New bill in China would prohibit foreign missionaries from evangelizing

[PeteS in CA]

New bill in China would prohibit foreign missionaries from evangelizing

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/new-bill-in-china-would-prohibit-foreign-missionaries-from-evangelizing

BEIJING, China, November 28, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Foreigners will be unable to speak freely about God in China, should a new communist bill be put into law.

According to AsiaNews.it, visitors to China would be subject to several significant restrictions regarding their religious activities. A draft of the new law entitled “Foreign Religious Activities in the People’s Republic of China” was recently released by the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA). It forbids missionary work and even religious services conducted by foreigners for Chinese nationals.

“To enhance the sense of ‘independence’ and ‘autonomy’ of Chinese religions, religious activities by foreigners can only involve foreigners, even if they can, sometimes and temporarily, use local ‘temples or churches’, and ask Chinese personnel to perform religious services or sacraments (Articles 17 and 20),” AsiaNews reported.

“Foreigners are also not allowed to set up religious groups, engage in activities, or open schools, proselytise among Chinese citizens, recruit followers, or accept donations from Chinese citizens (Article 21).”

The online news magazine also reported that SARA is against any kind of foreign leadership in religions present in China, which most prominently would include the Argentina-born Roman pontiff.

It sounds to me like this would apply to foreigners generally, not just to people associated with missions groups. I wonder whether it might get applied to Buddhism as well, since Buddhism originated in India, and came into China around the same time as or even a little later than Christianity first did.

[heelboy22]

I thought Christianity was already taboo in China.  Missionaries and those who go on short-term missions I've spoken to have always referred to China as "East Asia" so as to not put those in danger who are/were planning to go.

[PeteS in CA]

I thought Christianity was already taboo in China. 1  Missionaries and those who go on short-term missions I've spoken to have always referred to China as "East Asia" so as to not put those in danger who are/were planning to go. 2

1 It's complicated and always changing.

2 This is true of quite a few countries, the point being not to tie a particular person to a particular country in a public context.