Tag: Communism

China: 6 Christians jailed as pressure on churches increases

January 23, 2018 China China, Churches, Communism, Guizhou, Huoshi Church, Religious freedom, Shanxi, Su Tianfu, Xi Jinping, Xinjiang, Yang Hua, Yunnan

Group of Christians praying together in Beijing. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A Chinese court in the southwestern province of Yunnan sent six Protestant Christians to prison last week for their membership of an “evil cult”. The verdict comes as part of a provincial crackdown on cults, as the ruling Communist Party continues its national campaign to restrict unregistered churches before new religious . . . Read More

Prominent China church demolished – second in month

January 12, 2018 China China, Churches, Communism, House churches, Protestants, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Three-Self Patriotic Movement, Xinjiang

Explosives are set off in the Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen, Shanxi province, in a still taken from a video.

Chinese authorities demolished a church in northern China this week, the second in less than a month, ahead of new regulations on religion due to come into force on 1 February. Explosives were set off inside the Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen, Shanxi province on Tuesday (9 January). According to . . . Read More

Cuban Christmas: Silent night – because walls have ears

December 31, 2017 Cuba Christmas, Communism, Cuba

How do Christians under pressure for their faith celebrate Christmas? In the eighth in our series we hear from a Cuban church leader. Christmas in communist Cuba is a quiet affair; you won’t hear carols in the streets or on television, except for during one concert involving the Churches that . . . Read More

China: Christmas banned by university’s communists

December 21, 2017 China China, Communism, Xi Jinping, Zhejiang

A Chinese university has banned Christmas in order to help young people resist the “corrosion of Western religious culture”, reports The Telegraph. A notice posted online at Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, north-eastern China, said “some young people are blindly excited by Western holidays, especially religious holidays like Christmas Eve and Christmas . . . Read More

Is Putin’s ‘education to patriotism’ bill another endorsement of Russian Orthodox Church?

November 29, 2017 Russia Churches, Communism, Patriarch Kirill, Protestants, Russia, Russian Orthodox Church, Vladimir Putin

A new law on “education to patriotism” set to be introduced in Russia on New Year’s Day is a further sign of Russia distancing itself from the West, but is not necessarily a sign of President Vladimir Putin favouring one Church over another, according to an analyst for the Christian . . . Read More

Vietnam’s religion policy and practice – contradictions continue

November 23, 2017 Vietnam Binh Phuoc, Catholics, Central Highlands, Communism, Evangelical Church of Vietnam, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Protestants, Religion Law, Religious freedom, Vietnam

Optimists are hard to find ahead of Vietnam’s impending introduction of its new Law on Belief and Religion, scheduled to come into effect on 1 January, 2018. Vietnam’s Catholic and Evangelical leaders, as well as Buddhists and Caodaists, say the main benefit of the law, two years in the making, . . . Read More

Chinese Christians told to believe in President Xi, not Jesus

November 16, 2017 China China, Communism, Jiangxi, Sinicisation, Xi Jinping

Villagers in southeast China have reportedly been told by local officials they will only receive aid if they profess their faith in the Communist Party and its leader. Christianity has grown rapidly in China and “by some estimates Christians … now outnumber the 90 million members of the Party”, according . . . Read More

Russia closes Baptist church despite recent praise of Protestants

November 15, 2017 Russia Baptists, Communism, Moscow, Russia, Russian Orthodox Church, Soviet Union, Yarovaya Law

A Baptist church has been closed down in Russia only weeks after a senior official praised the contribution Protestants had made to the country’s culture during a speech marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The owners of the church in Tula, central Russia, were charged with “improper use of . . . Read More

China expels hundreds of South Koreans from North Korean border region

November 7, 2017 China China, Churches, Communism, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, North Korea, Sinicisation, South Korea

Hundreds of South Korean Christians, including church leaders, have been sent home in the last year by three provincial governments in north-eastern China in a move that is seen to be part of the implementation of a new set of rules to control religious activities. There are thought to be . . . Read More

China: state-sanctioned Church says new regulations will ‘strengthen Christianity’

October 20, 2017 China China, Communism, Sinicisation, Xi Jinping

China’s new regulations on religious affairs, passed last month, are a “major event for Chinese Christianity, [as] they clarify Christianity’s role and strengthen her constructions”, according to the two organisations that comprise the state-sanctioned Church in China. The China Christian Council and Three-Self Patriotic Movement, which form the ‘lianghui’ (two . . . Read More

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