The aim is not to align religions with Chinese principles but to subvert religions by forcing them to adhere to the regime’s Marxist doctrines, say analysts.
According to the Chinese regime’s constitution, its citizens enjoy full religious freedom.
However, policies created by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in recent years expose the aim of not only controlling religions but also modifying them to suit the regime’s Marxist principles.
Analysts and former U.S. government officials told The Epoch Times this is being done through a policy called “Sinicization” applied nationwide to religions in China.
“Using the word ‘Sinicization’ is actually a CCP fraud,” Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist of religions, founder of the Center for Studies on New Religions, and editor-in-chief of Bitter Winter, an online magazine that exposes religious persecution in China, told The Epoch Times.
“Historians and missionaries coined the word ‘Sinicization’ to designate the adaptation of the external forms of religion to Chinese culture. The Jesuits started ‘Sinicizing’ Christianity in the 16th century. The word is used by the CCP with an entirely different meaning. For them, ‘Sinicization’ means adapting religion to Marxism and to the CCP ideology.”
A report published in September by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) highlighted the issue, describing in detail how the regime has subverted religions through this “coercive religious policy” which has “fundamentally transformed China’s religious environment.”
“Using the word ‘Sinicization’ is actually a CCP fraud,” Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist of religions, founder of the Center for Studies on New Religions, and editor-in-chief of Bitter Winter, an online magazine that exposes religious persecution in China, told The Epoch Times.
“Historians and missionaries coined the word ‘Sinicization’ to designate the adaptation of the external forms of religion to Chinese culture. The Jesuits started ‘Sinicizing’ Christianity in the 16th century. The word is used by the CCP with an entirely different meaning. For them, ‘Sinicization’ means adapting religion to Marxism and to the CCP ideology.”
A report published in September by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) highlighted the issue, describing in detail how the regime has subverted religions through this “coercive religious policy” which has “fundamentally transformed China’s religious environment.”
