Chinese Professor Writes Open Letter to Communist Gov’t Following Church Crackdown
- Posted on July 19, 2011 at 8:30pm by
Billy Hallowell
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Professor He Guanghu
Professor He Guanghu of Beijing‘s People’s University is a well-known professor of religious studies who has a deep interest in the inner workings of faith. The brave academic is standing up publicly for members of his country’s Shouwang Church, a Christian group that has been repeatedly attacked and maligned by China’s Communist government.
On Monday, Beliefnet published an open letter that Guanghu recently wrote to Communist officials following brutal crackdowns on the church’s congregation. For 14 consecutive Sundays, police forcibly detained any members of the Shouwang Church who showed up to an outdoor meeting place. The 1,000-member church — which is coincidentally growing — has also seen its leadership detained and placed under house arrest. The Baptist Press explains why the church has been repeatedly targeted:
Shouwang, which is one of the largest house churches in Beijing with nearly 1,000 members, is not a legal church. Only churches that are registered with the government and are members of the Three-Self Patriotic Church are considered legal. However, with registration come regulations that forbid evangelism, Sunday School, and baptizing minors, said Bob Fu, president and founder of ChinaAid.
Sadly, some church adherents have lost their jobs, been evicted from their homes and have even been forced to leave the Beijing area. China’s Communist leaders have taken every effort to block these Christians from holding worship services. Below, find a news report that describes some of the initial arrests back in April:
Also, see some purported video from a Shouwang Church service this past January:
Seeing all of this unfold, Guanghu decided to take a stand, thus he wrote the following open letter which addresses religious and property freedoms, among other important subjects:
TO: The leaders of the People’s Republic of China: Chairman Hu Jintao, Chairman Wu Bangguo, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and The Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee
FROM: Professor He Guanghu, People’s University
RE: The Shouwang Church
On April 9, 2011, I sent you an appeal in my capacity as a scholar of religious affairs and as an ordinary citizen because on the following day Beijing Shouwang Church, which had been under persecution, was planning to hold an outdoor worship service. The personal rights and property rights of the members of this church had also been violated, and I expressed the hope that you would stop the persecution, reduce the clashes (and I also made two suggestions with regard to thoroughly resolving the current problems with Protestantism and Catholicism).
Since that day, the more than 10 pastors, elders and “Governing Committee” members of this church have been under forced “co-management” by the police and grassroots government and have not been allowed to leave their homes. Each of their homes has been guarded by several people, who are on duty day and night. Their family life and professional lives have been seriously harmed. These ten-plus people, good-hearted citizens who have committed no crime, have been deprived of their personal freedoms for more than three months even though there has been no trial and no conviction of any crime. And this continues today!
Not only that, in the past three-plus months, whenever any of the ordinary members of this church have gone to attend the Sunday “outdoor worship services,” they have all been picked up by the police and detained for as little as a few hours to as many as dozens of hours. The largest number of detainees in one day was close to 200. Some believers have been restricted to their homes and not allowed to go out from Friday to Sunday, some believers have been forcibly returned to their hometowns. Some believers, because their landlords came under pressure, had their leases abrogated, their reputation insulted, their property trashed, and when they moved to a different location, found it hard to escape a recurrence of the same situation…. In short, many believers have in actual fact been deprived of their religious rights, personal rights and housing rights.
All of this has been due to the simple fact that this church insists on holding on to its religious beliefs and wants to worship out in the open. And the reason for worshiping outdoors is due to the simple fact that the landlords of the places it rented came under pressure and broke the lease, forcing them to move out. With no way to rent a place, the church purchased property, but the seller also came under pressure and broke the contract. A year-and-a-half after being paid, he still hasn’t turned over ownership of the property. Which is to say, buying property was not an option either! As anyone can see, their move to outdoor worship was entirely due to persecution and because they had no other choice! In November 2009, when they worshiped outdoors in the midst of a great snowstorm, it was because of the same situation. Actually, in all of this, the property rights of the other parties were also violated.
In light of the fact that this case involves many incidences of violations of personal rights, property rights, housing rights and religious rights, and since there appears to be not even a glimmer of hope that these will cease, I, as an ordinary citizen with no other channels to go through, make another appeal to you, as the leaders who hold the greatest powers, to order an end to this deprivation of people’s freedom and to protect human rights, to order that this lawful transaction be completed and to protect property rights.
Also in light of the multitude of cases like the demolition of homes everywhere to the Shaoyang government baby trafficking case, we can see serious abuse of the powers of administrative and judicial departments due to a lack of restrictions. I solemnly appeal to you to consider the root of the problem and to establish administrative courts at all levels throughout the country to regulate the use of power by various levels of government and law enforcement agencies.
The significance of this [Shouwang] case goes far beyond just one church; it involves the entire enterprise of China’s progress in protecting human rights and property rights. Only by establishing institutions and procedures that citizens can use effectively – institutions and procedures that will investigate the illegal acts of governments at various levels – can the abuse of governmental power (and not just personal corruption), which is disastrous for the country and calamitous for the people, be successfully stopped.
With regards,
Professor He Guanghu
People’s University
This isn‘t the first time that Guanghu has been on Chinese officials’ radar. According to ChinaAid, the professor was barred from leaving China back in November 2010. While attempting to fly out of Beijing airport for an academic conference, authorities claimed that his trip would endanger national security:
Prof. He speculated that the action against him was due to his inclusion on the list of invitees to the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony honoring Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
Considering Guanghu’s bold call to action, one wonders whether the Chinese government will respond harshly or if it will heed any of his more peaceful, rational recommendations.
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Comments (54)
TiltingWindmills
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 11:19pmGod bless you Prof. He! Pray for our brothers and sisters in China suffering persecution.
Report Post »palerider54
Posted on July 20, 2011 at 2:02amI agree with you, do you realize that there are more Christians dying for their faith in Jesus than in all of history? Even when the Romans were persecuting Christians pales to today’s numbers.
Jesus is coming soon, all prophecies have been fulfilled. The Bible says that he will return before the generation that witnessed the rebirth of Israel die off. That happened in 1948, do the math.
Pray for our Chinese brothers and sisters. Pray for this professor.
Report Post »madamefang
Posted on July 20, 2011 at 1:30pmAlways pray first, but it really helps to support China Aid. They actively help the families of these persecuted brothers and sisters.
Also, check out Voice of the Martyrs. They have many Christians who are in dire need of prayer and support
Report Post »Seeds
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 10:55pmI pray with hopeful 2012:
Report Post »Our prayers go out to those who are persecuted in china and all other areas in the world who are osterized for having faith in god other than a government. I pray for all the children in the world who are suffering greatly for all who can help be strong to fight off all the evil. Praise to God and his glory and power. May his peace surround us and keep us close to him as evil surround us and the good people who hold positions of power may know the difference of when they could and should help. Keep your watchful eye around us and your most beautiful love amen
nellyp
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 10:53pmA Chinese Bonhoeffer.
Report Post »jzs
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 10:51pmThat’s a brave man. China is a brutal dictatorship, but they’re not stupid. They know that they have to, little by little, accommodate the the average Chinese. My company – I’m an employee not the owner – has a plant in China (I’ll be there in August), and their environmental regulations have become almost as strict as in the US, not just against foreign companies but Chinese companies as well. Why? Because pollution is so bad in some industrialized parts of the country that they’re afraid of a revolt. People in the US have forgotten how horrible pollution can be (hence the EPA), and China is responding to that now.
In any case, they’ll respond to the demands of religious freedom too as brave women/men come forward with their beliefs, just as they have become more capitalistic. The people who run China are absolute dictators, but they are not stupid, and as time goes by, they’ll make accommodations to the Chinese people, if only to keep themselves in power.
China is becoming more and more capitalistic
Report Post »pepsiaddict
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 10:15pmWhile I support and love the “house” churches in China, and would send any new convert to them, rather than the Three Selfs, I cringe a bit when Western organizations use blanket statements condemning the Three Self Churches. There are many strong believers that attend the Three Self, and there are good and brave pastors who preach at the Three Selfs. It really depends on the local situation and the individual church. I never attended the house churches, because foreigners attract a lot of attention–but most of my local believer friends went to them. I attended the Three Self church, and the messages were Biblically solid, and they preached evangelism, had youth groups, preached the ressurrection and return of Christ. There were many old believers who attended the Three Self who endured the Cultural Revolution and Mao’s other anti-religion movements, and continued in their faith. They deserve respect. Some of the churches are good, some aren’t (just like in the States). Some of the house churches are good, and some are not. I’m not minimizing the threat some of the house churches can be under, but I’ve found from experience that sometimes Western believers have our own propaganda regarding the Faith in China.
Report Post »bigjoesaddle
Posted on July 20, 2011 at 2:13pmThanks for sharing your real-life insight, it helps us alot. I do wonder why the Chinesse Government is going to all this trouble if the Three Self Church was similar to this church. Why is this do u think?
Report Post »pepsiaddict
Posted on July 21, 2011 at 12:27amI don’t mean to say that the Three Self is like the house churches. House churches more parallel the pentecostal style of church, whereas the 3 self is more like a Methodist style church. That is not a perfect analogy, since neither branch of Chinese church has denominations, really. 3S has a tendancy toward lukewarm religion, HC has little accountablilty-so heresy can be an issue. Neither side really trusts the other.
The Three Self is supported by the government because they are registered–which means they know where they are; they are public; they are generally similar in terms of service order, etc. There isn’t going to be a major surprise like faith healings or speaking in tongues. The government supports them also because they greatly fear the “cell.” The communists came to power through the cell…small groups who met in secret, then went out spreading their message throughout the land. That is why they fear the house church…they see it as a threat to their authority, and they fear foreign influence on their church (which was a problem in the pre-revolution days–and God used communism to make the Chinese church stand on its own). They often say, “if only they would register, they could do what they want!” Of course, the downside to that is that if the regime could change its mind and the church would be wiped out immediately (as it was under Mao). That is why the house church fears the registrar (among other things listed in the article).
Report Post »RON-BLAZE
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 10:11pm“Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God” -Tommy Jefferson
Report Post »al_meyer
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 10:07pmImagine that, communist violating individual rights. Who would have ever seen that coming?
Report Post »junior1971
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 10:02pmChristmas in China. GOD works in mysterious ways. AMEN.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 10:01pmHe is making his stand in faith against one of the largest forces of darkness in the known world; may he be watched over and protected from their wrath by the Almighty, for brave is what he is doing, and may the testimony carry far and to many in the nation.
Report Post »http://artinphoenix.com/gallery/grimm
rkerby
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 10:00pmThese folks are living the Book of Acts. The saddest thing about it is that Americans don’t seem to care or even notice.
Report Post »justateen
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 10:52pmso true. I have so much respect for this brave man willing to stand up to defend his faith. It amazes and inspires me. How many of us here in America would do the same?
Report Post »Aiser
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 9:55pmHere in the united states an Academic would never publicly defend faith. In fact he/she would support the oppression of the faithful in the most subtle way.
Report Post »bigfatslob
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 10:15pmIncreadibly true !
Report Post »SovereignSoul
Posted on July 20, 2011 at 1:14pmIs gluttony a deadly sin? Just curious.
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 9:48pmGod bless these good pioneers for truth.
Report Post »SHOWMESTATEGUY
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 9:40pmChina is growing in every aspect. The US is shrinking in every aspect. Please explain that. If you try to tell me it‘s communism I’ll kick your butt. As it stands the US is more communist than communist China. I hate this but it’s happening.
Report Post »vic138
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 10:02pmplus 1
Report Post »MartyTr
Posted on July 20, 2011 at 4:42amYour comment wasn’t clear. America is declining because we are heading into communism. China is prospering because it is heading into captialism. Our religious freedoms will be limited because big gov’t does that. It trys to replace God. Pray for all Christians that are being persecuted and give the LORD all the glory. True Christians will meet Jesus Christ face to face, soon I hope.
Report Post »mikenleeds
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 9:38pmcoming to America soon under king obama
Report Post »Jack2011
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 9:31pmWrites Open Letter to Communist Gov’t Following Church Crackdown
Report Post »_______
When will Obama get the letter?
MrButcher
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 9:28pmI must remark, Billy Hallowell is a fine addition to the Blaze.
He navigates the Political/Religious waters very well.
Cheers, Sir!
Report Post »GRAMPA-D-NH
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 9:23pmWhat happened to America, the “shining light on a hill” for individual liberty and human rights? Silenced by dependency upon an oppressor of men’s hearts.
Report Post »MrButcher
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 9:23pmThis is how you topple the Chinese Gov’t.
religious/political/intellectual freedom.
top down, bottom up and inside out.
revolution.
I stand with Prof. He Guanghu
Report Post »—————-
sooner12
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 9:21pmI‘m afraid that Guanghu’s day‘s are numbered and that we’ll never hear about him again. We can only pray for his and his family’s welfare.
Report Post »Mr. Oshawott
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 9:17pmI hope Mr. Guanghu and his church maintains their resistance towards the Chinese government with their right to worship God anytime, anywhere. God is capable of handling problems that the government can’t.
Report Post »mossbrain
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 9:05pmPray to Charles Manson my brave Chinese flends.
Report Post »republapig
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 8:59pmI hope Jesus comes soon
Report Post »MrButcher
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 9:25pmhe ain’t.
but the chinese might.
Report Post »Uncle Tom
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 9:48pmHey, Mr. Butcher, when He does come back, just don’t believe them when they tell you the aliens made everybody disappear.
Report Post »palerider54
Posted on July 20, 2011 at 1:52amMRBUTCHER, YES HE WILL, and when you meet him, your knees WILL bend, and your tongue WILL confess him King of Kings, but if you wait until then to do that, it will be to late for you.
I say this with great sadness, but you will suffer for all eternity if you wait until then to praise Jesus.
Report Post »And you will remember this warning forever with regret.
Hopefull_2012
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 8:56pmOur prayers go out to those who are persecuted in China (and other areas of the world) who are ostracized for having a faith (in a God other than government)!
Report Post »louise
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 8:55pmPray for this man and all believers in China and around the world.
Romans 8:35….Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword?
vs 38,39…For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Report Post »JGraham III
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 9:37pmI pray that the Lord may hide him in the midst of his enemies and that his courage to speak on behalf of Christians in China may not be stopped or hampered. Would that we had more like him here that would stand and speak with boldness instead of arguing about whether to pave the church parking lot or not. Or Niggling about doctrinal b.s. with the church down the street.
Report Post »CaptDick
Posted on July 19, 2011 at 8:48pmMay their hearts be light, their faith strengthened, and their spirits soar. May the Communist government see the futility of trying to govern mans soul.
Report Post »