The United Front Work Department, a department of the Chinese Communist Party and freshly tasked with overseeing religious bodies in China, recently proposed on its Wechat account that religious groups display the Chinese national flag at their religious venues. The proposal has caught the attention of many religious groups, including Christian groups in China.
China Christian Daily summarizes these developments below.
China’s Five Major Religious Bodies Propose to Display National Flag in Places of Worship
On July 31, 2018, China's five major religious groups jointly issued a proposal calling for religious premises to raise the national flag, according to the WeChat account of the United Front Work Department of the CCP.
The proposal was issued by national religious organizations, including the China Christian Council (CCC) and Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM), YMCA, and YWCA in the sixth meeting on the Foundation of Joint Meeting System for National Religious Organizations held in Beijing.
The move is meant to increase religious figures’ and religious believers' national, civic, and community consciousness.
The proposal calls on national religious groups to set examples to establish and improve a system that displays the national flag. They are called to guide religious believers to support, respond to, and actively engage in displaying the national flag.
In addition, the proposal states that religious communities should organize study sessions on the constitution and the laws regarding the national flag. When conditions permit, the national flag should be displayed in religious activity venues. A flag-raising ceremony should be conducted at secular and religious festivals and celebrations.
The national flag, when raised or carried in a procession with another flag or flags with religious logos, shall be in front of the other flags and be either at the center, above the other flag or flags, or in a prominent position.
Original English Article: China’s Five Major Religious Bodies Propose to Display National Flag in Places of Worship, China Christian Daily
Edited and reposted with permission.
