned around, and more house churches
and Three-Self churches are coming together, to help each other and to face
persecution together. For example, Pastor Zhang Mingxuan, president of the Chinese
House Church Alliance, made a number of trips in 2010 to the Chengnan
Three-Self Church in Tinghu district, Yancheng, Jiangsu province where he
encouraged the clergy and believers and also provided help.”
The report, titled “2010 Annual Report: Chinese Government Persecution of
Christians & Churches in Mainland China, January-December 2010,” can be
accessed at http://bit.ly/fEZTHv.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Evans is a freelance writer in Birmingham, Ala.; Toalston is
editor of Baptist Press.)
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