Letter to Chinese Director Highlights Interference of Church Closures on Christians’ Lives
ICC Note: In a letter to the Chinese Director of Religious affairs, Chinese official Ruiqin outlines suggestions to improve actions towards churches. She highlighted the 20 churches that have been shut down and the effects that this has had on those practicing Christians’ lives. Rather than promoting harassment or closures for unregistered churches, she recommends urging these churches to follow official guidelines.
8/19/18 China (ChinaAid) More than 20 official and underground churches in Xining, located in China’s northwestern Qinghai, have been closed this year, interrupting religious life.
Wang Ruiqin, the associate secretary-general for the national Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and China Christian Council (CCC), wrote a letter to Wang Zuo’an, the director of state’s administration of religious affairs, in which she drew his attention to the 20 shut down churches.
“They include both Three-Self and house churches,” she said. “ … Many fellowships were closed, so [the attending Christians’] religious life has been interfered with.”
Because she is a religious official, Wang Ruiqin called on the government to quickly approve churches waiting to join the TSPM in order to end the closing of churches, get them registered and under government administration, and legally protect the Christians’ rights to religious belief. While this is being done, she encouraged Wang Zuo’an to develop unregistered churches by urging them to follow official regulations rather than closing and harassing them.