The Chinese government has continued its crackdown on Christianity by fining churches that are in possession of certain unapproved bibles.
In the most recent incident, a state-approved “Three-Self” church, called Fengyang Road Three-Self Great Church, was penalized for owning copies of South Korean Bibles. Astonishingly, the books were confiscated under the Communist regime’s efforts to “eradicate pornography and illegal publications.”
As such, in the eyes of the government, varied forms of the scriptures are akin to explicit and offensive material.
“The government’s campaign to ‘eradicate pornography and illegal publications’ has actually swept into churches. This is slanderous to God!” one of the church’s workers told human rights organization Bitter Winter.
Another went even further, calling the campaign a “trap laid by the devil to make people mistakenly believe that there is a severe problem with the church’s ethos.”
According to Bitter Winter, a letter written by Chongyang county in Hubei Province was sent out to all churches in the area. It was titled “All the People Must Take Action and Fully Carry Out Work to “Clean Up Gang Crime and Eliminate Evil” and “Eradicate Pornography and Illegal Publications” in the Religious Field!”:
“The letter calls for the control of “harmful information” online, which is defined as “publications and information that weaken, distort, or negate the Party’s leadership or China’s socialist system.” The censorship also covers the dissemination of “religious internal informational publications” and audiovisual products in public places.”
This time last year, the ruling Chinese Communist Party announced plans to “sinicize” Christianity and effectively re-write the scriptures in order to align them with the core values of socialism espoused by the central government. Last month, churches under the authority of the state were ordered to remove the Ten Commandments from their sanctuaries or be closed down.
Christian persecution advocacy group, Open Doors USA, ranks China at 27 on its World Watch List, listing its level of persecution against Christians as “Very High.”
“All churches are perceived as a threat if they become too large, too political or invite foreign guests” the organization notes. “A policy of “sinicizing” the church is becoming increasingly influential as the Communist Party is relying strongly on Chinese cultural identity to stay in power.”
Despite having a government that is notoriously anti-Christian, the faith is expanding rapidly through a network of underground church communities. Indeed, Open Doors believes there to be around 92,000,000 believers in the country.
Do continue to pray for all those affected by the government’s policy of persecution.