China’s estimated 85 million members of the Communist Party have been warned that they are not allowed to have religious beliefs, and that those who do will be punished.
Wang Zuoan, director of the state administration for religious affairs, said that religion undermined communism. Party members must be “firm Marxist atheists, obey party rules and stick to the party’s faith”.
Mao Zedong, China’s first communist leader, tried to destroy religion and the party has long since promoted atheism. Yet Mr Wang’s undefined threat of punishment seems unduly severe for modern China.
His comments were published in the party magazine Qiuishi Journal. The party is preparing for its autumn congress amid an intense propaganda drive to promote its values and loyalty to President Xi.
Beijing is implementing an increasingly draconian crackdown on religious freedom in the restive northwest Xinjiang province, home to many Muslims. The Chinese authorities have also recently been accused of trying to suppress Christianity.
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Mr Wang said: “Some foreign forces have used religion to infiltrate China, and extremism and illegal religious activities are spreading in some places, which have threatened national security and social stability.”
China is already the most secular country in the world; 61 per cent of the population describe themselves as atheist. However, some religions are increasingly popular, and with a population of 1.35 billion, a small population percentage can amount to millions of people.
Academics have predicted that by 2030 China will have more than 247 million Christians, including Catholics, making it the largest Christian congregation in the world.
Recently the Chinese authorities have been accused of trying to suppress Christianity; churches have been bulldozed supposedly for planning permission violations. Laws introduced last year allow the state to hire and fire church leaders, alter religious doctrine to make it more “Chinese” and require churchgoers to pledge loyalty to the party.
Mr Wang wrote: “Religions should be ‘sinicised’ . . . we should guide religious groups and individuals with socialist core values and excellent traditional Chinese culture.”