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CATHOLIC LEADERS WORRIED OVER HANDLING OF FALUN GONG

Updated: February 15, 2001 05:00 PM GMT
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Catholic leaders here have expressed concern over increasing government pressure on Falun Gong and what this could portend for the "underground" Catholic Church in mainland China.

Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong told UCA News Feb. 14 that he was alarmed by Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa´s public comment that Falun Gong "carries some characteristics of an evil cult."

He expressed concern that the underground Catholic community in China, comprising Catholics not formally affiliated with the government-approved "open" Church, could be similarly branded an evil cult.

Bishop Zen wrote in the "Sunday Examiner," an English Catholic weekly, that there is no evidence that Falun Gong has committed crimes that are typically associated with an evil cult, such as dishonesty, violence, psychological manipulation or destruction of family values.

He noted that the government of mainland China declared Falun Gong an evil cult in July 1999, long before the suicide of alleged group members at Tiananmen Square this January. The self-immolation incident has, though, raised many questions about the group´s true nature, he added.

Although Falun Gong is illegal in mainland China, its activities have so far been tolerated in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). Mainland and local officials and politicians have, however, called recently for greater caution and control regarding the sect in the territory.

From the Catholic Church´s point of view, Bishop Zen said, Falun Gong may be classified as "heretical" by some traditional religions, but this is not equivalent to its being an evil cult.

Similarly, Precious Blood Sister Beatrice Leung Kit-fun cited a Vatican document on new religions as saying that a new or non-traditional religion cannot be called a "cult" unless it goes against morality, such as through fraud or the abuse of sex.

Both Church people expressed concern that if Falun Gong is accused of causing disorder in Hong Kong because of its peaceful protests, other groups including Christians could likewise be suppressed. Christians often criticize the central and local governments.

"It is very dangerous," said Sister Leung, associate professor at Hong Kong Lingnan University. "If Falun Gong is suppressed, then subsequently the ´one country, two systems´ will see its gradual death," she told UCA News Feb. 13.

The nun added that the Falun Gong issue is the first real test of freedom of belief in the SAR, which came into being when China regained sovereignty over Hong Kong from Britain at midnight on June 30, 1997.

According to Bishop Zen, Falun Gong only began protesting after it was defamed as an evil cult. Similarly, he observed, part of the Catholic community on the mainland passively resist the government´s attempts to cut the local Church off from the jurisdiction of the pope.

Falun Gong was declared an evil cult because it staged high-profile protests and its strength had been underestimated, he said, while the underground Church has escaped such a label probably because its resistance has been low key and the Catholic Church has a greater international relevance.

Nonetheless, the bishop continued, what has happened to Falun Gong could also happen to the underground Church.

Sister Leung agreed that it is always possible for China to label the underground Church a cult to legitimize state suppression.

She expressed support for a statement that 12 Catholic and Protestant groups issued Feb. 8 calling for tolerance of Falun Gong. "They have aroused the awareness of the public to voice their concern on freedoms, which must prevail in a free society like Hong Kong."

Asked if the Catholics´ position would sour Church-SAR government relations, Sister Leung said that the relations are already bad and the Catholic Church should not have any illusions of receiving favorable treatment from the SAR as it did under British rule.

Since Hong Kong reverted to China, the local Church has publicly disagreed with the SAR government over democratization and the right of abode for children born of Hong Kong citizens.

END

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