Under a planned revision of its law on religion, China grants the police and courts even more leeway to determine when religious activity is a threat to the state.<\/p>\n
Megha Rajagopalan
Oct. 5, 2016, at 1:16 a.m.<\/p>\n
BANGKOK \u2014 China is set to implement a broadly worded revision of its law governing religion, putting more weight on national security, toughening controls on religious education and increasing scrutiny of religious speech online.<\/p>\n
The draft law, which has been circulated for public comment and could be implemented as early as Friday, has religious groups and human rights lawyers worried. They fear it is the latest step in a years-long crackdown on freedom of expression and religious practices by the administration of President Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to have a terrible impact on people of faith,\u201d Zhang Peihong, a well-known lawyer from China\u2019s southwestern Yunnan province, told BuzzFeed News. \u201cIt represents a new kind of repression.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zhang was one of the signatories of an open letter signed by two dozen Chinese lawyers, academics and religious leaders that argues the law leaves too much leeway for police and courts to determine what counts as \u201cnormal\u201d or \u201clegal\u201d religious activities \u2014 an ambiguity that could lead to abuses. Both police and courts in China are controlled by the ruling Communist Party.<\/p>\n
An official explanation of the draft law<\/a> places heavy emphasis on religion as a possible threat to state security. The law will impose harsher punishments for members of religious organizations who endanger security or use religion to propagate extremism.<\/p>\n But what exactly constitutes a threat to state security in China is ambiguous and often political. In China\u2019s security-driven political system, everything from environmental data to stories about top leaders\u2019 childhoods can be considered a state secret, and information is often classified retroactively.<\/p>\n Critics say this means it would be easy for the government to implement the law in a discriminatory way.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be very significant,\u201d said Brynne Lawrence of China Aid, a Texas-based Christian group that advocates for religious freedom in China. \u201cIt\u2019s from the top down and it\u2019s going to affect the entire nation.\u201d<\/p>\n At the core of China\u2019s philosophy on governing religion is a belief that religious practices often run counter to the country\u2019s national security interests, said Thomas Dubois, a scholar who focuses on religion in China at Australian National University.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to sum up the law in one sentence, it\u2019s \u2018we accept religion as long as it\u2019s not prejudicial to national security,\u2019\u201d Dubois said by phone. \u201cThat\u2019s really, really vague as far as promises go.\u201d<\/p>\n Dubois added that references in the draft law to regulating schools could refer to religious schools as well as the small communities that live near Tibetan monasteries, which have sometimes been referred to as \u201cschools\u201d in official parlance. (The draft law also explicitly bans religion in public schools.)<\/p>\n