XIAMEN, China — Police raided a Christian house church in early May, injuring worshippers filming the raid with cell phones. It was the second time the church has been targeted.
Xingguang Church apparently was raided for refusing to join the Chinese Communist Party’s Three-Self Patriotic Association. Lack of membership makes a church “illegal.” The church was first raided April 19.
Also in April, Zhao Huaiguo, founder of Bethel Church in Hunan province, was arrested for not joining the association.
The Chinese government has banned Christian online services, removed crosses and defaced thousands of churches.
Reported plans also include rewriting the Bible to purge passages incompatible with government values.
China is No. 23 on Open Doors’ World Watch List 2020 of places where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
In addition to the persecution of Christians, China is holding millions of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and other Muslims in an estimated 1,300 concentration camps in Xinjiang, according to reports by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
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