Tag: China

Myanmar: 7,000 Kachin displaced as violence escalates

May 15, 2018 Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi, China, Churches, Human rights, IDPs, Kachin, Myanmar, Myitkyina, Pope Francis, Rakhine, Rohingya, Tatmadaw, UN, Youth

Displaced Kachin residents cross the Malikha river on 26 April to escape the fighting between the Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar government troops. (Photo: ZAU RING HPARA/AFP/Getty Images)

Almost 7,000 people belonging to the largely Christian minority group in Kachin, northern Myanmar, have fled their houses since fighting between the army and a rebel group flared up in early April, according to recent figures from the Red Cross. “It’s a war where civilians are being systematically targeted by . . . Read More

Religious freedom reduces terrorism, says US ambassador Brownback

May 11, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country China, Donald Trump, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Religious freedom, Sam Brownback, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism, USA

Sam Brownback was confirmed as Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom in January.

If countries want less terrorism within their borders, they should give religious freedom to their people, says US religious freedom ambassador Sam Brownback. During a policy hearing in Washington DC on Wednesday (9 May), he said one country that had been a “bad actor” for a long time was now . . . Read More

China: children stopped from entering church as pressure on Henan Christians increases

May 9, 2018 China Anyang, Catholics, Children, China, Churches, Communism, Education, Henan, House churches, Protestants, Xi Jinping, Zhengzhou

Under new religious regulations in China, religious education to minors is prohibited. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Pressure on Christians is increasing in China’s central Henan province, according to Catholic news service UCAN. Suppressive measures on both Catholic and Protestant churches have been directed by the central government in Beijing and have intensified in recent weeks, according to UCAN, which reported that churches had been “demolished and . . . Read More

Religious freedom is a prerequisite for democracy – US commission

May 8, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country China, Human rights, Jehovah's Witnesses, Kazakhstan, Religious freedom, Russia, Sinicisation, Soviet Union, Terrorism, USA, Vladimir Putin

China's catholic dioceses are to respond to the government led campaign of the 'sinicization of religion' with a plan of action. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A wealth of research shows that a society’s level of religious freedom is linked to its levels of critical social indicators, such as prosperity, stability and peace, the chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom told British parliamentarians. Dr. Daniel Mark, chairman of USCIRF, an independent, bipartisan federal . . . Read More

North Korea, China, Russia and Iran ‘forces of instability’

April 24, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Andrew Brunson, Chechnya, China, Human rights, Iran, Liberia, Mexico, Myanmar, North Korea, Rohingya, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, Uyghurs, Uzbekistan, Venezuela

Tibetan Buddhists as well as Uyghur Muslims are among the minority groups that Chinese authorities are clamping down on. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The US State Department has called North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran “forces of instability” in its latest set of country reports on human rights, saying they “violate the human rights of those within their borders on a daily basis”. The 2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, published on . . . Read More

Escapee’s ‘living hell’ in North Korean prisons

April 17, 2018 North Korea China, North Korea, Prisons, South Korea, Torture, USA

A North Korean Christian woman has revealed the horrors she experienced in ten different prisons before successfully fleeing the country. Hea Woo*, once one of an estimated 200,000 prisoners held captive in North Korea, described to Christian Today the conditions in the prisons she stayed in as a “living hell”. . . . Read More

China: ‘For Christians, the “grey” area is shrinking’

April 16, 2018 China Beijing, Bibles, China, Churches, Communism, Nanjing, Three-Self Patriotic Movement, Xi Jinping

China's Communist Party is trying to suppress rapid growth among religions.(Photo: World Watch Monitor)

China’s Christians may not be surprised by recent tighter government control of religious affairs, including a ban on online Bible sales. But they are unsure what comes next. Following this month’s announcement that Bibles could no longer be made available online, large websites like Taobao, Jingdong, Weidian, Dangdang and Amazon . . . Read More

China: clampdown reaches Christians in Henan

April 11, 2018 China Anyang, Beijing, China, Crosses, Education, Henan, House churches, Religious freedom, Zhejiang

Local authorities in China’s east-central Henan Province have removed a number of crosses from churches closed a church-run kindergarten and asked Christian residents in one city to register. The “two or three” crosses that have been forcibly removed from churches were located in Yichuan county, and were taken down because . . . Read More

China pledges to protect religious freedom, days after Bible ban

April 6, 2018 China Bibles, Catholics, China, Protestants, Religious freedom, Sinicisation, Xi Jinping

Women, married to pastors who work in rural areas in China, meet in a church. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

China presented an official ‘white paper’ on religion on Wednesday, 4 April, guaranteeing “protection” for religious freedom, just four days after banning the online sale of Bibles. The policy paper, titled ‘China’s Policies and Practices on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief’, was presented by the State Council Information Office at . . . Read More

China’s Communist Party increases control over religious affairs

March 27, 2018 China China, Communism, Crosses, Henan, Minorities, Religious freedom, Xi Jinping, Xinjiang, Zhejiang

The opening ceremony of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, held in October 2017. The Congress is the most important political event in China where decisions taken by the Central Committee are endorsed. (Photo by Prachatai via Flickr; CC 2.0)

China’s Communist Party has disbanded its Religious Affairs Bureau to bring religion under the control of the party’s Central Committee, in what some observers see as a further tightening of the belt. The State Administration of Religious Affairs (SARA) is to be absorbed by the United Front Work Department, an . . . Read More

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