The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long been known to implement strict rules when it comes to religion. In its efforts to stomp out religious minorities, the communist state has resorted to implement suppressive rules on religious gatherings and detaining Christian church leaders and other religious minorities, such as the Uyghurs.
In China, all types of religious groups must come under the CCP's rule through a registry that keeps track of "legal" religious organizations. Groups that fail to register with the government are often hunted down, with its leaders detained, thrown into jail, and tortured.
The Diplomat reported that the CCP's push to accept "Xi Jinping Thought" as the solely accepted religion in the country is not an attempt to quash political threats, but as a network of "weakening faith systems that can challenge the CCP's monopoly on ideology" and Xi's position as the "ultimate arbiter" of the CCP's ideology and "faith."
In China, religious groups that refuse to register with the communist government and come under the control of what is called the "Three-Self Patriotic Church," which is the official Chinese Protestant church directly under the CCP's United Front Work Department, will be subjected to harassment, detention, and even torture and abuse.
Such is the case of the Golden Lamp Church, which refused to come under the rule of the Chinese authorities, which resulted in nine members of the church being held by the police. Moreover, ChinaAid reported that Christian faithful who listened to online sermons at the "KL2020 Gospel and Culture" conference held last year were also arrested by local authorities involved in religious affairs and national security police.
In its mission to stomp out religious minorities, the CCP issued new laws, including the revised Regulations on Religious Affairs and the Measures for the Administration of Religious Personnel, which requires religious personnel to "love the country, uphold the CCP's leadership, uphold the socialist system, abide by the Constitution, laws, regulations and statutes, practice the socialist core values, support China's religious principle of independence and self-determination, support China's policy of Sinification of religion, support national unification, ethnic solidarity, and religious harmony and social stability."
The CCP is also looking to banish all Western influences from the typical classroom to help sow nationalism and patriotism among the youth and discourage them from joining Western religions such as Christianity. In China, children are prohibited from attending church or engaging in religious activities.
Nikkei Asia reported that children entering school in September will find new required reading in the form of a textbook titled "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era." All students in elementary, middle and high schools will be required to study the textbook as part of their classes on "morality and the rule of law in lower grades and ideology and politics for high schoolers."
The CCP has also banned unapproved foreign textbooks in primary and junior high schools as they aim to "instill positivity toward the Communist Party among young people, as well as nip any potential for Hong Kong-style activism in the bud."
