China: Debate Heats Up Over Religious Rights

BEIJING, December 5 (Compass Direct News) – Few would deny that, over the past 20 years, there has been genuine improvement in human rights for many Chinese Christians – so long as they register as government-controlled “patriotic” religious

(Photo Credit: Nelson/Sipa for Time )

bodies of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. But those who on conscientious grounds refuse to accept the atheist Communist Party domination of, and interference in, church affairs – and they are the majority of both Protestants and Catholics – still face a rough ride. According to a leaked internal document, the Chinese Communist Party waged a secret campaign against unregistered house churches for nearly six months, from mid-June until the end of November. The July 24 document, first disclosed by the Texas-based China Aid Association, reveals that leading central government figures called for a crackdown and investigations into “the content of sermons, personal history of [house church] evangelists, the sources of their funds, the system of their activities, key members, and the ordinary people who participate.” More evidence of the crackdown came on November 18, when authorities detained 40 church leaders from China Gospel Fellowship. CAA reported that Public Security Bureau officers from Xiancheng county, Henan raided the house church leadership meeting in Peichang village, Fanhu town.