The popularity of homegrown pseudo-Christian cults in rural China is sparking discussions on why they are particularly attractive for farmers. Experts say that cults attract rural believers by promising them worldly benefits, deceptive practices, and taking advantage of the doomsday beliefs to let farmers vent their anger and frustration at modern society.

Family members display photos of the victim of the brutal murder in a McDonald's in Zhaoyuan, Shandong Province, committed by cult members. Photo: CFP

The recent national crackdown on Church of Almighty God, or Eastern Lightning, the cult behind a brutal murder in a McDonald's in Zhaoyuan, East China's Shandong Province, has rekindled public attention on the growing number of cults in China.

The rapid growth of pseudo-Christian cults in China, and the fact that most of them are homegrown, has sparked discussions on the reasons why.

In July 2009, the government put 14 cults on its watch list, including the 'Shouters', 'Mentuhui' (the Apostles' Congregation) and the 'Double Spirit' cult.

Twelve of these cults were related to Christianity in some way. Among them, apart from three that originated in South Korea, and one founded by a Hong Kong native, all were homegrown.

Some experts think that the low education levels of Christians in rural areas is one reason why they are so easily drawn to cult activities. Many Christians in the countryside are illiterate, some unable to read the Bible. The lack of teaching and trained leadership in the churches can also make it easy for Christians to slip into heresy.

Christianity in China grew rapidly after reform and opening up. Many peasant Christians, for practical reasons, converted to Christianity from other folk religions. Their understanding of religions, however, remain unchanged, and many look on Christianity as just another folk religion.

Superstition is still rife, with many people worshiping the Christian God in order to receive blessings and to prevent disaster, not because of piety.

Song Jun, a former scholar of Chinese folk religion at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said, "People only care about if the religion can help them practically. For example, if it can help them cure illness, or fend off demons or bad luck."

Pragmatic beliefs

The religious simplemindedness of some Chinese farmers can be shown from a saying popular in some rural areas of East China's Zhejiang Province that goes, "We only believe in Christianity because there are no temples around."

"For many farmers, Jesus is just another god. He's not very different from the Jade Emperor, a Bodhisattva, or the Monkey King," Lin Qing, a Christian preacher, said.

Therefore, when they are told that a cult can better satisfy their needs, farmers are easily converted.

Most homegrown cults, despite their pseudo-Christian nature, are very aware of the psychological needs of the farmers. Many draw ideas from China's folk religions.

"China's folk religions tend to give direct answers, instead of having a complicated religious explanations," Song said.

"Chinese believers crave answers, and they hope that God can answer their questions directly, because what God says can't fail," he said.

Eastern Lightning, for example, fulfills part of farmers' needs by creating an omnipotent second Jesus who is a woman. "One of the tactics Eastern Lightning adopts is to let 'God' communicate with believers through an oracle, deviating from the Bible, which is a text. This is very appealing to the Chinese because this is the way China's folk religions traditionally answers people's questions and even prescribe medicines," Song said.

In the book Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion, by Rodney Stark and Roger Finke, the authors propose that confidence in religious explanations will increase to the degree that miracles are credited to the religion and that people have mystical experiences. Thus false miracles and secrecy are key ways for cults to boost the confidence of their believers.

Christian Times, a Chinese Christian website, recorded cases of how Eastern Lightning tried to exert influence in rural China with tricks. For example, followers painted the words "Jesus is coming" on the walls of villagers' homes with phosphor powder and on eggs, so as to make villagers believe.

In other cases, Eastern Lightning preachers planted people in Christian congregations who pretended to go mad during sermons. The preachers would then pray for them to show how the cult could cure illnesses. Many Christians were thus converted to the cult.

Appealing to "the chosen"

Some cult preachers told followers that the cult is only accessible to "the chosen," which is why many activities are underground. This boosts the mystical experience of the believers.

The cults also cater to their target audiences, who are mostly illiterate farmers, in their publications and choice of language. The most widely distributed book of Eastern Lightning, The Word Appears in the Flesh, for example, is published with pinyin and notes to help farmers understand the ideas in the book. Documents and announcements, on the other hand, are written in the language of political discourse to give off a sense of authority.

"For over two thousand years of feudal society in China, farmers were taught to be obedient and submissive. Today, even though there are no longer emperors, obedience is still embedded in the characters of the masses, including Christians, who reveres semi-gods, or people who appear to have magical powers," said Duan Qi, a researcher at the Institute of World Religions at the CASS.

The flourishing of cults can also be attributed to China's social reality in recent years.

Various social issues, such as injustice, fierce competition, corruption and environmental issues, have thrown many into despair. "People in the bottom stratum are those who suffer most from China's recent social transition. They have two hopes. One is to get more from society. The other is to vent their negative feelings, including hatred. The orthodox Christian church does not encourage people to do that," Lin said.

"The reason why Eastern Lightning is so popular is that it says Jesus has already returned and is carrying out the last judgement. This gives its believers consolation. This is very appealing for people who feel they have suffered," he said.

Many of the cults share doomsday beliefs, holding that Jesus has or will return soon to establish a new kingdom. This is based on premillennialism, the view that Christ will physically return to the earth, and the establishment of the new, millennial kingdom is to be preceded by a period known as the "Tribulation," when the Antichrist will walk the earth and God will loose his wrath on mankind.

It should be pointed out that premillennial beliefs are not necessarily heretical. Many mainstream Christian denominations believe in premillennialism.

Chinese farmers are not unfamiliar with the philosophy of premillennialism. "Many native Chinese religions are also millenarian, and many of China's historical farmers' rebellions resulted from the millenarianism of these religions. The White Lotus Society, the secret society that was responsible for many farmers' rebellions in the Qing dynasty, for example, was also a millenarian movement, dividing human history into three periods. Believers rebelled against the Qing government, believing that would lead them to the final period of bliss and eternal happiness," Duan said.

 "Most people who believed in these native religions were poor. They hoped they could change their status in society through a revolution. Many farmers nowadays hope the same. This is why doomsday theory remains so popular among them," she said.

The Christian church now enjoys growing freedom compared to the previous century, when Christians were forced to meet in secret. But experts say public education is still lacking, making it difficult for the public to tell a cult from mainstream Christianity.

"People are unable to understand what is heresy and what is orthodox," Lin said.

Spiritual needs



At the same time, mainstream Christian churches do not share many advantages of cults when trying to convert new believers.

As a result, many Christians are calling for greater freedom for the Christian church, in the belief that it will help undermine the growth of cults.

"Sometimes these cults disguise themselves as house churches and tell believers that they have to preach in secret to avoid pressure," Yu Jianrong, a scholar in rural development, said.

Millions of Chinese Christians with mainstream Christian church practice their religion underground or in house churches.

Yu recalls when he was doing field research in Central China's Henan Province, he asked a local religious official the number of Christians in the area. The official answered, "We can exaggerate GDP or other economic indexes, but we have to understate the presence of Christians."

Moreover, local government are often not willing to crack down on cults, Yu said, due to the complexity and sensitivity of religious affairs.

Duan, the researcher from CASS, believes that house churches are the biggest victims of cult heresies, because church members are often the most vulnerable to cult messages.

Phoenix Weekly