Chinese Law & Religion Monitor
July – December 2011![Chinese Religion and Law Cover-2011-12[3]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig8_W8MSILIKt_meFmjVU0v_n4UKyP3TR_T2uR5M4LUfgAZoQGgO9robvY63TX0-4qsy1gpKoCVskdqeCc-QY1_HRxkAsfbt08GNH9pR2bsi67IrLyMG6M-M1HKYGS-oyGX0LNDCEcGjrw/?imgmax=800 "Chinese Religion and Law Cover-2011-12[3]")
Vol. 7, No. 2
Editor’s Note
By “Bob” Xiqiu Fu
In the second half of 2011, human rights,
the rule of law and freedom of religion all continued to deteriorate.
Large
numbers of rights activists and political dissidents were silenced as a
result of the cruel persecution they suffered in the first six months of
the
year. Regrettably, in the face of the Chinese Communists’ almost savage
“big stick” dollar-diplomacy, the heads of most governments
in the international community have maintained a public attitude of
cowardly silence and trying to curry favor with the Chinese Communist
government.
This Fall/Winter 2011 issue of Chinese Law
and Religion Monitor contains five articles as well as documents
pertaining
to a house church that has been banned by the government and the
church’s petition. The contents of this issue cover international
religious
freedom, civil rights, Europe’s Islam problem, and China’s house
churches as well as information about specific cases. The aim is to
explore problems at the intersection of the rule of law and religious
freedom with civil society and the political structure and to explore
constructive solutions to these problems.
1. Prof. P. Coertzen, of South Africa’s
University of Stellenbosch, in “Religious Freedom and a South
African Charter of Religious Rights and Freedoms,” explores what freedom
of religion means in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious
country like South Africa, what the government’s role is and what
contributions Christianity can make.
2. Pastor E. Perez Romero, director of
ChinaAid’s Los Angeles office, in “Religious Freedom, Civil
Disobedience and Civil Society,” uses Biblical teaching to show that
religious freedom is bestowed by God and that when obedience to God
means
disobedience to man the use of civil disobedience is appropriate, and
discusses some issues and makes some suggestions for how the church, by
using
the Gospel, can bring culture in civil society to new heights. July –
December 2011 Vol. 7, No. 2 4
3. Prof. Ou Dongming, of Sichuan
University’s South Asia Institute, and Prof. Hu Yu, of Southwest
University of
Science and Technology, in “Islam and Liberal Citizenship--Analysis on
Tariq Ramadan’s Views on Western Muslims,” look at the growth
of Islam in Europe’s democratic societies and the challenges it has
brought, exploring and analyzing the paradoxical theory of European
Muslim
intellectual Tariq Ramadan: Europe’s Muslims can integrate with Western
society if they just hold onto the principles of their faith while at
the same time leaving behind those cultural values and customs that are
seriously outdated. The authors pointedly ask: how is it possible to
introduce
new ideas to a faith-derived culture while maintaining the principles of
the faith?
4. Liu Peng, researcher at the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences’ American Studies Research Institute and
director of the Beijing Pushi Institute for Social Sciences, in “House
Churches: Problems and Solutions,” looks at the new cycle of
church-state conflict triggered by the persecution of Shouwang Church
and gives a comprehensive overview that profoundly explores the history,
current
status and operations mode and principles of house churches and sums up
with some proposed solutions to the problem of house churches.
5. Yang Kaile, a house church and
church-state relations expert, in “The imperative for innovation in
management
of house churches,” raises the need for the government to change its
thinking about house churches, to be innovative in its management of
religion, and to give up its rigid and outdated guiding principles and
the resulting handling methods― such as “illegal Christian meeting
sites,” “they are the enemy” mentality, spy penetration idea” and
“reeducation for conversion”.
6. “Documents Banning the Shangxi House
Church in Lizhou District, Guangyuan city, Sichuan province and the
Church’s Petition” contrasts the policy and actions of the government in
banning the house church with the house church’s respect
for the government while striving to argue its position in accordance
with the law. The house church’s common desire and bottom line: “We
are doing this simply for our faith! We want to meet together!”
In short, these six papers all focus on
this central theme: religious freedom is a global issue and the Chinese
government should learn from international models, update its thinking,
and grant the fundamental rights and freedoms that the rule of law
bestows to
house churches.
In the past five years, five people have
had a profound impact on China’s religious freedom, rule of law and
development of civil society. As a consequence, they have been cruelly
persecuted. We need to pay attention to their cases and the
international
community needs to intervene. They are: Christian human rights lawyer
Gao Zhisheng, who has long been missing in government custody; blind
rights
activist Chen Guangcheng of Linyi District, Shandong province;
constitutional rights scholar and Christian Dr. Fan Yafeng, who has long
been held
under house arrest; Uyghur house church leader Alimujiang, serving a
15-year prison sentence in Xinjiang; and imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize
laureate
Liu Xiaobo.
China Aid Association will continue
striving for improvements in religious freedom, human rights and the
rule of law in
China. To do this, we need the joint efforts of all parties at home and
abroad, to explore theory and practice, and effectively promote the
development of civil society in China.
Editor: Pastor Xiqiu “Bob” Fu, founder and president, China Aid Association
December 31, 2011
Texas, USA
Pastor Bob Fu
Editor-in-chief, founder and president of China Aid Association
