Mountains loom large in the lore of Christianity, Judaism and Islam--so
why should Taiwan’s New Testament Church (NTC) be any different? Twenty
years ago members of the Protestant fundamentalist sect began flocking
to a promised land south of Taipei that they dubbed Mount Zion. A few
years ago, however, government officials began evicting them, claiming
that the summit was a “restricted zone.” Tensions reached a peak of
sorts last December, when a contingent of NTC members from Malaysia
arrived at the Taipei airport. What happened next is still in dispute.
The members contend that they were barred from entering the country and
then beaten by police, a charge the authorities deny. Whatever the
case, twenty-seven local church members were arrested and another five
were hospitalized--and the government discovered just how quickly a
molehill of a dispute can assume mountainous proportions.
In fact, the bizarre controversy over the NTC does pose some
potentially serious problems for the Taipei regime. For years Christian
fundamentalists in the United States have been among the most loyal
supporters of the Nationalist government. Officials in Taipei fear that
even a hint of religious persecution could strain those important ties.
Given the sensitivity of the case, the government has done everything
possible to quash any local mention of the NTC. Editors of local
newspapers say that officials in the department of cultural affairs
told them not to use any wire-service stories on the airport
confrontation.
By most standards, the practices of the NTC certainly qualify as
unusual. The church was founded by a movie actress in Hong Kong named
Kong Duen Yee who claimed to have been visited by Jesus and commanded
to form a new ministry. Thanks to Kong’s charisma and indefatigable
proselytizing, the church took root in many Asian countries; Taiwan
emerged as the strongest branch, with more than 10,000 members. During
services members sometimes begin to speak in an unintelligible tongue
that, church leaders maintain, only God can understand.
Legal loopholes: It is an open
question whether the Taiwan authorities really have it in for the NTC.
The leaders of the church say all they want is to return to Mount Zion,
something the government insists is out of the question. Many mountains
in Taiwan are in fact designated as “restricted zones,” closed to
settlement for security and other reasons. Members of the NTC contend
that various loopholes in the law seem to grant them squatters’ rights.
Prosecutors have now shelved the court case against the 27 members
arrested at the airport, and the government seems to be hoping that the
controversy will simply blow over. That is unlikely. Church leaders
have vowed to fight for the right to live on Mount Zion--despite their
realization that it will be an uphill struggle.
