Posted on 02/04/2024 7:21:17 PM PST by ebb tide
Religious freedom is being lost in Hong Kong due to pressure from the Chinese Communist Party, according to a new report from the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation.
Released 30 January 2024, the Hostile Takeover: The CCP and Hong Kong’s Religious Communities report highlights “the systematic breaking of promises” made under the so-called “One Country, Two Systems” arrangement that was outlined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration when the UK handed control of Hong Kong to the CCP in 1997.
The report also highlights how the Beijing-imposed National Security Law (NSL) is being used to quash religious liberty and risks the “collapse of religious freedom” in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, which is meant to have executive, legislative and judicial powers devolved from the national government.
“This report cites eyewitness testimonies from people directly affected by the CCP’s takeover of the religious sphere in Hong Kong in hopes to highlight some of the tragedy they have been forced to undergo simply for having personal beliefs that the CCP perceive as a threat to their dominance,” says Frances Hui, CFHK Foundation’s Policy and Advocacy Coordinator and lead author of the report. “As the CCP has tightened control over Hong Kong, particularly since the rollout of the NSL in 2020, religious communities have continued to face threats to their values and practices.”
The report says the CCP “is actively taking control of Hong Kong’s religious institutions, as seen through various initiatives and efforts to influence religious groups”. This process includes the “Sinicization of Religion”, whereby the CCP implements its control over elements of the Church, with the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese alleged to be “working with the CCP” and facilitating that takeover.
The report also claims that the Catholic Church in Hong Kong “is suppressing information on religious persecution in China” while the “Justice and Peace Commission under its auspices has diluted its focus on Chinese affairs and human rights”. It is doing this, the report claims, even though “religious leaders and believers face increasing legal prosecution”, with a Protestant pastor recently sentenced to 13 months in jail under the National Security Law.
The report notes that Jimmy Lai, the Catholic founder of now defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, is currently on trial in Hong Kong “facing sham charges” brought under the NSL.
The report also notes that the Vatican is considering opening a liaison office in China, raising “concerns about the potential legalisation of state-controlled entities”, alongside Hong Kong clerics fearing “pressure to join associations pledging fidelity to the government”.
The CFHK calls on the Vatican to establish an advisory board on China affairs, advocate for the release of religious prisoners, speak out against China’s erasure of Uyghur and Hui Muslim culture, and to repeal the Vatican-China agreement.
Otherwise, the CFHK argues, members of all religions face “a bleak future for religious freedoms” as the CCP asserts increasing control over Hong Kong’s religious sphere.
“The world must respond to these alarming signs with real collective efforts to safeguard religious freedom in Hong Kong,” Hui says.
...
The report also notes that the Vatican is considering opening a liaison office in China, raising “concerns about the potential legalisation of state-controlled entities”, alongside Hong Kong clerics fearing “pressure to join associations pledging fidelity to the government”.
I’ve often thought about the possibility of this happening here.
I came to the conclusion that religious faith is in the mind, heart, and soul; and nobody can take that away from you.
Many people have been murdered for their personal faith, over the centuries - but even that can’t take faith away from one; and those who survived carried on with their faith silently until their civil freedoms were restored.
China is on the verge of collapse financially, so the waiting might notbe ling.
Let’s hope so.
Hong Kong has already a China imposed National Security Law imposed upon them which is used by the local government to persecute their enemies and to suppress dissent.
Now they are working on a local version which will suppress even more free thought. They claim that various human rights are protected but they never mention religion as either a human right or even being protected.
Churches in Hong Kong are slowly bowing down to China. There are very few that still promote the truth. We will have to wait and pray for the future.
With all respect, I don’t know how anyone can suppress free *thought*.
Nobody knows what anybody else is thinking; and I can’t believe in any God so small that He wouldn’t condone the faithful being ‘wise as serpents and harmless as doves’ for the duration.
China believes they can suppress anything they don’t agree with by use of fear and law. However, fear, as St. Thomas Aquinas said, “is a weak foundation; for those who are subdued by fear would, should an occasion arise in which they might hope for immunity, rise more eagerly against their rulers, in proportion to the previous extent of their restraint through fear.”
The truth will always come out no matter how hard Communists try to deny it.
as for Catholics: The Pope kowtowed to the ChiComs, probably for a big bribe, but maybe because he saw this coming and didn't want them to be martyred a la Henry VIII for being traitors.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.