With nearly 100 million Christians, the Church is the largest social force in China not controlled by the Communist Party. As a result, there are increasing efforts to restrict the way Christians operate. A considerable number of Christians are still imprisoned. Church meetings continue to be disrupted in several provinces. Churches have also been closed and landlords pressured to stop renting to Christians. In 2017 some of China’s underground churches were pushed to join the state-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement, while a new law on religion is being rolled out in 2018.
China: 279 church leaders sign petition urging government to stop its ‘violent actions’
A public letter urging the Chinese government to stop its “violent actions” against Christians has been signed by some 279 church leaders in the country, reports the St. Charles Institute. In central Henan province alone, two-thirds of churches have closed and more than 7,000 crosses have been demolished after pressure from […]
China: More church closures and Internet censorship in further religious clampdown
One of China’s largest unofficial “house churches” was closed on Sunday, while new measures have been introduced to curb religious activities online. Beijing’s Zion Church had received warnings following its refusal to place CCTV cameras in its auditorium at the government’s request. On Sunday afternoon, 9 September, around 60 government […]
China ‘uses legal tactics to suppress religious freedom’, says rights agency
China’s churches are experiencing the worst persecution in 40 years, with a government which uses “non-religious reasons” and civil law to close houses of worship, according to the US-based St Charles Institute. Pressure is applied “through opaque queries of fire-protection measures, by questioning the legality of printed materials used by the […]
No news of Chinese Catholic priest missing for 8 months
Nothing has been heard from a Chinese Catholic priest missing for eight months after he was taken away by the authorities in December 2017, Catholic news agency UCAN reports. All contact with Fr. Lu Danhua was lost after the personnel of Qingtian Religious Affairs Bureau visited him in his dormitory […]
China has transformed Xinjiang into a ‘mass detention camp’ – UN
The United Nations has raised alarm over the tens of thousands of Uyghur Muslims being held in detention centres in Xinjiang, northwest China. In a report last Thursday, the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said the Chinese government had “transformed the autonomous region of the Uyghurs into […]
China: More church closures as Party tightens rules for its religious members
One of China’s largest “house churches” in Beijing has been threatened with closure by the government following its refusal of a request to install cameras in the church building, reports Reuters. Zion Church received a letter from the city authorities in April, asking it to install 24 closed-circuit video cameras […]
‘Disappeared’ lawyer receives award for dedication to China’s religious freedom
A Chinese human rights lawyer who fell foul of the authorities for his support of oppressed communities, including Christians, was awarded the Shahbaz Bhatti Freedom Award on 29 August, the Epoch Times reports. The whereabouts of the lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, have not been publicly known since August 2017, so the […]
China’s head of religious affairs warns of ‘domination’ by ‘foreign forces’
China’s head of religious affairs has warned that the country’s religious groups must not be “dominated” by “foreign forces”, reports Reuters. “There is no affiliate relationship between our country’s religions and foreign religions. Our country’s religious groups and religious matters do not accept domination by foreign forces,” the religious affairs […]
Chinese church closures, demolitions continue
More than 20 churches have been closed this year in China’s north-western city of Xining and to prevent further closures the government should quickly approve applications of churches that want to become state-approved, says Wang Ruiqin, associate secretary-general of the state-aligned Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and China Christian Council (CCC). […]
China: Christian summer camps closed down, priests dismissed
China has closed several Christian summer camps for children and dismissed two priests for holding a camp, reports Catholic news agency UCAN. The two priests belonged to one of the only two unregistered Catholic churches in Tianshui diocese, in China’s northwest Gansu province. After their dismissal, the Tianshui Municipal Ethnic […]