HONG KONG – When pro-democracy protests in the global financial hub became violent last summer, it left every section of society divided, including families, friends and also Christian congregations of more than 1,500 churches.
Most people in Hong Kong follow Buddhism, Taoism or other traditional Chinese religions. But there are about 900,000 practicing Christians, who comprise 12% of the population and they are evenly split between Roman Catholic and Protestant faiths. However, the Christian community is divided on political lines.
Canaan Wong, Blesson Chan and Kristy Chan belong to a group of about 40 people who resigned as teachers and mentors at the evangelical Tung Fook Church in June following pressure from senior church leaders to stay away from politics.
The trio, who are in their 20s, said several pastors were told by their Churches to remove their names from the statement opposing last year’s bill allowing criminal suspects to be extradited to the mainland. This issue sparked pro-democracy protests.
“It sends chills down our spine with such self-censoring,” said Wong. “This shows that in this church, politics clearly overrides religion and truth.”
The trio want the Church to speak on political issues, such as the new national security law.
“We are not asking for a yellow church,” said Blesson Chan, referring to pro-democracy. “We just feel that church is a part of the society and should not be hiding up in an ivory tower.”
The group is set to have discussions with leaders of the Church, which is situated next to the headquarters of China’s new national security agency in the city. A representative for Tung Fook church said it wanted to “enhance communication and eliminate misunderstanding” with the group.
If the Church does not take a stand, they said that it will ultimately resemble the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, a Protestant organisation in mainland China controlled by the state and fiercely supportive of the Chinese Communist Party.
China has cracked down on the so-called underground or house churches and has incarcerated worshippers on the grounds that they are more loyal to their religion than to the state.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field