Religion and state can never mix and never should. A prime example of this comes from the book God in Chinatown by Kenneth Guest. In China, especially in Fuzhou, the government strictly restricted religion in the 1950’s once the Communists took over the Nationalists. I believe that one reason as to why Communism fears religion and represses it, is because communist leaders don’t want the people to have a reason to go against them and the things they do. As Guest states, “Its growing networks transgress established kin, village, and regional boundaries and in many cases intentionally challenge the state’s authority to control mobility and communication…” (87).
It is amazing how strongly one is able to hold on to their faith even after all this repression and persecution. In fact it was even more surprising to read about stories in which certain individuals became even more devout afterwards. For example, when John Sung was told that he needed to be admitted to a sanitarium for psychopathic patients he went and even though he stayed there for six months this did not hinder his faith at all. In fact he recalls these months “as having profoundly shaped his religious beliefs and practices” (96). What was disturbing was the fact that the government felt the need to have people “reeducated” due to their beliefs. It was as if they were brainwashing them.
My parents both grew up in a communist country and I remember my mother telling me of how when they celebrated Easter they would have to burn the red egg shells in the oven instead of throwing them out because they were scared of being found out. This underground theme of religion also took place in Fuzhou and even more so with the smaller delegations, such as the Little Flock Christians, once the 3 bigger delegations joined together to form the TSPM. It was funny how the state established a rule such as “aiguo, aijiao” which means love the country, love the church, the state being first of course. As one senior leader in the US stated, “There is no way to compromise with the communists without losing our faith” further proving the point that the church and state simply cannot interfere with one another. This is also why the Little Flock refused to recognize the TSPM because they are public churches “approved” by the government whereas the TSPM doesn’t approve of Little Folk because “they just love their church [and] according to the Bible there should be mutual respect and love”(110). My question is, where was this mutual respect and love from the government when they were religiously prosecuting them? These people were just conditioned to love their country just so they could love their church but they should have had the choice to choose where they wanted to place their priorities.
