Religious Liberty, President Bush and China

Yesterday President Bush, who has been more visible at the Beijing Games than Michael Phelps, attended services at a Christian Protestant church in Beijing. After the service the President called on the government of China to allow more religious freedom for the Chinese people.

The President's attendance at a Chinese Christian worship service fell short of standing up to Beijing, however. In fact, the government of China may have been pleased. Chinese may freely practice religion, the government insists. See? Here's a lovely Christian Protestant Church with public worship services right in the middle of Beijing!

The church, called Kuanjie Church, is a government-sanctioned church properly registered with the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. To the government of China, a religion is something like a trade guild or social action organization. Religious institutions are allowed to operate under the aegis of government "patriotic" organizations, which approve (or not) what priests are appointed, what sermons are to be preached, what rituals are permitted. These organizations see to it that the church is in line with, and promotes, government policies.

If a religious group, whether a congregation or a sangha, organizes and holds services without government sanction and oversight, they are engaged in an illegal activity. Their temple or church -- usually someone's home -- is subject to being raided by police as if it were a Prohibition-era speakeasy.

According to a number of news stories, an actual Christian dissident was detained by authorities and prevented from attending the service attended by the President. Clifford Coonan writes for The Independent (UK):

Hua Huiqi was cycling to the Kuanjie church when he was stopped by security officers working with the religious affairs bureau. He and his brother were taken away and their bibles were seized.

Sonya Bryskine writes for The Epoch Times that the entire congregation of Kuanjie Church was locked out for the President's visit and replaced by Communist Party appointees, who were given slips of paper with written instructions for participating in a Christian worship service. (So far I haven't seen this claim made anywhere else, so I'm taking it with a grain of salt. However ... it's far from impossible.)

Buddhism is regulated by the Buddhist Association of China. The BAC was established in 1953 to eliminate reactionary elements and promote the establishment of a socialist state. Abbots of monasteries serve at the pleasure of the government, which also has given itself the authority to name reincarnated tulkus of Tibetan sects.