It's Advent time and every now and then I'm drawn to a German-language church service.
There are churches in China and you can hold services. But according to popular opinion in Germany, the church in China is suppressed and its representatives or followers are persecuted. The media contribute to this image. At Wikipedia one reads that Catholic “worship services may only take place in state-approved churches that belong to the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (KPV). This forces the Catholics to break ties with the Holy See, as they are not allowed to see the Pope as head of the church. Catholics attached to the Pope celebrate their services for fear of arrest in the underground. " (Wikipedia: Roman Catholic Church in China) The choice of words is frightening: "compel", "fear of arrest", "underground". Since I feel completely safe and not at all depressed at the church services - they take place in a state-approved location, of course, but I have no problem with that - I want to take a closer look at the situation: Indeed, communism rejects religions because their power would hinder the restructuring of world society. Karl Marx remarked that religion is opium for the people, a drug that makes you sick and weakens, but at the same time comforts and gives support, although it is the cause of the weakening. Bertolt Brecht exemplifies this in his "Life of Galilei".
A world domination of communism would have guaranteed the end of the church. No second time in its history has it been so blatantly and existentially threatened as by communism in the 20th century. Accordingly, the relationship between church and communism is heavily burdened. After World War II, a quarter of the earth's land mass and a third of the world's population were communist. In Europe it was even two thirds of the map and half of all Europeans. Until well into the 1970s, some Western European states such as Italy and France were classified by the American secret service as tipping states, where a communist government would have been possible at any time. The Church had to act and she elected a cardinal from a communist country to be Pope. It was Poland that became the first Eastern European country with the Solidarnosc movement at the time and began to rebel against the rulers. Since the revolutions in the Eastern European states at the end of the 1980s and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the danger that the Church was exposed to after the Second World War seems to have been largely averted.
Vor dem Gottesdienst noch ein Spaziergang im Fuxing-Park neben der Kirche. Bildnis von Marx und Engels - Gegensätze in unmittelbarer Nachbarschaft
Today's conflict between the Vatican and China is sparked by the question of who will determine the fate of the Roman Catholic Church on Chinese territory. Strictly speaking, it is the question of the appointment of bishops. Rome insists that only the Pope can appoint or confirm bishops; China does not want to grant the Vatican this influence on its territory. For this, China offers to appoint bishops itself through the Chinese-Catholic-Patriotic Association mentioned above. In short: Church in China, yes, but under its own leadership. The Vatican does not accept this regulation. To make matters worse, the Vatican is the only European country to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, while all other European countries have their embassies in the People's Republic. The Sino-Catholic-Patriotic Association installed some bishops, 60% of whom were accepted by the Vatican. So Rome’s stance is not as rigid as it looks on the surface.
The Protestant Church is more pragmatic and accordingly has fewer problems. The hierarchical structures as with the Roman Catholic Christians do not exist and the questions of power posed by the Vatican are of little interest to the Evangelicals. As a result, it is easier to adapt to Beijing's demands. The evangelical, so-called "three-self-church" criticizes neither the government nor the party, but tries to build a new Chinese society with them. Here, too, services are only possible in registered rooms. As with the Catholics, the reason is that the government wants to prevent control from abroad. Oberkirchenrat Paul Oppenheim, a proven expert on the Church in the Far East, said at a lecture in Bad Eilsen on "the situation of Christians in the largest country on earth" that Christians would under no circumstances be oppressed or persecuted. The Chinese Protestant Church has 16 million members, making it the largest Protestant church in the world. China's position is understandable when looking at its history, since in the century of humiliation from 1840-1946 it was defenselessly exposed to imperial European and American interests and Japanese atrocities and was no longer in control of its own country. After these traumatizing experiences, one reacts negatively to demands for influence that are controlled from outside. This action is not unwise. There is absolutely no harm in keeping things in your own hands, and not just when it comes to questions of faith. Perhaps Europe will still experience this in the medium to long term, what happens when others are in control and suddenly take completely new paths and suddenly one is defenseless, e.g. in digital information or defense or both together.
The services I attended did not have the atmosphere of underground services. Logically we all have to register because of the corona pandemic, but you have to do that every time you visit a museum, etc. There is a German-speaking Christian congregation in Shanghai that was founded two decades ago and offers extensive, enriching congregational life with St. Martin's parades, Advent services, etc. The evangelical pastor and the Catholic pastor integrate you well into the congregation, it has almost family characteristics. There is a choir, a trombone choir, and the church is pretty well attended. I don't feel any difference here to a congregation in Germany, it seems more lively to me than at home, perhaps also because of the expads who live here and who come together more in church than at home to be networked in Shanghai.
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