China Cracks Down on Christianity, Orders Followers to Renounce Their Faith

The Chinese government’s crackdown on Christianity continues to intensify.

Christian congregations in Beijing and several provinces are having their crosses destroyed, Bibles burned, and churches shut down according to pastors and a group that monitors religion in China. Furthermore, the government is ordering followers of Christ to sign papers renouncing their faith in some areas.

Under President Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, religious believers are seeing their freedoms shrink dramatically even as the country undergoes a religious revival.

The continued suppression of religious freedom is part of an official campaign to “Sinicize” religion by demanding loyalty to the atheist Communist party. They also seek to remove any potential challenge to the party’s power in the country.

Bob Fu of the U.S.-based group China Aid said that the closure of churches in central Henan province and a prominent house church in Beijing in recent weeks represents a “significant escalation” of the crackdown.

“The international community should be alarmed and outraged for this blatant violation of freedom of religion and belief,” he wrote in an email.

Fu also provided video footage of what appeared to be piles of burning bibles and forms stating that the signatories had renounced their Christian faith.

Jay Sekulow, President Trump’s attorney and Chief Counsel at the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), wrote in a tweet: “The situation for Chinese #Christians becomes more dire by the day. We are working tirelessly to put maximum pressure on China stop the persecution.”