China targets parents with religion rules in Xinjiang

[rug]

Government denies committing abuses and says legal rights of Uighur people are protected as new laws are announced.



File: China guarantees freedom of religion but has cracked down on some Muslim religious schools (Aly Song/Reuters)

10 HOURS AGO

Parents and guardians in China's heavily Muslim region of Xinjiang who encourage or force their children into religious activities will be reported to the police, the government said on Wednesday while unveiling new education rules.

Hundreds of people have died in recent years in Xinjiang, the far western home of the Muslim Uighur people, in unrest blamed by Beijing on fighters and separatists, though rights groups say the violence is more a reaction to repressive Chinese policies.

The government strongly denies committing any abuses in Xinjiang and insists the legal, cultural and religious rights of the Uighur people are fully protected.

While China officially guarantees freedom of religion, minors are not supposed to participate in religious activity. Authorities have cracked down on underground Muslim religious schools in Xinjiang in recent years.

New education rules, to come into effect on November 1 and carried by the official Xinjiang Daily, say parents or guardians cannot "organise, lure or force minors into attending religious activities".

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/10/china-targets-parents-religion-rules-xinjiang-161012043739688.html

[guillaumeb]

1. Is this an example of atheistic intolerance directed against religion?

I await the responses and explanations.

[dvduval]

2. I was lured

I was lured into a Christian church with the promise of candy, a carnival, and prizes. When I got there we were taken into a room where they described hell and satan and told us we must be saved. One kid acted out and was taken into the hallway and spanked. I got saved that day for what it is worth. But there is something to be said about forcing children into religion through fear and intimidation, and before they are old enough to make important life decisions.

[rug]

3. You should have kicked them in the groin, and ran for the door.

When I was a kid we had mandatory drills for nuclear attacks and daily propaganda in school, on television, and in comic books on the living hell of communism. Fear and threats will not last in the face of information and unbiased education.

I take your point. However, these civil laws are directed against what the government considers to be unregistered, illegal religions. There seems to be no concern about the indoctrination of children into approved religions.

This is all about state control and state order, not child abuse.

I was going to say welcome to DU but I see you've been here five and a half years. Post more often!