Peiping's persecution of religion on the Chinese mainland is widely known and well authenticated. How is it, then, that otherwise reliable persons with good intentions can emerge from visits to Red China with reports that "freedom of worship" obtains there?
Actually, what has taken place on the mainland is a skillfully conceived and executed anti-religious campaign in which the Chinese Communists rarely admit attacking organized or individual faith. Foreign missionaries have been persecuted as "spies" or "imperialist agents". Chinese clergy have been labeled "counter-revolutionaries" or "rightists". Churches and religious orders were closed and their properties confiscated for alleged "political and espionage activities". And all the while Peiping has promised to uphold freedom of religion. In Chinese, the phrasing of persecution has been purposely vague and high-sounding. Examples are the "Triple Autonomy Movement", the "reform committees" and the "patriotic movement".
Although the Peiping regime is basically atheistic, it has pretended to tolerate religion. The Communists knew they could not suppress religion at one stroke. So they tried to turn it into a social arm of Communism. Religious organizations are permitted to exist only when they support Peiping's policy and its pretense of seeking world peace.
Chinese are traditionally tolerant in religious matter. But after the Communists won control, religion ceased to exist in the usual sense. The one permissible faith became Communism.
"Karl Marx once said: "Away with God. Away with the church. Embrace Communism and you will have all good things in the world.
" Nikolai Lenin said: "Religion is the opiate of the people. Religion is a kind of spiritual intoxicant in which the slave of capitalism drowns his humanity and his desire for some kind of decent human existence ... " Similar utterances have come from Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, and other fanatic followers of Communism. All are confirmed atheists. Communism has never had-and could not have—a leader with faith in God and belief in forces greater than man.
Communists maintain that a better world can be attained only through class struggle and the use of force. Religions teach benevolence and love. They oppose violence and cruelty as means to a better world or for any other end.
Communism tries to make its ideology into a faith to replace religion. It even has its own bible. In the words of Friedrich Engels, Das Capital by Marx is the gospel of the working class and Marx is their savior.
More Subtlety
Before 1949 and their usurpation of mainland power, the Chinese Communists openly persecuted churches and religious orders whenever they had opportunity. In areas under their control, temples and churches were looted and burned; priests and clergy were murdered in cold blood.
The persecution took a more subtle form after 1949. Methodically, almost silently, and with a clear understanding of what they wanted, the Communists set about the task of rooting out religion. While insisting that freedom of religion was respected and guaranteed, they proceeded with their program of destruction. They claimed that they were grappling with hidden imperialism, not religion.
The Chinese Communist "constitution" purports to guarantee citizens "freedom of thought, speech, press, meeting, association, correspondence, domicile, travel, religion, and demonstration". However, the "Statute for Suppression of Counter-revolutionaries" immediately gave the Communists the weapons necessary to cancel out every liberty and especially to strike at religion, which they regarded as a principal antagonist.
The persecution has fallen into the following patterns:
—Deceit and seduction: In the initial stages of Communist occupation, such slogans as "Protect Church Properties" and "Protect Western Missionaries" were posted in cities or towns. The idea was to use the influence of religious bodies to restore order.
—Propaganda to discredit religion: The Communists sang the praises of atheism, denounced religion, identified religious bodies with "imperialism", and promoted "freedom to stay away from church as well as to worship". Communist agents spread the lie that foreign missionaries were "imperialist agents".
The clergy was isolated and kept under constant supervision. Missionaries were accused of "anti-government activities" and of spreading superstitious belief of "treasonable nature". Attempts were made to prohibit religious ceremonies as "a waste of time and harmful to national production".
—Reform and control: Attempts were begun to reform believers and to put them under Communist Party control. In 1950 Peiping inaugurated what it called the "Triple Autonomy Movement" to separate mainland religious groups from "foreign influences". Those who refused to participate were branded as "counter-revolutionaries" or "agents of foreign imperialism". Obstructionists eventually were imprisoned or expelled and their property confiscated. "Triple Autonomy" demanded the self-government, self-support, and self-propagation of Christian churches, thereby creating religious schisms.
"Self-government" meant that churches were to recruit their own personnel and handle everything in their own way without any foreign influence.
"Self-support" signified that no assistance was to be permitted from the outside. The Communists were to provide for the religious needs of those who obeyed their orders.
"Self-propagation" meant the end of the foreign missionary movement. The subject matter of sermons was to conform to the party line and conditions in the "new China". A new theology conforming to Communist ideology was to be developed.
Control of Catholics
In the case of the Roman Catholic Church, the Communists in 1951 established "reform committees" to:
1. Promote the "Triple Autonomy Movement".
2. Link the Catholic Church with imperialism.
3. Arrest and punish bishops and priests refusing to conform.
4. Indoctrinate priests and believers with Marxism so as to control and then destroy the church.
The committees were established under local statutes and details differed. The Chungking law is fairly typical:
"The purpose of the committee," says Article 1, "is to unite the clergy and faithful in the line of their country and their religion, to uphold the 'Common Program' (later called the 'constitution'), to act in accordance with government policy, to sever completely every tie with imperialism, and while keeping a purely religious link with the Vatican, to oppose all Vatican interference in internal Chinese politics so as to reform the Chinese Catholic Church." The Vatican link was subsequently destroyed as the committees gave way to "Catholic patriotic associations".
Churches Closed
Persecutions were numerous. However, it should be noted that officially it was not the church that was under attack. The Peiping regime professed a sanctimonious concern for all religions. Christians were told not to be alarmed at the expulsion of foreign missionaries. A Communist paper said: "Doubtless it is necessary to make a distinction between revolutionary' activities of the special agents that are to be found in religious societies and the religious societies themselves. The Christians must not consider the repressive measures taken by the government against all counter-revolutionaries as being an oppression of religion; these repressive measures are completely foreign to the religious question and must receive the warmest support of all patriotic Christians."
In the three years following 1950, the tightening of the screw resulted in the closing of most Catholic churches in rural areas, Catholic universities, schools, hospitals, orphanages, and other institutions passed into the hands of the Communists. According to the Mission Bulletin, published by the Catholic Church in Hongkong, only 61 foreign missionary workers out of some 5,000 were still on the mainland in late 1954, and 21 of them were in prison. Chinese priests fared still worse. There were three possibilities: slave labor camps, prison or the firing squad.
Schismatic Church
The Chinese clergy continued to resist. Some went underground. "Minister of Public Security" Lo Jui-ching said at the second session of the first "National People's Congress" in July, 1955: "Counter-revolutionary elements are still working under the cloak of religion. Between May, 1953, and April, 1954, close to 200 dugouts, some large enough to accommodate 100 people, were discovered. These were used by secret organizations under the name of the Catholic Church in the Hsien-hsien and Yungnien counties in Hopei province."
With foreign missionaries largely out of the way by 1955, Peiping concentrated on breaking the resistance of the Chinese priests. The arrest of Bishop Kung Pin-mei of Shanghai and his followers in September of that year started the campaign. The next step was to establish a national church completely subject to party dominance. In July of 1957, the "Chinese Catholics Patriotic Association" came into being in Peiping. The next year the Communists sponsored the illicit consecration of "elected" bishops without the approval of the Holy See, thus bringing into being the schismatic church. After that, the regime was free to do what it wished to remaining Catholics on the mainland.
In 1948, the year before the Communists came to power, there were in China some 3,300,000 Catholics ministered by 25 Chinese bishops, 2,698 Chinese priests, and 5,112 Chinese nuns. There were some 3,000 foreign missionary priests and more than 2,000 missionary sisters.
Remaining on the mainland today are one American bishop, still under arrest in Shanghai, and nine foreign nuns who teach the children of foreign diplomats in Peiping.
Aside from the thousands of Chinese priests and nuns killed or imprisoned, at least half a million Catholics on the mainland suffered in one way or another. Included are more than 10,000 who were killed as "landlords" and nearly 50,000 others imprisoned on the same charge, 30,000 killed and about the same number imprisoned as "counter-revolutionaries", more than 200 "rightists" sent to slave labor camps, and 2,000 killed and 3,500 jailed on miscellaneous charges.
The Communists seized or closed 3 Catholic universities, 189 middle schools, 1,500 primary schools, 2,243 rural schools, 216 hospitals, 5 leprosaria, 214 orphanages, and 1 ethnological institute.
Protestantism suffered similarly. There were more than 4,000 Protestant missionaries on the mainland in 1948. Not one remains. Of the estimated 750,000 Protestants, the Communists killed more than 13,000 and imprisoned 42,000. The Reds had expropriated US$21 million worth of church property up to 1960. They made changes in the Bible and banned Sunday services.
Since 1960, all Protestants have been subjected to indoctrination lasting several months. They were forced to claim they wanted to reduce the number of churches. More than 80 per cent of church workers have been sent to "Triple Autonomy" farms and factories. A few elderly personnel are left behind for the sake of appearances.
Under the so-called "Socialism Education Movement", the Communists have branded Christians as "rightist", "ideologically questionable" or "of impure background". Services attract a small number of the elderly who care nothing for what the Communists may do to them. Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter gatherings may not last more than an hour, and even then are permissible only when time, location, preachers, and contents of sermons are approved by the "Office of Religious Affairs" beforehand.
Religious persecution is not restricted to the Christian churches. Taoism, an indigenous religion with no foreign ties, was brutally suppressed. The fate of Lamaism, the Buddhist cult peculiar to Tibet and Mongolia, is known around the world. Buddhists and Mohammedans did not escape, although Peiping has endeavored to court their co-religionists in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Buddhism is the religion with the largest number of Chinese adherents. Before the Communist usurpation, nearly half the Chinese population was considered Buddhist. Individual members of Buddhist associations totaled 4,260,000. There were nearly 800,000 monks and nuns at 563,000 temples, monasteries, and nunneries.
Buddhists Persecuted
A Peiping radio broadcast directed to overseas Chinese listeners on February 21, 1952, vaguely noted that there still were "about 50,000 temples and hundreds of thousands of Buddhists". Today some 200 Buddhist temples remain in the hands of only 500 or so monks and nuns. Other monks and nuns have been forced to recant, to join the army or to work at forced labor. After Peiping promulgated its "marriage law" on May 1, 1950, countless nuns were "emancipated" and forced to marry disabled veterans. Many killed themselves.
The Buddhists did not escape notice during the "Triple Autonomy Movement". Peiping took steps to control them and woo them away from international Buddhist influences. Buddhists were told to "purify" themselves of foreign influences and "feudal superstitions" and participate in the materialistic programs of the regime. A "reform" meeting in October, 1950, announced that Buddhism would "develop along the road of production and should not preach superstitious beliefs". In 1952, preparatory meetings were held for the promotion of the "China Buddhist Association", which was inaugurated in June, 1953.
Traditional Buddhist education has been supplanted by youth corps, young pioneers, and campaigns and activities promoted by local Communist cadres. Peiping has made it quite clear that "education must be independent of religion and religious activities must not violate the law". Cadres have encouraged the use of temples and nunneries for political meetings, study groups, schools, and the quartering of troops.
Taoist Resistance
Repair of Buddhist temples at "government expense" is wholly for propaganda purposes. As another gesture of appeasement, the Communists opened an institute of Buddhist theology in Peiping in September, 1956. But monks and nuns trained there were used as political tools. According to an escapee from the mainland, the institute was closed in 1959. Not more than 200 students, out of fewer than 500 admitted, were graduated.
Next to Buddhism in Chinese influence has been Taoism. Most Chinese people are Buddhist or Taoist or both. As far as the people are concerned, there is no strict line of demarcation. The supreme doctrine of Taoism is to let nature take its course. Taoism also maintains that there is no sin greater than greed.
Taoists have fared badly because of their determined anti-Communist resistance. The number of Taoist temples confiscated is estimated at 318,000. As early as 1951, many Taoist leaders were forced to renounce their faith. Other leaders went underground and fought the Communists.
The "Chinese Taoist Association" was established by collaborators in the summer of 1957 and attempted to bring the "reactionary" Taoist, elements under control, but resistance continued. Even now, Taoist influence is seen in many of the anti-Communist activities of the mainland people.
Peiping puts the number of Moslems in Communist China at about 10 million. The pre-1950 total was estimated at around 50 million. They live mostly in the northwestern provinces of Ninghsia, Kansu, and Tsing-hai Islam is a way of life as well as a religion. This is another reason why the Communists have sought to outlaw the teachings of Mohammed.
Peiping's policy toward the Moslems, like its policy toward other minorities, is to keep them politically divided into a large number of "autonomous" groups actually controlled by Peiping, and of appearing to respect their cultural patterns while working steadily to eradicate them.
Moslems Fight Back
There was interference with Moslems from 1949 on. Mosques and other buildings belonging to Moslem communities were converted into barracks and schools. Such policies produced strong resistance.
Despite Peiping's efforts to present a rosy picture of mainland Mohammedanism, visitors have said the Chinese Communists are persecuting Islam as vigorously, although more subtly, than the Russians. Moslem youths are receiving heavy doses of political indoctrination and no Islamic education.
The Chinese Moslem Association of Taiwan recently denounced the Peiping regime for a so-called "Four Conformity Campaign" that seeks to exterminate all traces of Mohammedanism. The four points enforced for Moslems are:
Faith—None except Communism.
Food—Everyone must eat at the same communal dining halls, and Moslems must eat pork.
Marriage—No religious barriers.
Funerals—Cremation instead of Moslem burial. Those following the custom of burial are "anti-revolutionaries" because they are wasting arable land.
The association said Moslems in northwestern China and Yunnan in the southwest still make up some of the strongest anti-Communist guerrilla forces on the mainland.
Control of religion on the Chinese mainland is exercised both by the Communist Party and "government" organs. The "united front work departments" at various levels of the Chinese Communist Party are responsible for handling religious groups and ideologies. A "Bureau of Religious Affairs" was founded under Peiping's "State Council" in 1954. It controls the activities of eight major religious bodies: the "Chinese Buddhist Association", "Chinese Taoist Association", "Chinese Islamic Association", "National Committee of the (Protestant) Christian Churches in China", "Young Men's Christian Association", "Young Women's Christian Association", "Association of Christian Churches for the Triple Autonomy Patriotic Movement", and "Chinese Catholics Patriotic Association".
Symbolic theological institutions include the Institute of Islamic Theology, Protestant seminaries in Peiping, Nanking, and Canton, and a few Catholic monastaries. An "office of religious affairs" exists under each provincial or special municipal government, and its activities are directed by the Peiping "bureau".
The Chinese Communists tolerate religious organizations only when it is expedient. Even this toleration is conditioned on active support and absolute obedience.
As President Chiang Kai-shek has testified in a number of his Good Friday and Easter messages, history proves that atheistic tyrannies do not last long. The Chinese Communists will not be able to escape this judgment of history.
The mainland faithful have been humiliated and tortured, but while their bodies have fallen in defense of faith, their invisible spirit lives on. The battle is not lost. It goes on today throughout the mainland. Believers in God and a life beyond the grave await the return of the Government of the Republic of China, which has steadfastly respected and defended freedom of religion. These same believers are doing all they can to speed that day.