ICC Note:

New rules in China prohibit anyone from organizing people to attend religious activities. Protestants and Catholics have promised to keep meeting in defiance of these rules. The rules also forbid providing online religious services and attending religious training in other countries. A Chinese Protestant pastor said, “What this means is that the space for us to express our religious beliefs is getting more and more constricted.” Many Christians are un-phased and have vowed to continue meeting, studying the Bible, and teaching. Things are likely to get much more difficult for them in the coming months, however, as the government cracks down further on religious activities and Christians in China. Already, some have had their passports revoked and many house churches have been destroyed or disbanded.

11/18/0/2016 China (Radio Free Asia) – Protestant pastors and church members in China have vowed to continue meeting in spite of draconian new rules forbidding anyone from “organizing others to attend religious events.”

Last month, China’s cabinet, the State Council, released a set of draconian rules setting out measures aimed at eliminating unofficial Christian worship in unregistered “house churches,” and “separatists” among Tibetans and Muslim Uyghurs.

The rules took effect on Oct. 7, and include bans on preaching or running religious events in schools, and on “providing religious services online.”

Individuals and groups are also prohibited from “organizing citizens to attend religious training, conferences and activities overseas.”

Beijing-based Protestant pastor Xu Yonghai, who heads the Beijing Sheng’ai Protestant Family Church Fellowship, said his group would continue to meet in defiance of the rules, however.

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