Beleaguered government officials could view church as threat - or a force for stability.
BEIJING, February 25 (Compass
Direct News) - With China's central government last December issuing a
number of secret documents calling on provincial officials to strive to
prevent massive unrest in a rapidly collapsing economy, observers are
watching for signs of whether authorities will view Christian groups as
a threat or a stabilizing influence during social upheaval. A central
government body, the Committee for Social Stability (CSS), issued an
internal report on Jan. 2 listing a total of 127,467 serious protests
or other incidents across China in 2008, many involving attacks on
government buildings or clashes with police and militia.
“Recently every kind of contradiction in society has reached the
level of white heat,” the CSS warned in an earlier document issued on
Dec. 16. The document said some officials had “ignored the welfare of
the masses … piling up pressure until the situation exploded,” and
concluded that, “The relevant Party and State organs must … give daily
priority to the task of getting rid of all the maladies which produce
social instability and the present crisis.” While the Sichuan
earthquake last May proved that Christians were willing and able to
assist in times of national crisis, raids on house church groups have
continued in recent weeks. Concerned by the growth of unregistered
house church groups in an uncertain political and social climate, the
Chinese government has ramped up efforts both to identify Christians
and to portray Christianity as a subversive foreign force.
