What’s the deal with Falun Gong and the Epoch Times?
In recent years, some media outlets have misrepresented the relationship between Falun Gong and The Epoch Times newspaper by portraying the paper as a “mouthpiece” or as representing the political views of Falun Gong. While it is true that The Epoch Times was founded by a small group of individuals who practice Falun Gong, the paper does not represent the spiritual practice, nor does it speak for its global, diverse community of practitioners.
The Reality:
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a meditation and spiritual practice rooted in Chinese traditions. Its teachings focus on cultivating truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance while letting go of worldly attachments. This practice is inherently apolitical and emphasizes personal spiritual growth. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ian Johnson has described Falun Gong as “an apolitical, inward-oriented discipline, one aimed at cleansing oneself spiritually and improving one’s health.”
In contrast, The Epoch Times is an independent media outlet. Its editorial policies, political stances, and organizational decisions are made independently and do not represent the teachings or collective voice of Falun Gong practitioners.
While many Falun Gong practitioners likely appreciate The Epoch Times’ thorough coverage of the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Falun Gong, this does not mean the paper acts as a representative or “mouthpiece” for the practice. Falun Gong has no formal clergy, membership, or centralized structure. Its practitioners are a diverse group spanning over 100 countries, and no single entity or organization, including The Epoch Times, can claim to represent them.
Nina Shea, a senior fellow and director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, conveyed this sentiment in a recent interview with the Diplomat, noting according to the article that “many other religious groups, like the Roman Catholics, have newspaper outlets that are not corporately related to their respective faiths. The conflation of the Epoch Times’ takes with those of the Falun Gong…is unfair.”
Falun Gong is Not a Political Movement
A common misconception is that Falun Gong promotes specific political ideologies that are articulated by The Epoch Times’ coverage. This narrative falsely conflates the spiritual teachings of Falun Gong with the political choices of individuals associated with The Epoch Times. In reality, Falun Gong practitioners have simply responded to a brutal persecution carried out by a totalitarian communist regime by exposing the CCP’s human rights abuses, countering the regime’s false propaganda about the practice, and addressing the fact that the regime’s communist ideology is fundamental to its intolerance of spiritual practices. This effort to expose crimes against humanity and scrutinize the rationale behind them is not a political act but a moral one.
Misrepresenting The Epoch Times as a proxy for Falun Gong perpetuates misunderstandings about the practice’s core teachings. More importantly, it risks marginalizing the voices of those who have suffered egregious human rights violations. The Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong is brutal, systemic, and ongoing. The efforts of media outlets like The Epoch Times to report on these crimes have been instrumental in countering the regime’s disinformation.
Yet, Falun Gong’s teachings are centered on spiritual cultivation and transcend politics. As such, any attempt to link the practice to the editorial stances of an independent media company mischaracterizes the nature of Falun Gong and its community of practitioners.
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