China tightens its ‘chokehold’ on churches

China tightens its ‘chokehold’ on churches

GUANGZHOU, China — China has tightened its “chokehold” on churches across the country in recent weeks, according to advocacy group China Aid.

Recent bans on unregistered church worship and on teaching Christianity to children, “as if intending to eliminate all house churches at once,” have startled Christians, a China Aid source reported.

In Guangzhou in southern China, a source told China Aid that in late September police visited members of unregistered church members at their homes to warn them not to attend worship services. Officers also summoned a large number of them for questioning. In Ezhou in the eastern part of the country, an almost weekly conflict between officials and members of a house church that met outdoors escalated when government-hired thugs beat five or six Christians in August, China Aid reported. Previously these thugs had “shot firecrackers at the Christians, hurled mud at them and beaten a woman with high blood pressure unconscious, continuing to kick her even after she fainted.”

In the eastern province of Jiangsu officials have launched a new investigation that includes acquiring information on key church leaders and other members and their connections to Christians overseas, as well as their plans for future development.

And in Wenzhou on the eastern coast, children were specifically prohibited from attending church services, with local officials ordering churches to cancel all activities involving teenagers. (MS)