China to list legal places of worship, 'root out' illegal: Xinhua

[December 27, 2014]  By Pete Sweeney
 
 SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China is to publish online details of legal religious venues, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday, apparently in an effort to identify unsanctioned groups as part of an effort to "root out illegal religious activities".

Names and addresses for "all Buddhist and Taoist venues" would be published within two years, Wang Zuoan, director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, told a conference on Friday, according to the news agency.

Xinhua made no mention of other religions but it quoted Wang as saying the information would help stop illegal religious activity in unauthorized locations.

The government's attitude toward religion has softened significantly in recent decades, and people are allowed to practice religion at sanctioned institutions that are required to preach and practice loyalty to the government.

Despite the rules, unsanctioned religious movements, which the authorities call cults, have proliferated in recent years, and the government has grown increasingly active in trying to discourage their growth.

A court jailed 21 members of banned religious group Quannengshen and executed two this year after members were accused of murdering a woman.

Beijing also maintains a ban on the Falun Gong church, which has become one of the most strident public opponents of the Chinese Communist Party.

Anti-cult messages are prolific on message boards in some city neighborhoods, and suspicion can extend to established religions.

The government is locked in a long-running dispute with the Vatican over who appoints Catholic bishops, and in recent months some officials have removed crosses from Christian churches and banned Christmas symbolism.

The government is even more suspicious of Islam, and has tried to discourage traditional Muslim practice in the Xinjiang autonomous region. It has also tried to suppress political activism among Tibetan Buddhists.

The government describes resistance to its rule in Muslim and Tibetan Buddhist communities as inspired by outside forces trying to dismember China, and defends its religious policy as suitable for "reasonable practitioners".

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.