ICC Note:
China is continuing to ramp up its persecution of Christians. The recent changes in its approach religion have led some to conclude that in the next year Christians are about to suffer some of the worst persecution they have encountered since the Cultural Revolution. China is implementing new strategies to force churches to join the state-run church, force religions to preach the state’s agenda, and detain human rights advocates and Christians who do not fall in line with the state agenda.
1/28/2017 China (UCA News) – The government of Chinese president Xi Jinping focused heavily on forcing Christianity in the country to conform to the Communist Party’s agenda, according to a major report on religious persecution.
According to Radio Free Asia, China Aid, which has been documenting abuses against Christian churches, pastors, activists, and human rights lawyers, said in its report that throughout 2016, the government has engaged in activities to force all religions to “surrender to the authority and leadership of the Chinese Community Party.”
“[W]e have good reasons to worry that the major religions in China, especially house churches and underground Catholic and Protestant churches, will suffer the most unprecedented suppression under the name of the ‘transforming into the Communist Party of China’ since the Cultural Revolution,” said China Aid.
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