Beleaguered Chinese Church to Provide Legal Aid to Members

Leaders of the troubled Shouwang house church in Beijing have established a legal committee to assist church members facing arrest or house arrest, the loss of employment or homes and forced relocation to their home towns.

In a press statement issued Tuesday (June 28), the unregistered church described the forced relocation of one church member to Shandong province as “a flagrant violation of the law.” (See  “Chinese Authorities Expel Shouwang Church Member from Beijing,” June 29.)

Leaders charged the committee, composed of legal experts within the church and officially formed last week, with collecting evidence of “citizens of faith being forced to leave their jobs or being evicted because of their religious belief.” The church would hold officials legally responsible for these violations, as outlined in an earlier press statement on May 12.

For the past three months, Shouwang church members have committed to meet in a public square in Zhongguancun, northwestern Beijing, in response to repeated attempts by the gov-ernment to deny them access to a permanent worship venue. (See www.compassdirect.org, “Church in China to Risk Worshipping in Park,” April 7.)

Shouwang represents the “third church” phenomenon in China – consisting of large Protestant or Catholic churches functioning openly rather than underground, but refusing to register with government approved bodies such as the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) or the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA).

China is also currently embroiled in a tense debate with Vatican leaders over the unauthorized ordination of Catholic bishops within the CCPA, according to a Union of Catholic Asian News report on Tuesday (June 28).

Pressure MountsOn Sunday (June 26) police arrested 15 people who showed up at Shouwang’s designated outdoor worship venue, including several from other house churches. Many church leaders remained under permanent house arrest, while scores of church members were detained in homes or hotel rooms, according to a China Aid Association (CAA) report.

One of those detained on Sunday had traveled all the way from Henan province to express her support, the CAA said.

Two other women from Shuangshu house church in Beijing had planned on traveling to the venue, but police prevented them from leaving home. Within 24 hours their landlord also asked them to move out of their rented apartment, according to CAA.

CAA also claimed that officials pressured the management of the Beijing office of World Vision to dismiss employee and church member Xia Xiao, a claim that World Vision refutes.

“World Vision has fired no one and has come under no pressure to fire anyone,” World Vision spokesperson Cynthia Colin said in a press statement. “The staff member in question has in fact been working as normal out of her office this week.”

For the second week in a row, pastors from TSPM were called in to “counsel” Sunday’s de-tainees, according to the CAA.

In mid-May the director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs convened a meeting of Three-Self leaders from 15 provinces and municipalities, asking them “not to heed Shouwang church’s statement of faith,” and repeatedly slandering Shouwang church, according to Bob Fu, president of the CAA.

The national daily Xinhua published an article on Monday (June 27) extolling the freedom of TSPM churches. As evidence, the article listed several TSPM churches around the country with congregations of over 4,000 people; the construction of 11 new churches in Nanjing, including one with seating for 5,000 people; the “abundant” provision of Bibles through China’s Amity Printing Press, and the training of over 2,000 TSPM clergymen through the government approved Nanjing Union Theological Seminary.

“I feel that the most pressing issue for Chinese churches is to figure out how they can be helpful to society, and how they can become integrated with traditional Chinese culture,” Pastor Kan Renping of St. Paul’s Church in Nanjing province told Xinhua.

Shouwang Church Member Expel by Chinese Authorities from Beijing

Chinese authorities detained a member of one of Beijing’s largest unregistered churches on Monday and sent him to his home town in Shandong Province, sources said.

Three officers from Beijing’s Dongsheng police station detained the Shouwang church member at about 5 p.m. while he was at a market to get a mobile phone fixed, they said. They handed him over to a Shandong office based in the capital, which sent him to his hometown that evening. He was the second member of the church to be expelled from the city since authorities allegedly compelled the owners of the church’s rented facility to stop leasing to the congregation in April, forcing them to meet outdoors the past three months.

The same Dongsheng police station in Beijing’s northwest Haidian district sent the first Shouwang member to be expelled from Beijing to his hometown in Hubei Province on May 8, sources said.

After Monday’s expulsion, the Shouwang member was forbidden to use his mobile phone, but at noon yesterday he was sent to his parents’ home and was able to send a text message to church members. He said his identity card was confiscated, and he was warned not to return to Beijing before July 1, the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. Authorities told local village officials to monitor him.

In the church’s weekly statement issued yesterday, Shouwang Church leaders said they had filed a protest against the expulsion.

“The forced expatriation by Dongsheng Police Station and Haidian Public Security Bureau has constituted a complete contempt for and a flagrant violation of the law, in effect depriving a citizen of any guarantee of the most basic of foundational existential rights,” the statement read.

The first expulsion of a Shouwang member came after the church held a fifth consecutive Sunday of outdoor worship. At least 15 people were taken to 10 police stations across Beijing on May 8th. All were released within 24 hours, except one who was jailed at Dongsheng police station for 48 hours and then turned over to the Wuhan municipal governmental office in Beijing. Wuhan is the capital of Hubei Province, where the household of the detained Shouwang member was registered.

After previous detentions, he had already been forced to quit his job as an instructor at an international school for children under 3 years old. As he had lived at the school office, he also lost his lodging.

The church member on May 10 told a contact by phone that he had been sent to Wuhan’s Beijing office from the police station earlier that day. Police ordered the office to buy a train ticket for his return to Hubei, he said. Police confiscated his identity card, later telling him that they could not find it. They told him to go to Hubei to apply for a new one.

The detained Christian later told another church member by phone that he wanted to see his parents and his maternal grandmother, and that he also wanted to rest after being detained four times for having attended five Sunday outdoor worship services.

With a police officer from the Wuhan Public Security Bureau based in Beijing’s Wuhan office, he took a train to Hubei’s provincial capital on the evening of May 11. More than 20 Shouwang congregants went to the Beijing West Railway Station to see him off, praying hand-in-hand and singing a hymn in the waiting area of the station.

The Shouwang member and the police officer arrived in Wuhan the next morning, then went to his hometown in Hubei. After having lunch, the police officer returned to Wuhan. On May 16, two local police officers came to the church member’s home asking for basic information on his family. He returned to Beijing in mid-June and has continued to attend outdoor worship, being detained every Sunday since.

Hundreds of Shouwang parishioners have been detained or confined to their homes on Sundays as well as weekdays since April 10. Some church members have lost their jobs or rented homes, or both. They are mostly young professionals working at companies or universities.

Before April 10, the Shouwang congregation had gathered in a conference hall of the Old Story Club in the northern area of Beijing for more than a year. But according to Shouwang Church leaders, the owner of the rented venue was under mounting pressure from the government.

In March, Shouwang planned to rent a conference hall of a hotel in the northwest of the city, but the church said some government agencies again interfered and prevented it from renting the new premises.

Shouwang Church first started as a family Bible study group in 1993. By 2005, Shouwang, which means “keeping watch,” had more than 10 fellowships. At that time, the church decided to apply to register with the government. But in 2006, authorities rejected Shouwang’s application, asking it to join the official Three-Self Patriotic Movement church.

In late 2009, Shouwang paid about 27 million yuan or about US$4 million for the second floor of the Daheng Science and Technology Tower in northwest Beijing’s Zhongguancun area, known as “China’s Silicon Valley.” Funding came from the Shouwang congregation and other contributors for the purchase of a permanent worship place. Authorities once again interfered, according to church leaders, and the property developer refused to hand the key over to the church.

Shouwang Church had more than 1,000 worshippers each Sunday before the outdoor worship began in April. It still has dozens of family groups and fellowships.

In a related development, China Aid Association (CAA) reported yesterday that two women from another Beijing house church, Shuangshu Church, were planning to join Shouwang’s outdoor worship service on Sunday (June 26), but that police prevented them from leaving their home. Their landlord later came to pressure them to move out, according to CAA.

BANGLADESH AWAMI LEAGUE SNUB INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Indigenous community leaders have expressed anguish and frustration over the amended constitution not acknowledging their existence despite a pre-poll promise of the ruling Bangladesh Awami League. The 15 th amendment to the constitution passed on Thursday makes every citizen of Bangladesh a 'Bengalee'. A press release signed by Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti ( PCJSS) information and communications secretary Mangal Kumar Chakma said the amendment put the identity of Bengalee on indigenous people speaking different languages. "Like in the past, the distinctive ethnic identity and the fundamental rights of the indigenous people have been denied," the statement said. The amendment reflected 'intense pride, intense communalism and undemocratic attitude' of the rulers, the release said. The terms 'tribes, minor races, ethnic sects and communities' are humiliating and insulting to the indigenous people, it said. PCJSS in 1993 signed the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord with the then Awami League government, drawing an end to the decade-long bush war between the indigenous people and the army. The 15 th amendment could not convince the indigenous people, said Chakma Raja Devasish Roy. "What could have been was not done. It cannot be said that on the whole we are happy. There is no proper recognition of indigenous people here," he said. "Even though we do not appreciate state religion, at least the constitution speaks of giving equal treatment to people following other religions. But what about those speaking other tongues?" Devasish said under articles 28 and 29 , the government can make special provisions for the backward quarters. "But the indigenous people have not been termed as backward," he said. "We demanded reserved parliament seats for the indigenous people. 

The government did not keep that request either. In future perhaps an indigenous MP will not be elected even from the hills. In the hills, we have karbaris and circle chiefs, but no such provision is there for the indigenous people in the plains. So they will remain unrepresented in the local governments." Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, said no state can change the identity and culture of a community. "We wanted to be recognised as indigenous, but the government has termed us tribal and ethnic minorities," Sanjeeb told bdnews24. com in his reaction immediately after the 15 th amendment bill passage on Thursday. "We're disturbed, hurt and aggrieved," he said. The indigenous people have long been demanding that they be recognised as 'indigenous' constitutionally. Several other indigenous leaders, including Chakma Circle head Raja Devasish Roy, Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti chief Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma and Santu Larma, have also been pressing for the recognition. Rights activists and academicians also sought their constitutional recognition. Sanjeeb also voiced his frustration saying that with the amendment, the ruling Awami League also "has backtracked from its election manifesto where it had termed us indigenous". He said such a refusal was a violation of human rights and the United Nations laws. The Awami League's election manifesto, published ahead of the 2008 polls, states, "Terrorism, discriminatory treatment and human rights violations against religious and ethnic minorities and indigenous people must come to an end permanently."

Religious Based Politics in Bangladesh : Restriction Eased

Bangladesh Parliament yesterday eased constitutional restrictions on the use of religion in politics to make way for Islamist parties to continue functioning.

After cancellation of the Fifth Amendment last year, the stringent restrictions on the use of religion in politics, imposed by the 1972 constitution, were restored. But the House did not enforce the ban considering the prevailing political situation.

The proviso of Article-38 of the 1972 constitution was made immediately after the country's independence. It banned the use of religion for political purpose.

"No person shall have the right to form, or be a member or otherwise take part in the activities of any communal or other association or union which in the name or on the basis of any religion has for its object or pursues, a political purpose,” said the proviso.

But the latest amendment eased the limitations, allowing them to form and continue function of a political party in the name or on the basis of any religion.

The changes, however, discourage not to form any party for the purpose of destroying the religious, social and communal harmony among the citizens.

During the passage of the bill yesterday, lawmakers belonging to Workers Party and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal strongly opposed easing the restrictions. They proposed retaining the restrictions imposed by the 1972 constitution.

Thousands protest in Bangladesh against Islamic constitution

Thousands of protesters marched in capital Dhaka on Thursday against Bangladesh parliament adopted an Islamic constitution, steering away from a secular political culture, which was enshrined in 1972 constitution.

A half a mile long rally organized by a conglomerate of left parties and pro-secular groups, chanting anti-government slogans and waving red flags marched towards the parliament, where the ruling party and her alliance lawmakers hastily adopted several amendments to the constitution on Thursday noon.

Hundreds of riot police in flak jackets, armed with shot guns and tear gas shells blocked the marchers putting up barbed-wire fences. The protesters in summer heat and intermittent rain stopped at exit of the Dhaka University, where leaders in makeshift dais addressed the crowd and bitterly criticized the government for switching to an Islamic constitution.

In a massive constitutional reform, the non-partisan interim government has been deleted, which was practiced for 15 years to hold credible elections and ensure smooth transition to an incumbent political government. The opposition fears that the ruling party will rig the election, despite denial by the prime minister.

A set of 55 amendment proposals were incorporated in the constitution amendment bill by 289-1 division vote.

Main opposition described the abrogation of neutral caretaker government from the democratic constitution will be written in the history as a “black day”. Opposition leader and former prime minister Khaleda Zia threatened series of street protests and political agitations to undo the constitution reforms.

Prime minister Shiekh Hasina warned the opposition not to create anarchy and instead olive branches to hold parleys with the government and suggest how to hold a credible election scheduled in 2014 and also reduce military interference in state polity.

The prime minister was highly critical of the last military-backed caretaker government (2006-8), which sent the present prime minister and opposition leader to prison for corruption.

The independence war veterans, secularist and left leaning parties have came down heavily on the government for converting a secular political culture to an Islamic one.

Several lawmakers mostly from the left leaning parties have voted against the proposed amendment of the constitution, which has included Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim (in the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful), a verse from Koran in the preamble and Islam as state religion.

The ethnic minority leader Mangal Kumar Chakma in a statement protested the new constitution, which has termed the indigenous peoples as “tribals, small nationalities, ethnic groups and communities.”

What angered the indigenous peoples when the discovered that they have been bracketed as “Bangalee”, who are majoritarian Sunni Muslims. The indigenous communities divided in several sub-groups have different languages and are mostly Buddhist, Hindu and animist.

Bangladesh gained independence from Islamic Pakistan after a bloody war on the principle to establish a secular and democratic nation.

Former Justice Golam Rabbany lamented at a seminar on Thursday that from now the nation has lost its secular identity, which was gained after decades of struggle. The sacrifices of thousands of martyrs during the independence war forty years ago have been insulted, he decried.