Mon, Jan 06, 2020 page6

• Christian activism under threat

  • By Joseph Tse-hei Lee 李榭熙
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  On Monday last week, China sentenced Christian Pastor Wang Yi (王怡), founder of the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, to nine years in prison for “incitement to subvert state power” and managing an “illegal business operation.”

  The timing of the trial is of great significance, as it marks the end of ecclesiastical autonomy for unofficially registered Protestant communities, widely known as house churches.

  The only way for a church to survive is to join the state-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement and become part of the ideological state apparatus.

  Equally important is that Beijing completely rejects Wang’s efforts to preach and practice the principle of Christian spiritual sovereignty in society.

  Independent church movements have given Pastor Wang, or people with a similar theological background, a social space to reconcile piety with activism.

  Moving away from focusing exclusively on spiritual cultivation, the taking up of civic duties represents an attitudinal change among today’s Chinese Christians. Seeing themselves as God-chosen individuals with a providential destiny, they drop the long-held distaste for politics and regard community engagement as a sacred calling to serve God and country.

  Sadly, this moderate form of religious activism is vulnerable to state repression. Beijing has reacted harshly, fearing these Christian activities might challenge the state in an increasingly diverse environment that is troubled by corrosive class tensions and rapid technological change.

  Since assuming power in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has worried about the spread of Western values and norms amid an economic slowdown. He has revived the teachings of Mao Zedong (毛澤東) and Marxism to enforce ideological uniformity and political stability at all levels.

  Underlying the contest between church and state is the issue of legitimacy. For any government to enjoy legitimacy, it must first do something good for the people.

  For Chinese Christians, the Maoist regime had nothing to offer but trouble. The Chinese state, as long as it remains communist and upholds the ideological remnants of Maoism, will be reluctant to come to terms with Christianity.

  Days after Wang’s trial, Xi delivered a New Year speech, praising the resilience of the “one country, two systems” framework in Macau and Hong Kong.

  He intends to employ this constitutional framework to incorporate Taiwan into the Chinese political union. Yet, the rejection of Wang’s demand for ecclesiastical autonomy confirms the rhetorical bankruptcy of Beijing.

  In the Chinese cultural sphere, only churches in Hong Kong and Taiwan have the freedom to pursue meaningful change in society.

  Hong Kong’s latest uprisings are the most livestreamed protests ever, and Christians have been very visible from the beginning.

  Worrying about the persistent erosion of personal freedom in Hong Kong, local Christians are mobilizing themselves. They are coming to grips with their own spiritual battle as part of a potentially larger political clash between liberalism and authoritarianism.

  Taiwan is another shining example of faith-based activism. The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT), together with other denominations, played a vital role in the nation’s transition toward democracy.

  The Presbyterians sheltered political dissidents, and the late reverend Kao Chun-ming (高俊明), former general secretary of the PCT, was jailed for helping victims of 1979’s Kaohsiung Incident.

  Many Christian activists and their families endured much hardship and sacrifice during the White Terror era from 1949 to 1987. Despite political intimidation, Taiwanese Christians used their transnational religious networks to campaign against human rights abuses, fighting a propaganda war against the authoritarian nationalist regime.

  Perhaps the most inspirational lesson is that Taiwan’s Christians contributed immensely to the autocratic regime’s peaceful evolution into a free and democratic polity.

  If Beijing prohibits such Christian activism, it would be extremely hard for Taiwanese churches to enjoy religious freedom and ecclesiastical independence in a unified Chinese political entity.

  Joseph Tse-hei Lee is professor of history at Pace University in New York City.
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