WUGANG, China -- Under threat from the government's longstanding policy of religious persecution, many independent Chinese Christians remain fearful. But as authorities adopt a less absolute system of control, some worshipers see encouraging signs.
Mr. Li of Wugang, like many Chinese Christians who wish to practice outside state control, seems caught in the middle.
In his poor village in central China everyone knows Li as a local pastor. Benches for a religious service are arranged in his living room. The outline for a sermon is written on the blackboard: "You should not lie before God," an admonition reads, "because God is everywhere."
But Li could not bring himself to talk about his faith. He is not a Christian, he said, and this is not an underground church.
"It's just a place where old ladies come and sit awhile to chat," he insisted.
The Chinese government's hostility toward organized religion outside of its control is evident in sporadic crackdowns on the underground "house church" movement and on the quasi-Buddhist Falun Gong spiritual movement.
Report cites harsh campaign
In a report released Monday in New York, the Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China published what it described as official documents outlining a brutal campaign that includes killings, torture and imprisonment to stamp out independent worship.
The group's report says that China's tactic of cracking down on so-called cults is in fact a smokescreen for persecuting many believers who want to keep their distance from the government-controlled religious groups.
China permits Protestant and Roman Catholic churches to operate and oversees the printing of Bibles by groups that submit to state authority. These churches are required to support government policies and emphasize the theme of political loyalty over religious identity. Also, the religious education of children is banned.
But observers detect divergent views within the government about religion, especially among its different levels. As China makes the transition from strict communism to a free-market society that allows for more personal freedom, there are many reports of Christians worshiping under less pressure.
In many villages, the secretive "house church" movement of untold millions of Christians has come relatively into the open, where it operates as a vibrant alternative to a tightly controlled state-run Christian movement.
Even in some regions where underground Christians remain too frightened to talk openly about their religious practices, others say that local government officials know about the churches but no longer bother them.
A few miles from Li's place in Wugang, a farming family opens its barn door to reveal a wall scroll adorned with a cross.
Yes, the family members readily acknowledged, they are Christians, and come Sunday they expect 100 worshipers to join their Bible service. The government has not bothered them in four years, said the father, who spent a good part of two decades in jail for violating China's strict bans on the practice of Christianity.
Bibles also are more available than ever before. The state-run church has printed 26 million since 1987, while millions more have been smuggled into the country or printed in secret.
"The basic paradox is that you probably have more freedom and more persecution at the same time," said Alex Buchan of Compass Direct, a Christian news service that monitors religious issues in China.
"For some house church movements things have gotten a lot easier," Buchan said. "And for others it's probably going to get tougher, especially if they have anything that smacks of doctrinal eccentricity.
"People will be very quick to shout that it's a cult," he explained.
The conflicting status of Christianity in China was highlighted by the case last month of a Hong Kong man who was put on trial for bringing 30,000 Bibles into China for use by the Shouters, an evangelical Protestant sect.
According to the government, Li Guangqiang was not arrested for Bible smuggling. He was charged with disseminating "cult publications," a violation of anti-cult laws that is punishable by death.
Reaction to U.S. pressure
After President Bush raised concerns, charges were modified, and Li was given a 2-year prison sentence for the vague offense of operating an illegal business.
Last weekend, Li was released from prison and returned to Hong Kong. It seemed to blur any message China was trying to make about the status of underground Christianity, except that the government sometimes will bend to American pressure.
That is particularly true in advance of an important event, such as Bush's scheduled visit to Beijing starting Feb. 21.
With more people living and working away from daily government control, it has become easier for Christians to practice their religion in private. It also seems that some government officials have begun to accept that fact. China is so vast that local officials have great discretion in how they interpret Beijing's rules.
"Fundamentally, it shows Beijing on this issue, like on so many, gives broad guidelines to local officials who are left to interpret those guidelines," said a diplomat in China with contacts in the underground Christian movement.
"Some interpret them rather harshly. Some interpret them rather loosely," the diplomat noted.
Adding another layer of political intrigue to the fate of Christians is China's aggressive move to ban Falun Gong and arrest adherents who refuse to repudiate their beliefs.
In the villages of central Henan province, where foreign missionaries during the pre-communist era sowed the seeds for today's Christian community, many worshipers said they fear that the government would try to extend the Falun Gong dragnet to include them.
There are reports in the international Christian community that the government is planning to pressure underground congregations to join the government-affiliated Three Self Patriotic Movement of churches or face the threat of being branded a cult.
"You either sign up or your take your chances; that's our understanding," said Terry Madison, president of Open Doors with Brother Andrew USA, an organization that supports persecuted Christians.
A government official at the Bureau of Religious Affairs responsible for Christianity issues refused to be interviewed. Diplomats and others, however, said that a high-level government conference on religion in December broached the subject of a change in registration requirements for Christians. No one could say for sure whether that would lead to more tolerance or less.
Madison said that even as Christianity grew by numbers that would constitute a spiritual revival in the United States, leaders of congregations were worried about what the next crackdown might bring.
"Just to say it's persecution across the board for all people all the time is not true, but you can say that at some point some Christian or group or church is really having a tough day or a tough week or a tough month or a tough year," he said.
Wary of rival authorities
The Communist government has always been suspicious of religion as a rival authority that needs to be controlled or suppressed. Authorities have been wary of Christianity because of its foreign influence, and they attacked Falun Gong because it was well-organized.
While as many as 20 million Chinese belong to the Patriotic church movement, perhaps in excess of 50 million people worship outside of state authority, mainly because they refuse to accept the government's strict controls on religious life.
The 141-page report released by the Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China cites documents that it said were supplied by activists in China and officials who oppose the crackdown.
"The level of persecution aimed against unregistered Christians in China is high," said the organization, which is run by Chinese Christians living abroad. "The persecution against underground Christians has escalated and originates at the highest central levels of the Chinese government."