A headline the other day struck me, “China’s Persecution of Christians at Highest Level Since Mao.” I was struck back at Easter when I read news stories describing how government officials actually removed people from church worship services in enforcement of new regulations against people under 18 attending church. This is as clear and direct as religious freedom violations get – physically restraining people from worshipping with their communities. Now, this recent piece recounts that:
Watchdog groups say the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in China is at its most intense since the Cultural Revolution, as churches are shuttered, Bibles confiscated and believers arrested at rates not seen in decades.
That’s saying a lot. The Cultural Revolution, lasting from roughly 1966 to 1979, was an especially intense period of religious persecution in the history of Communist China, which began in 1949.
The story quotes pastor Bob Fu, one of the leading advocates of religious freedom in China, as saying that the levels of persecution have increased markedly even since last year:
Pastor Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid, said the number of people arrested in China for exercising their religious freedom “has reached the highest level since the end of the Cultural Revolution.” He cited internal figures showing a nearly fivefold increase in the number of Christians who were persecuted by the government last year.
“For Christians alone, last year we documented persecution against 1,265 churches, with the number of people persecuted over 223,000. And that is just the tip of the iceberg,” Mr. Fu said. “In 2016, there were 762 cases of persecution, according to our documentation, with the number of people persecuted 48,000. It really is almost five times [as much].”
He said ChinaAid knows of 3,700 Christians who were arrested in 2017, up from 3,500 the previous year. Some religious dissenters and human rights activists have been detained for years, Mr. Fu said, with their families left to wonder if they are still alive.
May this not be forgotten as trade and North Korea dominate the headlines regarding China.