QINGDAO, China — Organizations calling themselves Christian but operating under government control in China’s Shandong province have formed a committee dedicated to making Christianity adhere to socialist ideology.
Such a push is called “sinicization.”The human rights group ChinaAid reports it is the goal of the newly created Special Committee to Advance the Sinicization of Christianity.
In a recent ceremony, the Qingdao Christian Council celebrated the committee’s formation.
ChinaAid states this may be the first committee to focus completely on Christianity.
China’s president Xi Jinping has “proposed specific measures to carry out patriotic education in religious circles, … (with) emphasis on ‘cultivating a team of religious people who are adept at the Marxist view of religion'” ChinaAid says.
“The (Chinese) Communist Party hopes to reduce Christianity to the point that it operates as a tool, turning it into pseudo-Christianity,” ChinaAid says. “Religious activities are only permitted under the terms of the CCP. The state employs advanced surveillance to ensure that Christian worship services are consistent with the socialist ideology of Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping.”
China is No. 16 on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List of places most difficult to be a Christian.
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