Pastor Roy Chan stands outside his Good Neighbour North District Church in Hong Kong
Credit: Philip Fong/AFP
Hong Kong’s churches fear they are being swept up in the ongoing crackdown on the city’s freedoms by the Chinese Communist Party.
Their concern has been heightened by the plight of Pastor Roy Chan, 39, his wife and three young children, who arrived in the UK for a sabbatical in October, but who are now left “living with an empty wallet” after the Hong Kong authorities ordered HSBC to freeze their bank accounts in early December.
Shortly afterwards, the pastor’s Good Neighbour North District church was raided by officers from the city’s financial investigations and narcotics bureau, and the police said a probe into money laundering and fraud was under way. The church accounts were also blocked, putting its homeless shelters at risk.
In a Telegraph interview, Pastor Chan said he was in turmoil over the bank’s actions and being unable to comfort his congregation at Christmas time. He denied any wrongdoing and said all accounts were in order. “Maybe there has been some sort of misunderstanding,” he suggested.
The "Protect our Children" group was often seen on the protest frontlines offering humanitarian support
Credit: Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times
Previously his church alleged “an act of political retaliation,” feeding existing concerns that Hong Kong’s churches, especially those deemed to be sympathetic to the pro-democracy movement, could soon be hit with repressive state restrictions like those imposed on mainland Christians.
During the protests that convulsed the Asian financial hub last year, members of its congregation ran the “Protect the Children” group, offering humanitarian aid on the frontlines. They were regularly seen lining up quietly as a buffer between protesters and riot officers and trying to play a mediating role.
Mr Chan said the group’s primary aim had been pastoral care for both sides. “We didn’t want anyone to get hurt. We were thinking that … love is more important and we can have a dialogue,” he said.
He did not draw a link between the blocked accounts and the group’s activities but acknowledged that his sudden financial woes had stoked anxieties within a church community already on edge over the broadly worded new security law introduced in June, which outlaws certain views.
The Hong Kong authorities have been cracking down on pro-democracy activists
Credit: Isaac Lawrence/AFP
The law, which punishes secession, subversion, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces, was intended to crush the huge and often violent anti-government protests. Authorities deny it will curb religious freedoms, but few seem reassured after recent arrests of politicians and democracy activists.
“Churches are tense,” said Mr Chan. “We think about what we are saying, about whether we are touching the red lines.” Some pastors had become despondent, he admitted.
“They told me there is no future in Hong Kong, that this is the end game. They say it sadly. They want to escape…If I encourage them to not give up and say what they want from the Bible, that could lead them into danger.”
Their gloom reflects a gnawing fear that the former British colony is no longer a safe haven for faiths which have until now been spared the oppression commonly inflicted by China’s atheist leadership on religious groups.
Attempts to control the spread of Christianity have intensified under Xi Jinping, the Chinese president. Underground churches have been shuttered and pastors arrested in a state-waged campaign that also seeks to rewrite the Bible in the Communist party’s image.
A Hong Kong protester is arrested during a 2019 rally
Credit: Dale de la Rey/AFP
In Hong Kong, while some church figures have publicly supported the government and national security law, others took a prominent place on the frontlines of city-wide protests last year, openly praying or leading an early protest anthem “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord.”
Pastors said they were exercising their faith by offering psychological support to traumatised youngsters or opening church doors to protesters fleeing rubber bullets and tear gas. Such actions prompted greater police surveillance and criticism in the pro-Beijing press.
Many Christian leaders now see the writing on the wall.
“We can see that there’s politicisation at schools and even in the civil service sector. It will absolutely soon take place in the religious arena. Communist parties will never leave religious organisations alone,” said Pastor Wong from the Glorious Worship Ministry, who withheld his full name.
“We need to prepare for the worst to come, including what is already happening in China, like pledging allegiance to communism.”
The pandemic and the national security law have curbed mass protests in the city
Credit: Tyrone Siu/Reuters
Mr Wong predicted the authorities could start targeting “problematic” churches, alter the curriculum at religious schools, infiltrate faith organisations and require pastors to officially register.
“I definitely see religion as one of the targeted areas under the national security law,” agreed Reverend Wu Chi Wai from the Hong Kong Church Renewal Movement, adding that churches already felt an “invisible pressure” and now worried exchanges with overseas partners could be misconstrued.
“In the future, they may even track down those who participate in Sunday worship. People who work in the civil service and also join worship may fail to get promoted in their jobs,” he predicted.
Benedict Rogers, chief executive of London-based advocacy group Hong Kong Watch, called the raid on the Good Neighbour church an “early indicator of the threats to freedom of religion or belief in Hong Kong, as freedom itself is dismantled.”
He said while the persecution was not yet as severe as on the mainland that “for churches and clergy who engage in social or political actions, or preach on themes of justice or human rights, they are likely to come increasingly into the cross-hairs of the Chinese Communist Party regime.”
Meanwhile, Pastor Roy Chan is adjusting to an uncertain future but plans to put his pastoral skills to good use as more of his compatriots flee Hong Kong for the UK.
“A lot of Hong Kong people are lost. They can’t think about a future in Hong Kong so they move to the UK but are then new arrivals and have problems adapting. We want to walk with them together,” he said.
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