BEIJING – As U.S. President George W. Bush worshipped with his family in Kuanjie Protestant Church here yesterday, Liu Peiqin was out front on Di’anmen Ave. E. with a few hundred other faithful, wishing she could be inside.
“This is pitiful,” the 60-something Christian woman said. “I live far away and came here because I wanted to share prayers and worship God with President Bush.”
But on arrival here yesterday, she learned the special early morning service was by invitation only.
Liu doesn’t actually belong to the Kuanjie congregation. But she does belong to something called the “home church” movement; she is precisely the type of independent believer for whom Bush has been calling all week for greater religious freedom in China.
Kuanjie Protestant Church is a state-approved, state-registered church, operating under the watchful eye of a government-controlled association.
By contrast, the “home church” movement to which Liu belongs is not approved by the government – and, as a consequence, is frequently persecuted by it.
In a country where the Communist party seeks to control just about everything – even religious belief – independent religious movements are sometimes seen as potential threats.
Nevertheless, Bush used his Sunday worship to continue to press for greater religious freedom in China.
He sat with wife Laura, daughter Barbara and father George H.W. Bush, in a pew in the upper left nave of the sanctuary and heard a children’s choir sing “Amazing Grace” in both English and Chinese.
Afterwards he emerged smiling on the steps of the church with a group of Chinese worshippers – one of whom he’d slung his arm around – and announced, “Laura and I just had the great joy and privilege of worshipping here in Beijing.
“You know, it just goes to show that God is universal and God is love, and no state, man or woman should fear the influence of loving religion.”
Later, before lunching with Chinese President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders, Bush told the media he had enjoyed a moment of “full spirituality.”
According to Article 36 of the Chinese constitution, “religious belief” is not a privilege, but a right.
However, the state recognizes just five official religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism. To practise any other faith in China is illegal.
Still, by anyone’s measure, it’s an improvement.
After Mao Zedong created what the Chinese call “the New China,” in 1949, all religious belief was suppressed. Even today, the Communist party remains officially atheist and its members are prohibited from holding religious beliefs.
But following Mao’s death in 1976 and the eventual ascendance of Deng Xiaoping, who initiated the Reform and Opening policy of 1978, religious belief was gradually tolerated and today Christianity is flourishing – although under strict government supervision.
The government estimates there are 130 million Christians in China today, or 10 per cent of China’s 1.3 billion population. In 1949, there were 8 million to 9 million.
And last year, a surprising survey by two Shanghai sociologists estimated that more than 31 per cent of all Chinese 16 and older hold “religious beliefs.”
Following yesterday’s service, 73-year-old Li Shiyong said he was thrilled Bush had come to the church – he and his 13-year-old granddaughter, Li Meige, got to shake the president’s hand.
“It was a blessing from God,” the former railway baggage handler declared afterwards.
But among the throngs of people on the street waiting for the president’s cavalcade to speed off so they could enter and begin their worship, not everyone was a fan.
“The elder Bush – he is a very kind man,” said Li Qishou, an articulate 87-year-old who proclaimed he had been a Christian for “70 years.”
And the president?
“I’m not a fan,” Li said, agitation growing in his voice. “He killed the most, according to the newspapers I read. And whether or not he’ll be saved by God is open to question.”
Source — The Star
