In the beginning, Communist leaders tried to crush all belief in a power higher than the state.<\/p>\n\n
That didn\u2019t work, so these regimes changed strategies. While brute force remains an option, the goal today is to let religious groups live and even grow \u2013 in tiny plots groomed by atheistic gardeners. The bottom line: Martyrs are more dangerous than apostates.<\/p>\n\n
If there is anything that people understand in Hong Kong, it is the bottom line. Thus, it\u2019s highly unlikely that China will strangle the goose that has proven it can lay golden eggs, said Hong Kong Democratic Party chairman Martin Lee. He was speaking to a circle of journalists and Christian scholars days before the July 1 rites that tossed his party out of power.<\/p>\n\n
Instead, China will build a cage of rules and regulations. China wants Hong Kong to remain an economic success. America wants Hong Kong to remain an economic success. \u201cBut there is more to life than rising economic statistics,\u201d said Lee, an active Roman Catholic. The question that journalists, human-rights activists and religious leaders must keep asking is, \u201cWhy can\u2019t I do today what I was able to do yesterday?\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n\n
At first glance, Hong Kong\u2019s new laws on religion appear to maintain the status quo. But the laws are terribly vague.<\/p>\n\n
Article 32 in the Special Administrative Region\u2019s Basic Law states: \u201cHong Kong residents shall have freedom of religious belief and freedom to preach and to conduct and participate in religious activities in public.\u201d Article 141 uses similar language, but adds that the government pledges not to interfere in religious groups\u2019 internal affairs, except when such activities \u201ccontravene the laws of the Region.\u201d At the moment, these laws are controlled by politicians and tycoons appointed by Beijing. Also, China has ruled that the standing committee of the National People\u2019s Congress \u2013 not Hong Kong\u2019s court of final appeals \u2014 will ultimately decide disputes about the Basic Law.<\/p>\n\n
However, it is Article 23 that causes the most concern. It states that Hong Kong\u2019s new leadership \u201cshall enact laws \u2026 to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition (or) subversion against the Central People\u2019s Government, \u2026 to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The standing committee on the mainland already has annulled or altered dozens of Hong Kong laws that affect political parties and dissidents \u2014 but may also apply to religious groups. Three of these changes could be crucial.<\/p>\n\n
It will, for example, be harder to form \u201cvoluntary\u201d or \u201cnon- governmental\u201d associations and such groups now face tighter controls. Religious leaders of all kinds are watching for any signs that China may open a Hong Kong branch of its Religious Affairs Bureau.<\/p>\n\n
Hong Kong\u2019s rulers will keep a closer eye on those with ties to overseas \u201cpolitical\u201d groups. Obviously, if it\u2019s hard to separate politics and religion in the United States, it will be hard to do so in China. What happens to Hong Kong Baptists if the Southern Baptist Convention in America continues to fight China\u2019s compulsory abortion policies? Is that \u201cpolitical\u201d? What if the Vatican continues to resist efforts to throttle papal loyalists in China? What if Hong Kong Buddhists retain ties with those who plead for Tibet? Finally, anyone who opposes these changes will find it much harder to protest in public.<\/p>\n\n
Meanwhile, debates rage on in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. Some argue that economic freedom will protect political rights, which will lead to religious liberty. Others insist that religious liberty must come first \u2014 the bare minimum of what it means to be free.<\/p>\n\n
Truth is, said Lee, these civil liberties are woven together. \u201cNothing terrible is going to happen on the first of July,\u201d he said. \u201cChina\u2019s leaders are not fools. \u2026 The key word is \u2018control.\u2019 China does not want to kill the goose \u2014 only keep it from flying free.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the beginning, Communist leaders tried to crush all belief in a power higher than the state. That didn\u2019t work, so these regimes changed strategies. While brute force remains an option, the goal today is to let religious groups live and even grow \u2013 in tiny plots groomed by atheistic gardeners. The bottom line: Martyrs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n