'Evil teachings'

China | Religion gets a new name, as the government orders Marxist revival | Priya Abraham

At first glance, Cai Zhuohua's kidnapping and arrest by Chinese security officials were not surprising in a country that routinely harasses Christians. Officials found 200,000 copies of Bibles and Christian literature in a storage room managed by the pastor, who shepherds six Beijing underground churches. But more unusual was how authorities described Mr. Cai's activities: "the most serious case on overseas religious infiltration since the founding of the People's Republic of China."

Such alarmist language made more sense to Bob Fu, president of Texas-based China Aid and a former house-church leader himself, once he saw its source. He received a top-level Chinese government document on religion around the same time of Mr. Cai's September arrest, leaked by a high-ranking and disillusioned Communist Party official. The May 27 directive was top secret. Only 750 copies were distributed among officials. Its purpose: to spread Marxism against "Western" attempts to destabilize China with religion, or "evil teachings."