China removes crosses from churches, replaces images of Christ with XiJinping, USCIRF report says

Washington, DC Newsroom, October 1, 2024 / 8:00 a.m.

Anew reportdetails the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) efforts to exert total control over the Catholic Church and other religious denominations within its borders and to forcibly eradicate religious elements that the party deems contrary to its political agenda .

Analysisreleased last week by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), asserts that the CCP's policy of sinicization of religion systematically violates the internationally protected right to freedom of religion. The term Sinicization means conforming in some way to Chinese culture, but this policy essentially subordinates religions to the CCP's political agenda and the Marxist view of religion, according to the report.

Chinese authorities ordered the removal of crosses from churches and replaced images of Christ and the Virgin Mary with images of President Xi Jinping, the report said. They also censored religious texts, forced clergy to preach CCP ideology, and made it mandatory to display CCP slogans in churches.

To subordinate religions to the party, the government requires religious groups to register in various patriotic religious associations and their local branches. For Catholic churches, this means registering with the Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church of China, which is officially under the control of China's State Administration for Religious Affairs and the United Front Work Department of China. PCC.

Anyone who practices religion outside of state-sanctioned associations is considered part of a cult and subject to the anti-cult provisions of Chinese law, a policy that has resulted in mass arrests and imprisonment, according to the report. Chinese authorities have enforced anti-cult provisions against underground Catholics who do not recognize the authority of government-backed clergy and distort the faith.

USCIRF Commissioner Asif Mahmood told CNA that the CCP views underground Catholics as a threat because they do not recognize the government's supposed authority to dictate religious doctrine and regulate religious affairs.

Even if some Catholics choose to worship legally within the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, they are certainly not free because they must comply with the CCP's harsh control and interference mechanisms, a said Mahmood, who was appointed to USCIRF by the Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives. Hakeem Jeffries.

Ultimately, the Chinese government only wants to instill unwavering obedience and dedication to the CCP, its political agenda and its vision of religion, not to protect the religious freedom rights of Catholics, Mahmood said.

The report notes that the Vatican reached an undisclosed agreement with the CCP in 2018, establishing cooperation between church authorities and Chinese officials in appointing bishops. However, the report said the government unilaterally installed CCP-aligned bishops, without consultation or approval from the Vatican, despite this agreement.

Authorities continue to smuggle out Catholic religious leaders who reject the state-controlled Catholic Church, including Bishops Peter Shao Zhumin and Augustine Cui Tai, Mahmood said. The government also refuses to reveal the whereabouts of Catholic leaders who have been missing for decades, such as Bishop James Su Zhimin.

Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Hudson Institute and former USCIRF commissioner, told CNA that the CCP is trying to separate China's Catholic Church from the pope.

Catholic bishops are particular targets because of their essential role within the hierarchical Church in ensuring communion with St. Peter's successor, Shea said. Those who resist [government intrusion] are placed in indefinite detention without due process, banned from their episcopal seats, placed under security police investigation for an indefinite period, disappeared and/or prevented from carrying out their episcopal ministries.

Shea added that the Vatican-China agreement provides no accommodation for bishops who refuse to join the association for reasons of conscience nor does it address religious persecution. She said religious persecution under Xi is the most repressive against Chinese Catholics since the Mao era.

The CCP's efforts to control religion are not limited to Catholics but also extend to Protestants, Muslims, Taoists, Buddhists, and followers of Chinese folk religions. Chinese authorities are also suppressing the new religious movement Falun Gong.

One of the most egregious examples included in the report is the forced internment of Uyghur Muslims in re-education camps, where they must pledge allegiance to the CCP and renounce their language, culture, and religious traditions. The report calls the government's actions genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghur Muslims.

The report also notes examples of forced re-education against Tibetan Buddhists and the removal or modification of religious texts and images. Chinese authorities have also destroyed or altered statues and temples belonging to Chinese Buddhists and Taoists, suppressed practices seen as contradictory to their goals, and forced the display of CCP slogans.

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