The Shaanxi Bible School, located in Xixian New Area, is at the vanguard of “Sinicization,” or adapting its programmes and activities to the purposes and beliefs of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Bitter Winter reported.
Organizations calling themselves Christian but operating under government control in China have formed a committee dedicated to making Christianity adhere to socialist ideology, as per reports.
Such a push is called “sinicization.” It is the goal of the newly created Special Committee to Advance the Sinicization of Christianity.It also maintains a “cosmetic” ecumenical interaction with and receives assistance from Western churches that fail to recognise the Three-Self Church’s true role as a puppet of the state.
On May 31, 2023, Shaanxi Bible School hosted a study session titled “Singing the Main Theme and Praising the New Era.”
Bitter Winter said that the goal was to study the important speeches and conclusions of the CCP’s 20th National Congress.
Bitter Winter is an online magazine on religious liberty and human rights in China published by CESNUR, the Center for Studies on New Religions, headquartered in Torino, Italy. Scholars, journalists, and human rights activists from different countries started working together to give a voice to the voiceless by publishing news, documents, and testimonies about persecution against all religions in China.
Having watched videos of the 20th Congress, students sang patriotic songs, including “Sing a Folk Song for the Party,” and, in the world of a press release, “expressed their love for the motherland and the CCP.”
The School was also asked to honor three revolutionary heroes, whose lives were narrated by three students. Interestingly, these are three figures who supported Chairman Mao and betrayed Christianity to become staunch supporters of the CCP.
Composer Ma Ke is known for his revolutionary song “Nanniwan,” a CCP favourite that was sung by the students at the end of the study session. He was raised as a Christian (his parents wanted his full name to sound like “Mark” to honour Saint Mark) but became a Communist, moved to Yan’an, and was for many years the regime’s official composer, Bitter Winter reported.
Medical doctor Luo Jinwen is honoured by the CCP as a martyr as he died of exhaustion while performing surgeries for long hours on those wounded in the anti-Japanese fight in Shaanxi.
He was given by his Christian parents the name of Mark, and attended an Anglican, school but also switched to a true belief in the cause of the revolution, at least according to the official biographies.
The third honored hero, Bishop Shen Zigao, was a prominent figure in China’s Anglican Church, who betrayed his fellow Christians and sided with the CCP, eventually joining the Party-controlled Three-Self Church, Bitter Winter reported.
His son Shen Yifan also became a bishop and a leader of the Three-Self Church.
We can understand what kind of Christianity is taught to Bible School students in China. Their role models are Christians who either joined the CCP and abandoned Christianity altogether or converted their churches into obedient tools of the party.
