Underground communities: more persecutions after the temple blaze
Beijing (AsiaNews) - A temple fire which caused the deaths of 40 elderly women in the Zhejiang province on February 15th is fueling the government's new determination to decimate buildings used for unregistered religious activity, and to prosecute those involved in "superstitious practices". But the campaign for the destruction of the underground communities was launched on an international level at the end of last month.
At a National Religious-Work conference in January, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Jia Qinglin, urged all party groups nation-wide to recommit to supervising religious activities and to guard against the influence of foreign church affiliated groups. He declared that the energy of the people must be directed instead to building up a prosperous society. The State Council has given 450 million yuan (around 56 million euro) to the Religious Affairs Bureau, to build up a team of expert cadres and eliminate unregistered religious groups. Suspicious factions are to be rooted out and replaced by "patriotic" forces, religious sources said.
The fire in Zhejiang has given justification to officials for the crackdown, citing it as a prime example of the effect of superstition and foolishness. "The Hianing fire gave Zhejiang provincial bureaus new reasons to stamp out unregistered religious groups in the name of public safety." A church source in Hangzhou stated.
Local leaders in the Wufeng village, Haining county, where the incident took place, remarked that "everything has to be done to ensure stability in the village." Chen Jianliang, 44, a leader of the quasi-Buddhist group, has been arrested, along with two women who were also involved in the meetings. The Zhejiang provincial department of public safety and fire prevention units then commissioned 11 work units to destroy other unauthorized meeting places across the province, and condemned "superstitious practices" for causing the deaths.
Though the illegal temple had been torn down on 3 occasions since 2001, the worshippers rebuilt it each time. They gathered to pray to Buddhist and folk gods, light candles, and burn incense. The China News Service said local officials had torn down the temple to stop the villagers from participating in such activities, and added, "The demolition did not shake the foolish faith of the villagers a bit, and instead drove the old women together. They all chipped in to build this shed using materials which were easily flammable, like bamboo and blankets."
The News Service questioned why local officials had not stopped the services in the last year, and why the villagers were allowed to worship in the makeshift temple they had built, dedicated to the folk god Guan Di.
The residents of Wufeng themselves however, accuse the government: if the authorities had not destroyed the original temple, the worshippers would not have used the inflammable structure. The accident has become one of the more problematic questions for the authorities. Journalists received the order to use only the state news agency Xinhua to coverage of the incident. At the same time, the government perhaps to avoid criticism- has promised to pay 10,000 yuan (around 1200 euro) to the families of each victim.
Zhejiang officials have been notorious for brutal crackdowns of underground churches and temples.
In 2003, 10 unregistered churches near the provincial capital Hangzou were demolished. Another 402 temples and small churches were closed in Deqing country, religious rights groups say. Other buildings were seized to be used for entertainment centers.
.png)
03/04/2018 15:27
