CCP Expands Control Over Religion with New Online Code of Conduct

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has issued new rules targeting the online activities of religious leaders, further tightening its control over faith groups.  Analysts say the measures are a part of the CCP’s broader effort to suppress public expression of religious beliefs and control ordinary citizens.

On September 16th, China’s National Religious Affairs Administration released a new code of conduct for the online behavior of religious clergy.  The new code bans religious figures from being involved in “foreign religious infiltration, extremist ideologies, cults, and pseudo-religions.”  It also emphasized that religious figures in China must endorse “patriotism, socialism, and the leadership of the CCP.”  

New Rules After Shaolin Temple Scandal Analysts suggest the move may be linked to the recent downfall of Shi Yongxin, the former abbot of the famous Shaolin Temple.  Shi was expelled from the Buddhist clergy in July and placed under investigation for alleged embezzlement, corruption, and maintaining romantic relationships that resulted in multiple children conceived out of wedlock, which is prohibited in Chinese Buddhism.  He was also accused of turning the temple into a money-making machine through ticketed attractions and commercial ventures.  

China current affairs commentator Li Linyi told The Epoch Times that although the scandal likely prompted Beijing to act, the new rules go far beyond one man.  “The so-called laws and regulations previously issued by the CCP had no effect on powerful figures like Shi Yongxin, who had political backing,” he said.  “Now that Shi has fallen, they have introduced a new regulation.  The authorities will also use this as a pretext to target normal religious activities, as a way to suppress human rights and to create new excuses for collecting fines everywhere.”

The new code of conduct prohibits clergy from using online platforms—including livestreams, short videos, online meetings, WeChat groups, and even personal social media accounts—to preach, conduct online services, or participate in activities such as prayers, baptisms, or ordinations.  It also stresses that online activities must uphold CCP leadership and must not contain content deemed to “subvert state power” or challenge the Party’s authority.  The rules apply not only within mainland China but also to religious personnel from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan and foreign nationals in China.  

Critics have said the policy is less about regulating religious leaders than about controlling public communication.  “On the surface, it targets clergy, but in reality it affects ordinary citizens,” said Lin Bin, who holds a PhD in political science from the University of New South Wales in Australia.  “For many Chinese people, WeChat is also a way to stay connected with the outside world.  Now that the CCP is tightening control even further, it is also affecting the ability of people in mainland China to communicate with Chinese communities overseas.”

A China-based independent scholar, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, told The Epoch Times the timing reflects the regime’s insecurity.  “The CCP’s ideology has collapsed, and with the economy worsening, people are seeking spiritual comfort,” he said.  “The CCP fears a rapid awakening among the public, so it bans this kind of expression.”  

Broader Campaign Against Religious Liberty Observers note that the new measures are part of a broader campaign against religious freedom under CCP leader Xi Jinping. More than three years ago, in March 2022, Beijing introduced the Measures on the Administration of Internet Religious Information Services.  That regulation required official approval for anyone disseminating religious teachings, services, or activities online through websites, apps, blogs, livestreams, or instant messaging platforms.  

At a 2022 congressional hearing in Washington, Nury Turkel, former chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, warned that the regulation created a “chilling effect” on faith communities in China, especially unregistered religious groups, by criminalizing much of their online presence.  Now, with the latest code of conduct, Beijing is using religion as a new frontier for surveillance and censorship, experts said.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Amid the Unimaginable Violence and Atrocities, Be Assured That Our Rescue is Coming

Have you had enough yet?  Violence and lawlessness seem out of control.  Senseless violence.  Snipers unleashing bullets carved with evil messages on them!  Who thinks this way?

The line-up of atrocities never ends.  An innocent Ukrainian woman coming home from her pizza job, casually scrolling on her phone on a train in North Carolina, is stabbed to death by a demonized thug.  She had left war-torn Ukraine for the supposed safety of America. Yet a monster lurked in the shadows and ended her young life.  And it was all captured on camera.

In Minneapolis, children in a Catholic school were mowed down by a lunatic.  The shooter blocked the church doors so that the children could not escape before he began shooting through the church windows.  Can you imagine?  I can’t.

Sure, the Bible says that evil is to get worse in the end-times (2 Timothy 3:13), but who can comprehend such barbarism?

They said that about 9/11, which we recently observed and remembered as well.  Even our national leaders admitted they didn’t have the imagination to anticipate the evil of Islam flying planes into buildings.

Don’t forget earlier this year, two Jewish believers were gunned down in Washington, D.C., and in June, an Egyptian terrorist set Jews on fire in Colorado a few days later.  If we dared look, the Colorado event was also filmed and aired.

Then on September 10th, we had a flashback to July 13, 2024, when there was an assassination attempt on President Trump.  This time, the target was Charlie Kirk, and this time, the shooter was successful.  But the assassins bullet that killed Charlie didn’t kill a movement.  It ignited many people to press on with truth-telling, love of country, and honoring God.

As one observer suggested, it is a reminder that speaking truth, particularly Biblical truth, is inherently dangerous in a world where truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth.  When leftists rejoice at the death of godly people, as they are doing with Kirk’s death, it is a foreshadowing of the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11.  The world will rejoice over their demise as well. 

Very often, the perpetrators of the carnage are deeply involved in alternative lifestyles, and so they view conservatives, Christians, and the biblical worldview as the enemy.  We become their prime target just as the early martyrs of the church.  Constantly accusing righteous or conservative people of being fascists and Nazis has deadly consequences.

Charlie has now finished his race, his earthly course, and we celebrate his graduation into the presence of Jesus Christ and the glories of eternity.

The New York Post, not known as a spiritual publication, had an appropriate one-word headline—“Demonic.”  That accurately summarized the end-time fight we are in.  Satan is making his last stand before the church is taken in the rapture, which removes believers from this sin-wracked, violent world.

But this is today’s progressive movement: twisted and evil.  What a reminder that the last days will be as the days of Noah!

And to add to the lunacy, and what should convince us we are in a Romans chapter 1 society, is that the deranged Left celebrates some of this.  Again, this stretches credulity and is beyond our imagination.  It is last days delusion.  The prophet Isaiah told us that evil would be called good by some (Isaiah 5:20).

Take these daily evil reminders with the assurance that they are a sign that Jesus is coming again.  Our rescue is coming.  Soon.  Perhaps today.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel