What is the world’s worst government on religious liberty? (Answer: China)

Last updated on: November 20, 2020 at 11:17 am by Richard Ostling

What is the world’s worst government on religious liberty? (Answer: China) 2020-11-20T11:17:04-05:00 Richard Ostling

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

THE QUESTION:

What is the world’s worst government in terms of restricting religious liberty?

THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER:

China. No contest.

That’s shown in an elaborate Pew Research Center accounting issued this month that covers all categories of official religion restrictions in 198 nations and territories as of 2018. The Communists who rule the world’s largest population expend incredible efforts on their atheistic crusades, and are equal opportunity offenders who attack both faith in general and a variety of specific religions.

Global religious conditions over-all are getting worse, Pew reports. It calculates there are other highly troublesome governments in this descending order of oppression: Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Syria, Russia, Algeria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Myanmar, Iraq, Morocco, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Brunei, Mauritania, Western Sahara and Yemen. (North Korea information is lacking).

Though Pew doesn’t say this, you’ll see most of the worst are Communist, or Muslim, or post-Communist and Muslim. Yet one of the most distressing crackdowns is in Buddhist Myanmar (a.k.a. Burma), with its forced displacement of at least 14,500 Rohingya Muslims. As with China’s mistreatment of Muslims, noted below, ethnic and religious enmity are combined.

Examples of other problems: Uzbekistan put at least 1,500 Muslims in prison on charges of extremism. Tajikistan’s new religion law gives the regime control over appointment of Muslim imams, religious education, and foreign travel, and there’s been a roundup of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Thailand has arrested hundreds of Christian and Muslim refugees fleeing mistreatment in Pakistan and Vietnam. Methodist missionaries were forced out of the Philippines for investigating human rights abuses.

Pew separately lists countries on a “Social Hostilities Index,” referring to serious harassment of religions by private individuals and groups as opposed to governments (though governments often encourage or turn a blind eye to these problems). Here, India has the worst track record. Muslims there face continual dangers, while the official policy against conversions targets Christians, including charges filed against 271 in one region. Other especially troublesome populations are listed in this descending order: Iraq, Syria, Israel, Nigeria, Libya, Egypt, Pakistan, Central African Republic, and Sri Lanka.

By contrast, there’s scant government or societal oppression in the democracies of Europe, and even less in North America and South America. Though authoritarian regimes are prominent in the above lists, some such are surprisingly tolerant in official religion policy or have populations with little sectarian strife.

Turning back to China, here are basics from the World Christian Encyclopedia — the 2020 third edition belongs in every library with its statistics and information on every religious group within every country on the planet. This research work says that a “massive anti-religious program” was enforced from China’s atheistic takeover in 1949 through Mao’s manic “Cultural Revolution” of 1966-69, with periodic upheavals since.

On paper, the constitution grants freedom for “normal religious activities,” but, typically for Communism, “normal” is left undefined and China’s arbitrary legal system means official whims rule.

In recent times, the government has strived to exterminate Fulan Gong, a spiritual practice for self-improvement with roots in traditional Chinese medicine. More recently, severe persecution has been aimed at the Church of Almighty God, a Christian heresy built around prophecies of a woman believed to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. (China’s clampdown policy and limited theological education have produced many such sects.)

The longest-running campaign is against Buddhism in Tibet, with thousands of monks and nuns forced out of their communities. The current draconian anti-Islam program in the Xinjiang region suppresses Islam among ethnic Uighurs, Kazakhs and Hui, with a million or more forced into an archipelago of secret re-education camps — with little protest from Muslim countries.

The Encyclopedia estimates that today China has a total of 550 million atheists or agnostics, 504 million who follow assorted folk and ethnic religions plus the ancient faith of Taoism, 237 million Buddhists, and 25 million Muslims. About two-thirds of the 106 million Christians belong to independent congregations, mostly Protestant-style “house churches” that do not register their existence with the government and often worship “underground.”

This system of mandatory registration is at the heart of China’s religion policy and the nagging turbulence that results. To operate legally, a group must register with one of the five official associations under atheistic state control that cover Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism, and Catholicism. This splits Protestants and Catholics into two camps, registered vs. unregistered.

Registered or not, religious education is forbidden to those under age 18. Publications and media access are tightly restricted, and activities closely surveilled using the latest technology. Public display of religious symbols is banned. Unregistered houses of worship have been shut down or leveled. Believers have reportedly been arrested, imprisoned without trial or convicted in secret trials, sent to psychiatric hospitals or forced labor camps, tortured, or subjected to forced atheistic indoctrination. Some die in prison.

For further information: There are 46 pages of sordid incidents in the China section of the State Department’s “2019 Report on International Religious Freedom” here: https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-report-on-international-religious-freedom/ The Pew Research report cited above is available here: www.pewforum.org/2020/11/10/in-2018-government-restrictions-on-religion-reach-highest-level-globally-in-more-than-a-decade Among many other sources, note the bitterwinter.org online magazine, produced by scholars who specialize in China’s religious situation.

Speaking of China, The Guy (dissenting from colleagues) rated as 2018’s top religion story the birth there of the first human babies conceived by the CRISPR technique. Such manipulation of DNA that is passed to future generations could eliminate diseases, but poses ethical quandaries about “playing God” to breed for strength or intelligence, the impossibility of unborn babies giving “informed consent’ to be subjects of experiments, and unknowable negative side effects. Anthropologist Eben Kirksey of Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study examines the issues in his new book “The Mutant Project: Inside the Global Race to Genetically Modify Humans.” See https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250265357

Uncategorized

Previous Post

November 6, 2020

What role does religion play in Supreme Court justices' nominations and decisions?

Next Post

December 4, 2020 How should Biden-era Americans understand "religious freedom"?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not ____ it.

Select your answer to see how you score.

Extinguished Accepted Comprehended Understood