“People of all ethnic groups in China are fully entitled to the freedom of religious belief,” says a Chinese government spokesperson unnamed by The Guardian. But they are fully entitled only “as prescribed by law” (“China closing hundreds of mosques in northern regions, rights group says,” November 21, 2023).
What does “freedom of religious belief…as prescribed by law” mean in China? That one may not commit crimes as one worships or sermonizes? No embezzling of funds? No ritual sacrifices of maidens or first-born sons? Et cetera?
According to the unnamed Chinese spokesperson-propagandist: “People of all ethnic groups in China are fully entitled to the freedom of religious belief as prescribed by law. Following policies that protect freedom of religious belief, China, like other countries, administers religious affairs in accordance with law. We are resolute in rejecting and fighting religious extremism. Believers’ normal religious activities are guaranteed in accordance with law and their customs respected.” (Emphasis added.)
The Chinese state does not regard “religious extremism” as subsuming only actions like machine-gunning kindergarteners in the name of Allah, driving planes into tall buildings in the name of Allah, or even screaming at people on street corners in the name of Allah. For the Chinese state, it also means things like reciting the Koran at a wedding by invitation. Do all other countries also arrest people who recite religious texts at weddings?
The spokesperson’s incantatory use of the word “resolute,” which pops up a lot in Chinese state propaganda, suggests pride in sturdy championing of principle. But whether one should be proud of upholding a principle or manifesting resolve depends on what the principle is or what one is being resolute about, and the principle being alluded to in this case cannot be the inviolability of religious freedom. Nor is resoluteness invariably a virtue. Many a propagandist for absurd and obscene totalitarian policies exudes an aura of resoluteness almost continuously.
“Freedom” to conduct a peaceful activity only in ways prescribed by a resolutely repressive regime is not freedom. One is not “fully entitled to the freedom of playing card games” if one is permitted by law to play only Go Fish, Crazy Eights, and Gin Rummy but not any of the extremist card games and must play at this table rather than that table and only so many hands and using only a state-authorized deck of cards. Maybe you like Go Fish or Crazy Eights and never dream of aspiring to Old Maid or Double Solitaire. But if you also like freedom, you won’t enjoy the feeling that government officials are constantly watching you and are ready to arrest you as soon as you discard a card the wrong way or become tempted by something forbidden.
The headline tells the story. The Chinese government is closing mosques and altering mosques.
Researchers at Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the Chinese government was significantly reducing the number of mosques in Ningxia autonomous region and Gansu province….
In April 2018, Beijing issued a directive stating that government officials should “strictly control the construction and layout of Islamic activity venues” and “adhere to the principle of demolishing more and building less”.
The researchers at HRW analysed satellite imagery to examine the mosque consolidation policy in two villages in Ningxia. It found that between 2019 and 2021, the domes and minarets were removed from all seven of the mosques. Four of the mosques were significantly altered: three main buildings were razed and the ablution hall of one was damaged….
HRW was not able to determine the exact number of mosques that have been closed or modified in recent years, but government reports suggest it is likely to be hundreds….
The mosque consolidation policy is not confined to Ningxia and Gansu. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute estimates that 65% of Xinjiang’s 16,000 mosques have been destroyed or damaged since 2017.
But the story tells only part of the story.
Another part is the surveillance, imprisonment, brainwashing, rape, sterilization, and murder of Uyghurs and others in Xinjiang and elsewhere that the Chinese government perpetrates in the name of combatting terrorism and/or fostering acculturation. All of this is resolutely done in strict accordance with law, somebody’s law. In China, everyone is fully entitled to be free and to remain alive to the fullest extent permitted by law.
