China plans to rewrite all translated “classic religious books” to reflect the socialist values of the Communist Party of China. The order was given during a meeting in November that was organized by the Committee for Ethnic Affairs, which is responsible for all religious matters of the country.
New editions must not contain any content that goes against the beliefs of the Communist Party, according to a top party official. Paragraphs deemed wrong by the censors will be amended or re-translated.
Though the Bible and Quran were not mentioned specifically, the party called for a ‘comprehensive evaluation of the existing religious classics aiming at contents which do not conform to the progress of the times’.
A group of 16 experts, believers and representatives of different religions from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China attended the conference in last month, according to Xinhua News Agency.
The meeting was supervised by Wang Yang, Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
Mr Wang stressed that religious authorities must follow President Xi’s instructions and interpret the ideologies of different religions in accordance with ‘the core values of Socialism’ and ‘the requirements of the era’, French newspaper Le Figaro reported yesterday.
He urged the officials to build ‘a religious system with Chinese characteristics’.
The officials agreed with Mr Wang’s directives, adding that the mission ‘is the choice of history’.
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They also claimed that by ‘re-evaluating’ religious books, they would prevent ‘extreme thoughts’ and ‘heretical ideas’ from eroding the country.
November’s meeting took place as China faced global criticism over its religious policy.
Patrick Poon, China Researcher at Amnesty International, told MailOnline today: ‘[The censorship plans] show how manipulative the Chinese government is, hypocritically allowing certain religions to operate in China but only strictly with what content the Chinese government allows.
This move comes amid the crackdown on the Muslim Uighur’s that are held in so-called re-education centers. Up to 1 million people have been incarcerated in these centers, according to U.S. officials and U.N. experts. Beijing initially denied the existence of the camps in Xinjiang, but now says they are “vocational training centers” necessary to combat terrorism.
