National Security Law Has Chilling Effect on Religious Freedom, Says Hong Kong Watch Report

"Day of Mass Prayer for the Church in China" organized by the Hong Kong Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Hong Kong, 2022. (Big Mac/The Epoch Times)

In a report released on Nov. 7, the UK-based group “Hong Kong Watch” has voiced concern over the impact of the National Security Law on religious freedom in Hong Kong, pointing out that it has had a chilling effect on religious followers. Self-censorship is now common in sermons and other religious activities, but also among the affiliated schools of religious groups that severed ties with their associated churches. It has also been revealed that CCP representatives have infiltrated the church leadership. The report concludes that under such a situation, religious followers in Hong Kong are forced to make compromises that should not need to be made.

The report is titled “Sell Out My Soul: The Impending Threats to Freedom of Religion or Belief in Hong Kong.” “Hong Kong Watch” stated that it is an early warning signal for the international community to closely monitor further developments regarding freedom of religion and belief in Hong Kong. The report was launched in the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, and will be presented at events in Washington, DC, in the United States, as well as in the Canadian and British Parliaments.

The 34-page report is divided into four sections, which include the impact on religion and belief under Hong Kong’s legal framework, self-censorship of religious groups, the impact on the church-run schools, and the CCP’s “Sinicization” of religion. The report states that religious followers in Hong Kong have not yet faced religious persecution like their peers in mainland China, but that there are obvious signs where authorities are now violating freedom of religion and belief.

Anglican Schools Downplay Religious Curriculum, Chinese Agents Inside Church Leadership

In the report, a pastor who was interviewed said that Anglican schools continually “downplay their religious curriculum.” He described how students currently studying in these schools are barely aware of being in a Christian school. He said that during an Anglican school’s open day, the principal’s speech did not mention the school’s Christian tradition, instead emphasizing the CCP’s national flag, national security law education, and patriotic education.

The pastor went on, saying it’s no secret that many CCP operatives have entered the church to become members of its leadership team. By using, threats, and other forms of subversion, they have created internal conflict and unrest within the Hong Kong church.

This raises the concern that the CCP will be able to infiltrate Hong Kong’s primary and secondary school committee system and establish CCP operatives to weaken the faith-based school relationship between parent-teacher representatives and the religious groups that manage these matters.

SBM Limits The Power of the Sponsor Groups to Run School, Long a Controversial Issue.

The Hong Kong government implemented the School-Based Management (SBM) Ordinance in 2005, which required all primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong to establish and register Incorporated Management Committees (IMCs), which must include representatives of parents, teachers, and alumni. The number of representatives from sponsoring groups is limited to only 60 percent.

At that time, the Ordinance was strongly opposed by the Catholic church and other churches. They feared political organizations infiltrating and changing the original political stance of the school-running group. The then Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, led the diocese in a six-year legal battle with the Hong Kong government, eventually losing the case in the Court of Final Appeal.

Related Stories

EXCLUSIVE: Private Catholic School Quietly Introduces Social Justice Course, ‘Disguised as Religion Class,’ Required for Graduation

9/11/2023

Religion: The Greatest Threat to Totalitarian Regimes?

7/23/2023

In 2020, Cardinal Zen said that the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong had lost the management rights of schools to the IMC and can no longer control the schools. He said it cannot be ruled out that the word “Catholic” in the current name of the school will disappear. Feeling sad and nervous, he believes that within the IMC structure, the parents and teachers are the only ones who can prevent the original values of Catholic schools from slipping away.

Cut Off Ties Between the Church and School

Also in the report, pastors stressed that churches that do not have their own school facilities do face greater challenges, especially when needing to rent school space. Taking one church as an example, the pastor revealed that his five congregations now need to rent school facilities every Sunday. After successfully renting a facility for the past two years, the school explained that my congregations were no longer allowed to meet there every Sunday. He said that new regulations prohibit the same group from using a school facility every Sunday. He went on to say that even though the government supports school educational activities, it does not support church activities. He said many churches in Hong Kong are facing the same pressure.

Another pastor revealed that churches that make applications to rent their school facilities for worship are receiving rejection letters from the Education Bureau.

The report revealed from two sources that if the CCP can successfully infiltrate and subvert the educational sector’s composition and ethical base by severing the links between schools and churches, rather than by name or by means of nominal management, then it (the CCP) will achieve its purpose of controlling and restricting religion in Hong Kong.

Corrupting The Christian Faith from Within: Commentary

The report also mentioned that in August 2020, after the NSL came into effect, the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong sent a letter to the principals of all Catholic primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, pointing out the need to encourage students in their understanding of the NSL and the “National Anthem Ordinance,” to avoid the campus from becoming too politicized and to prevent it from becoming a place for anyone unilaterally propagating political information or expressing a political stance or demands. The letter also included the requirement for students to raise their awareness of national security, to be law-abiding, and to follow Catholic social teachings, enabling them to cultivate a correct concept of national identity.

The report said that although these comments were related to political rather than religious expressions, it raised concerns that schools with religious backgrounds would come under increasing pressure.

The report also quoted an independent religious scholar who said, “The CCP is very clear that in order to control a country, the first step is to control the minds of young children.” But it does not mean immediately closing down the Christian schools and transforming them into public schools. The CCP’s plan is to use its local Liaison Office in Hong Kong to manipulate the “training” of school principals and teachers by enforcing the NSL curriculum in all church-affiliated schools and thereby corrupting Christian education from within.

‘Sinicization’ Puts the Church Under Intense Political Pressure

The report noted that Beijing’s religious “Sinicization” movement has sounded an alarm for the future of religion in Hong Kong.

A research report in 2022 by Nina Shea, senior researcher at the Hudson Institute in Washington, pointed out that the CCP’s “Sinicization” of religion is a strategy to integrate religious circles with the party’s united front. This helps the CCP to monitor and brainwash these people to ensure that the synthesis evolves into a controlled Han Chinese ideology. Since 2018, various “Sinicization” legislations have restricted mainland churches from preaching and practicing Christian doctrine. Churches must now actively propagate the CCP’s leadership and its “socialist values” and must also promote Xi Jinping Thought in sermons and “study classes.”

Analyst: Religious Figures Under Political Pressure

The report points out that there are now obvious signs that Beijing hopes to accomplish the “Sinicization” of religion in Hong Kong.

The report cites the example of an online meeting held on October 31, 2021 between three mainland bishops, 15 religious leaders from the Catholic Patriotic Association, and 15 senior clergy from the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong. It was held under the supervision of officials from the Liaison Office and the State Administration of Religion of the PRC.  The meeting was devised to discuss Xi Jinping’s vision for religion with “Chinese characteristics.” It was reported at the time that although clergy from Hong Kong and mainland China had met before, this was the first meeting in Hong Kong that had been officially organized by representatives from the Liaison Office and from Beijing

On the other hand, Hong Kong Christian groups are advocating similar activities. In May 2023, members from the China Christian Council and the China Christian Association met in Hong Kong with Hong Kong pastors, scholars, seminary academics, and representatives from other Christian denominations and organizations, making up around 120 participants, to hold a two-day seminar on “The Sinicization of Christianity.”

Among them, Pastor Wu Wei, president of the China Christian Association, said that the direction of “Christianity in China” is to “take the core values ​​of socialism as a starting point, carry on the fine traditions of the Chinese nation, and cultivate concepts such as unity, progress, peace, and tolerance.”

The Epoch Times found a report on a former CCP delegate, “Wen Wei Po.” The report includes the opinions of Xu Xiaohong, chairman of the Chinese Christian Council. At a council meeting, Mr. Xu said that we should remove the Western mentality by talking less about Western celebrities and their values. The stories which are more suitable for Chinese people are about our history and the testimonies of the people around us. The report also quoted China Aid, a Christian human rights advocacy organization as saying that “the very fact that the Sinicization Conference was held in Hong Kong... shows that Christianity in Hong Kong is under political pressure.”

HK Reverend’s Distorted Concepts, Ignoring CCP’s Demand for Political Loyalty by Religion

On the other hand, church leaders have their own opinions on “Sinicization.” The report cited Rev. Canon Peter Douglas Koon, a member of the CPPCC National Committee, a member of the Legislative Council, and the former provincial secretary-general of the Hong Kong Anglican Church, as saying in an interview at the “Sinicization of Christianity” seminar held in May that “Sinicization” means “indigenization,” primarily an attempt to avoid too much “foreign religion” color. The report criticized Mr. Koon as distorting the concept of “Sinicization” and ignoring the core reality of “Sinicization” - ensuring the political allegiance of religious beliefs to the CCP.

Based on the news reports at the time, Mr. Koon even said that in the past, Hong Kong churches were relatively alienated from the country. In the future, believers should be encouraged to have a better understanding of the country. He also suggested that National Day could be used as a starting point for churches to begin holding meetings and place the national flag next to the altar. On National Day, the Anglican Church of St. John’s Cathedral did place a five-star red flag in front of the altar. Mr. Koon said that this was appropriate, and that this arrangement would become routine on subsequent National Days.

The report also notes the controversy caused by the visit of Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, to Beijing in April this year. Mr. Chow had urged Catholics in Hong Kong to be “patriotic” and said he hoped that the Hong Kong diocese would cooperate further with the Beijing diocese and mainland Catholic groups.

The report finds the above trends worrying and points out that mainland theologians and officials seem to be blurring the line between “indigenization” and “sinicization. “Sinicization” is an attempt to inspire patriotic beliefs and follow the party-state system in preaching and organizational management. According to the report, many observers fear that the above remarks will cause the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, which is currently independent of CCP control, to fall further into the “patriotic” religious structure. This will have a similar effect on Hong Kong’s Christian denominations, putting them all in trouble. By then, Hong Kong’s freedom of religion or belief will be in tatters, like all the other basic rights that have been taken away.

Suppressing Gospel Outreach to Mainland China

The report notes several sources that disclose the recent suspension of extensive travel by many churches into mainland China. The purpose of their mission was to preach the Gospel, to support the mainland churches, and to provide humanitarian aid.

Because of the suppressed religious freedom in mainland China, many churches have also stopped bringing Christians from house churches in mainland China into Hong Kong for participation in workshops and conferences. It is anticipated that religious freedom in Hong Kong will suffer the same fate as that in the mainland due to the introduction of its National Security Law.

In addition, the report mentioned that in August 2020, Cardinal John Tong Hon, the then Apostolic Administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, stated in a letter to Hong Kong clergies that it is inappropriate for any slanderous or offensive remarks that insinuate, incite hatred, and cause social unrest to appear in the liturgy. Although talking about these issues, such as human rights, human dignity, justice, and freedom has traditionally been within the purview of priests, the report believes that Cardinal Tong’s remarks indicate that priests should avoid issues that may cause provocation to the government.

Falun Gong Smeared, Practitioners Attacked

The report also pointed out that when the NSL for Hong Kong was proposed to be enacted, Cardinal Zen and other religious leaders including the Hong Kong Association of Falun Dafa expressed serious concerns about its impact on freedom of religion or belief in Hong Kong.

Although Falun Gong is not outlawed like it is in mainland China, Falun Gong practitioners are often attacked in Hong Kong. In July 2022, before Xi Jinping’s visit to Hong Kong, Falun Gong practitioners were harassed by the authorities under the authority of the National Security Law.

In August 2022, a man who appeared in court after being accused of assaulting a Falun Gong practitioner, was supported by a group of pro-Beijing legislators and politicians who had demonstrated outside the court in support of the defendant.

Before the implementation of the NSL, Falun Gong practitioners were allowed to speak freely about the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP. However, since the implementation of the NSL, many Falun Gong practitioners have been prosecuted for doing so in many locations, including the downtown area of Hong Kong.

Religious Believers Make Compromises That Should Never Be Made

The report was written by Benedict Rogers, co-founder and executive director of Hong Kong Watch. Mr. Rogers has specialized in freedom of religion or belief in Asia for almost three decades. He said that most freedoms in Hong Kong have already been dismantled or undermined, and that the erosion of religion or belief, as this report shows, is already underway in subtle, insidious, consistent, and clear ways. We call on the international community to heed the warning signs and act before it’s not too late, he said. The report also makes several recommendations to the international community, but especially pays close attention to the upcoming legislation on Article 23 of the Basic Law, the crowdfunding law, and other likely potential legislative changes affecting freedom of religion or belief.

As the economic slowdown in China continues, it is predicted that CCP authorities will focus on infiltrating religious institutions, where they will focus on intimidation rather than overt repression to achieve their objectives. The fear created by this atmosphere may not lead to outright religious persecution, but it has compelled religious believers to compromise and has already eroded their intellectual freedom.