Is there real religious freedom in China? Archbishop John Neill reflects on the question following a visit there
China is opening up to the world after a period when all seemed to be shrouded in mystery for westerners. To speak to people in the commercial, political or academic sectors in Ireland is to discover a deep interest in China.
It was a new venture for my wife and for me when, accompanied by two priests from Dublin, we went to visit churches in Shanghai and Hong Kong. The issue which I was concerned about in advance, and which the visit did not fully resolve, was whether there was real religious freedom in China.
In Shanghai, we saw the fastest-growing Christian community that we had ever witnessed, and we were very impressed by the fact that under the auspices of the China Christian Council (and the Three Self movement), Christians are able to gather for worship and to be involved in much social work.
The China Christian Council is a single official Protestant body replacing the various churches that worked in pre-revolution China. We were left with questions as to whether this post-denominationalism is a type of monochrome unity of the "lowest common denominator" imposed on Protestant churches, and whether the churches are as free as is officially claimed.
We found in the churches that we visited in Shanghai little awareness of the even larger underground church movement, many of whose members were imprisoned that same month. Yet we were also conscious that most of the official church leaders whom we met had themselves been at one stage imprisoned for their faith.
It was therefore not a case of some Christians "selling out" in order to avoid suffering, but more a question of just how far the China Christian Council could go whilst retaining its official recognition from the state. Some of the leadership is aware that there is a problem for a church such as theirs which can express its official status, but finds it hard to express either its link with the church of the past or with the church around the world.
It is also salutary to realise that in spite of the insistence that Protestant Christianity has entered a post-denominational phase in China, divisions remain but along new lines. But any such criticism must be tempered by recognition of the astounding growth and vitality of these churches in China.
There was no contact between the China Christian Council and the Roman Catholic minority.
Roman Catholic Christians are divided in the same manner among themselves between the Patriotic (officially independent) and Underground (loyal to Rome) churches but both are now more aware of and closer to each other.
The bishops of both traditions in Shanghai are Jesuits and both have been imprisoned in the past, and are now each in their 90s. Recently the bishop of the Patriotic Church (whom we visited) was recognised by Rome and has consecrated a new auxiliary bishop who seems to straddle the division.
Overall in Shanghai, we were encouraged by the obvious growth in churches, but left with endless questions as to how the Christian community in China is going to evolve and whether freedom will increase or decrease.
In Hong Kong, where we spent the second part of our visit, we found vibrant churches of all persuasions, very close to one another in ecumenical commitment.
We were guests of the Anglican Province, and the highlights of our time there included visiting both the imaginative work in the care of the elderly, and the integrated welfare services run by the Anglican Church in a community of high-rise public housing.
We were especially impressed by a visit to the Theological College, which was small but nevertheless providing first-class theological education to men and women of very high calibre offering themselves for ordination.
Anybody visiting Hong Kong today is told of China being one country with two systems. Economically this is hard to grasp.
Shanghai and Hong Kong each seem to share all the marks of a capitalist society, even to the extent of the coexistence of extreme wealth and poverty in each. In Shanghai the wealth was more apparent.
The chief difference between mainland China and Hong Kong appears now to be less in political or economic realities and more in the area of freedom (including religious freedom) and openness to the rest of the world.
The churches in Hong Kong have something special to offer to the churches in mainland China with which they have developed very strong links. We found an awareness of this as we visited Anglican, Roman Catholic and Orthodox church members and leadership.
As we left behind those wonderful friendly and welcoming people in China, I was more conscious than ever of the importance of links between Christians in different cultures.
- The Most Rev John Neill is Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin and Glendalough