“A stronghold of the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble are You.”
The Chinese government has strengthened its control over religious activities among Uyghurs through new religious regulations applicable to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
According to the international human rights group Human Rights Watch on the 31st of last month (local time), the amendment, which takes effect on the 1st of this month, has been President Xi Jinping’s top priority since 2016 to ensure that places of worship and religious teachings better reflect Han Chinese culture and Chinese Communist ideology.
The amendment includes the clause that religions must ‘practice socialist core values and maintain the direction of the ‘Sinicization of religion’ (Article 5), as well as the clause that Chinese characteristics and styles must be reflected in places of worship (Article 26). In addition, religious institutions will be subject to new requirements before applying to establish places of worship and will face stricter restrictions and cumbersome approval procedures when building, expanding, modifying, or moving places of worship.
New provisions justifying government control over religious education were also included. Religious education is prohibited except for government-approved religious groups, and religious facilities must obtain prior permission to organize religious training and large-scale activities. Local Communist Party officials were also given the authority to monitor and crack down on religious activities.
The Chinese Communist Party has long maintained tight control over China’s religious and ethnic minorities. In particular, after the bombing by an Islamic militant group that occurred at the Urumqi train station during President Xi’s visit to the Xinjiang autonomous region in 2014, the government focused on managing Islam while strengthening social control in Xinjiang to nip separatist and extremist movements in the bud.
Since 2017, the Chinese government has committed widespread and systematic abuses against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch noted. The organization believes that this includes arbitrary mass detention, torture, enforced disappearance, mass surveillance, cultural and religious persecution, forced separation of families, forced labour, and sexual violence.
Acting Director Maya Wang said, “The new religious regulations are part of the Chinese government’s weapon of repression to deprive the Uyghurs of their rights and basic freedoms,” adding that relevant countries should step up to hold China accountable for human rights abuses, including an official investigation at the UN level. (Source: Daily Good News Comprehensive).
He rules the world in righteousness and judges the people with equity. The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. (Psalms 9:8-9)
God, please stop the Chinese government’s long-standing rebellious attempts to deprive the Xinjiang Uyghurs of their rights and freedoms, control their religious activities, and further turn the nation’s ideology into a religion. Please help Chinese politicians realize the sovereignty of God who judges the world with righteousness, so that China can become a country where Your laws are honoured and the truth is proclaimed. Let the gospel be spread to the Uyghur people, and let them encounter You, their fortress, through the church, and let them become people who serve You without fear with a firm faith that does not waver in any situation.
Prayer 24·365
prayer@prayer24365.org
