Protestants organise Bible Exhibition

Organisers seek to correct "outrageous distortions" about religious freedom

Hong Kong (AsiaNews/SCMP) – The official Protestant Church of Mainland China is staging an exhibition on religious freedom in Hong Kong in an attempt to counter its negative image and its reputation as being excessively sycophantic and compliant with the government.

According to Deng Fucun, the organising committee's deputy president, one of the intended goals is to refute "the attacks and outrageous distortion from overseas [about religious worship in China]," and bear witness to "the blessings and guidance of the Lord and the Bible on the ministry of the churches in China."

The event starts August 6 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai District and will last five days. It will feature handcrafts and more than 20 national treasures, including a large wooden carving called The Life of Jesus. The programme will also feature video shows, sacred music by Chinese ethnic groups, and a charity auction.

The exhibition is being organised by the Three-Self (self-administration, self-support and self-propagation) Patriotic Movement Committee of the Protestant Churches in China and the China Christian Council, but other independent Christian groups have joined in, including the Bible Society.

During the five-day event, a copy of the Imperial Edition of the New Testament (Junwang banben) will be put on the auction block to raise funds for SARS research and other infectious diseases by the Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

This Chinese edition of the New Testament was published in 1894 by the American Presbyterian Mission Press and was presented to the Empress-Dowager Cixi (Qinq dynasty, 1862-1908) on her 60th birthday; hence, it being designated an "Imperial Edition."

According to official sources, there are about 15 million Protestant Christians in China. Non official sources put the number at much higher levels, at over 80 million. Of these, 50 million are said to belong to underground churches —the so-called "home churches"— who meet for prayer in small groups in private homes. These groups are critical of the official Protestant Churches and are steadfast in their desire to remain outside of the control of the authorities who, in turn, have persistently persecuted them for their "underground" activities and the threat that the latter represent. (ThR)

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