Beijing Orders the Re-translation of Major Religious Books in China

Recently, Beijing has ordered the rewriting of Holy books. Communist China does not allow faith to play a serious part in people’s lives. Communist ideology is totally focussed on materialism and they would go to any lengths to enforce it. As the government considers worship a waste of time, it attacks all forms of religion and spirituality.

Orders were given in November 2019 during a meeting held by the Committee for Ethnic and Religious Affairs of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which oversees ethnic and religious matters in China,” according to the Daily Mail.

Wang Yang from the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman headed the meeting. A team of 16 experts from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China representing different religions, attended.

The objective is to ensure that modified versions reflect “socialist values.” The Communist Party has called for a “comprehensive evaluation of the existing religious classics. New editions must not contain any content that goes against the beliefs of the Communist Party… Paragraphs deemed wrong by the censors will be amended or re-translated.”

Instructions were given to change the Holy texts to suit the so-called “requirements of the era.” The re-evaluation of religious books is expected to prevent “heretical ideas” and “extreme thoughts” from “ruining” the country.

China is already come under fire from the international community for its persecution of the Uyghur community, with some estimates suggesting that more than a million people from the ethnic Muslim community have been sent to detainment camps.

The fact that the government is now in the process of rewriting the Quran is enough to infuriate the global Muslim community.

This move is sure to damage the relations between China and some of the Muslim majority nations that are its allies.

The rewriting of the Quran may damage China’s relationship with Islamic nations such as Iran.

Mohd Azmi Abd Hamid, the president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organization (MAPIM), expressed dire concerns over Beijing’s actions. It is only to be expected that Moslems would view the rewriting of the Holy Quaran, as the ultimate transgression, and it would certainly bring disaster to China. He said, “The re-writing of the Quran will be seen as a war against Islam and Muslims around the world will definitely stand up to rebuke this policy. We remind China not to cross the redline. “Muslims will certainly not tolerate such abusive policy to alter the most sacred text of Islam,” he said, according to the New Straits Times.

The Chinese regime’s policy on Xinjiang is reminiscent of its persecution campaign against another spiritual group called Falun Gong. The practice is free and adherents practice good values and meditation. Chinese officials burned thousands of Falun Gong books in 1999. The CCP term brainwashing attempts against the group and Uyghur people as being “psychological counseling.”

During the early 2000s, the state would monitor the calls of Falun Gong practitioners to identify “threats.” In the same way, all communication sent or received by Uyghurs in Xinjiang is being monitored by the Chinese government to identify “potential extremists.”

Sarah Cook, a senior China analyst at the watchdog organization Freedom House, believes that Beijing has now perfected the persecution campaign into a repeatable system that they can implement against any group whenever they want. “It indicates that they are playing the long game, have little intention of reversing the policy, and have few qualms about using harsh tactics like severe torture or long prison terms to achieve their aims,” she said in a report (The Epoch Times).

Xinjiang is home to around 11 million Uyghurs, whose culture is under threat of being eradicated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).