Freedom of Religion
山东省宗教事务管理条例 (2000年8月25日山东省第九届人民代表大会常务委员会第16次会议通过） 第一章 总则 第一条 为保护公民宗教信仰自由，维护宗教界的合法权益，依法管理宗教事务，根据《中华人民共和国宪法》和国家有关法律、法规，结合本省实际，制定本条例。 第二条 宗教团体、宗教活动场所、宗教教职人员和信仰宗教的公民的合法权益以及正常的宗教活动受法律保护。 宗教活动必须在宪法、法律、法规允许的范围内进行。任何组织和个人不得利用宗教进行破坏国家统一、民族团结、社会循序损害公民身份健康和妨碍国家教育制度的活动。 第三条 宗教团体和宗教事务不受外国势力的支配。 第四条 县级以上人民政府宗教事务部门或者由人民政府指定的管理宗教事务的部门（以下统称宗教事务部门）主管本行政区域内的宗教事务，其他有关部门和乡（镇）人民政府应当依法履行各自职责，共同做好宗教事务管理工作。 第二章 宗教团体和宗教活动场所 第五条 成立宗教团体必须按照国家有关规定，经相应的宗教事务部门审查同意后，向民政部门申请登记，并由该宗教事务部门报上一级宗教事务部门备案。 第六条 宗教团体可以进行宗教文化学术交流和研究。 出版、印刷或者复制和发行宗教出版物，必须按照国家有关规定办理。 第七条 全省性宗教团体经省人民政府批准，并依法办理登记手续后，可以开办宗教院校。宗教团体向宗教事务部门申报获准后，可以进行宗教性培训。 第八条 宗教教职人员应当遵守国家的法律、法规，遵守所在宗教团体、宗教活动场所的各项规章制度。 宗教教职人员身份的认定或者解除，应当报相应的宗教事务部门备案。 第九条 设立宗教活动场所，必须具备下列条件： （一）有固定的处所和名称； （二）有经常参加宗教活动的信仰宗教的公民； （三）有信仰宗教的公民组成的管理组织； （四）有主持宗教活动的宗教教职人员或者符合各宗教规定的人员； （五）有管理规章； （六）有合法的经济收入。 第十条 设立宗教活动场所，必须按照国家有关规定，向宗教事务部门申请登记。宗教活动场所变更和终止的，应当向原登记机关办理有关手续。
An editorial in the January 12 edition of the Beijing Review, a government-run weekly designed for an English-language audience, advocated an ethical education for Chinese young people "based on religious instructions." The statement appears to challenge Communist Party orthodoxy, which calls for Chinese citizens to be trained in "scientific atheism," expressed, for example, in "Strengthen Propaganda and Education of Scientific Atheism," an article (in Chinese) that appeared in the April 16, 2004 issue of Qiushi, the official journal of the Communist Party Central Committee. Party theory holds that theism is an illusion that will eventually be overtaken by rational thinking grounded in science.
The National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) will examine the implementation of the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law (REAL) from July to September, according to a June 24 Xinhua article posted on the State Council Information Office Web site. Four NPCSC inspection teams will visit 11 provincial-level areas, while local people's congress standing committees in nine other provincial-level areas will conduct their own inspections of the law's implementation. The article did not specify which areas the inspection teams will visit.
Ethnic and religious affairs offices from several provinces in China reported in June on local efforts by government offices and patriotic religious associations to instruct religious communities in the socialist concept of glory and shame, part of a new nationwide Party campaign on morals. Termed the "eight glories and eight shames" by PRC President Hu Jintao, the concept describes eight sets of moral guidelines for Chinese society. The guidelines include "taking ardent love for the motherland as a glory and harm of the motherland as a shame," and "taking obedience of discipline and law as a glory and the violation of them as a shame." The Party campaign, launched in March, is designed to address corruption and social disillusionment as China undergoes swift economic and social changes.
A Confucian group in Hong Kong is campaigning for Confucianism to be recognized on the Mainland as an authorized religion, according to a May 22 article from United Press International. Currently there are more than 1,600 Confucian temples in China, the article reported, but they have registered with the government as academic institutes. Critics of the campaign for recognition argue that placing Confucianism under China's regulatory scheme for religion would increase controls over Confucianism, the article noted.
Li Baiguang and Fan Yafeng, lawyers who are also house church Protestants, have volunteered to represent a group of other house church members who were among the 28 persons public security officials detained without warrants following a May 28 raid on a religious service in Fugou county, Henan province, according to a June 8 report of the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China. Li and Fan, and other house church lawyers like them, have begun to promote the rule of law with respect to religious belief and practice by raising house church leaders' awareness of their legal rights, and by demanding that the government comply with the Chinese Constitution, Regulation on Religious Affairs, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law, and other relevant laws and regulations. Among their activities:
Officials in Anhui province questioned, detained, and eventually arrested house church pastor Wang Zaiqing on charges of "illegal operation of a business" in printing Bibles and other Christian literature, according to a June 14 report of the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China. According to the CAA, Wang printed Bibles and other religious literature and gave them away without government authorization. Anhui public security officials questioned Pastor Wang and Zhang Hongyan, his wife, on April 25, and then searched their house and confiscated religious literature and other items.
Chinese officials raided a house church service on May 28 in Xiguan Ma Jia Chang, Fugou county, in Henan province, and detained 28 members of the church, according to a June 8 report of the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China. Officials released 23 of the house church members on the same day, and thereafter released Liu Yuemei on June 1 after she paid a 1,600 yuan (US $200) fine, and Chang Xinhong on June 8 after she promised to pay a fine.
Imprisoned Falun Gong practitioner Wang Xin becomes eligible for parole between July and October 2006, after having served half of a nine-year sentence in relation to downloading, printing, and distributing Falun Gong materials.
Zhang Qingli, the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) Communist Party Secretary, told senior Party officials meeting in Lhasa on May 16 that the Party is engaged in a "fight to the death struggle" against the Dalai Lama and his supporters, according to a Tibet Daily report published the same day (in Chinese, reprinted on the Web site of Xinhua). For this reason, Zhang said, the Party must push ahead with the patriotic education campaign already underway in TAR Buddhist monasteries and nunneries, the report said.