[Field Story] China strengthens religious control over Xinjiang Uyghurs… “Reflection of Communist Party ideology”
The Chinese government has strengthened its control over religious activities among Uyghurs through new religious regulations applicable to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
According to the international human rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) on the 31st of last month (local time), the amendment, which will take effect on the 1st of this month, is to allow places of worship and religious teachings to better reflect Han Chinese culture and Chinese Communist ideology. The focus is on the ‘sinicization of religion’, which has been made a top priority.
The amendment includes the clause that religions must ‘practice socialist core values and maintain the direction of Siniczation of religion’ (Article 5), as well as the clause that Chinese characteristics and styles must be reflected in places of worship (Article 26).
Religious institutions will also be subject to new requirements before applying to establish places of worship, and will face stricter restrictions and cumbersome approval procedures when building, expanding, modifying or moving places of worship.
New provisions justifying government control over religious education were also included.
Religious education is prohibited except for government-approved religious groups, and religious facilities must obtain prior permission to organize religious training and large-scale activities. Local Communist Party officials were also given the authority to monitor and crack down on religious activities.
“The Chinese government’s new restrictions on religion in Xinjiang are the latest attempt to suppress Uyghur culture and ideology,” said Maya Wang, HRW’s Asia division Associate Director. “The goal is to force religious activities to align with the Chinese Communist Party ideology.” “If not, there is a risk of being imprisoned,” she said.
The Chinese Communist Party has long maintained tight control over China's religious and ethnic minorities.
In particular, after the bombing by an Islamic militant group that occurred at the Urumqi train station during President Xi's visit to Xinjiang autonomous region in 2014, the government focused on managing Islam while strengthening social control in Xinjiang with the goal of nipping separatist and extremist movements in the bud.
Since 2017, the Chinese government has committed widespread and systematic abuses against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, HRW said.
The organization believes that this includes arbitrary mass detention, torture, enforced disappearance, mass surveillance, cultural and religious persecution, forced separation of families, forced labor, and sexual violence.
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And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:15-16)
Lord, following the earthquake in Xinjiang last month, we are hearing that the Chinese Communist Party continues to revise its religious regulations and forcibly suppresses the culture and ideology of the Uyghur people.
The Chinese government is trying to rule the Uyghur people by making it impossible for them to meet God through socialist values, but we declare that the only owner of this nation is God, who has the wisdom and power of heaven and earth. May the Word of God, not any ruler or the law of the world, cover over this nation.
May you also send more people of God to pray for the wounds and pain of the Uyghur people and spread the gospel.
When the Uyghur people hear about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, help them realize and believe in God's love and become the people of God's kingdom, so that they no longer go face pain and persecution, but joy and gladness, and gain true freedom.
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