Communist China Continues Persecuting Underground Churches
by Allie Martin
December 2, 2003
(AgapePress) - Officials with the Chinese government have shut down 125 churches as part of a continuing crackdown on religious activity outside the control of the communist regime.The crackdown began in July and has cut off about 3,000 Christians in China from places of worship. Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs says China may claim that it is tolerant of religious expression, but the facts prove otherwise.
"The Chinese government wants to be open towards Christians who are willing to come under control of the government. They expect Protestant Christians to worship as part of the ... state-approved Protestant Church organization there," Nettleton says.
The VOM spokesman notes that since the official Christian churches in China are restricted in doctrine and practice, the majority of Chinese Christians participate in underground churches. However, he says the Chinese government considers all Christian churches outside the official government-controlled Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) to be subversive.
"There's a lot of Christians in China who aren't willing to come under that kind of control," Nettleton says, "and so they are forced into underground or house churches. And, as we see from this report that 125 church buildings have been destroyed, it's obvious the Chinese government is not very happy about the growth of the house church."
The house church movement in China, which comprises approximately 90% of the nation's Christians, faces unimaginable persecution but remains committed to preaching the gospel. In 1998, leaders of the movement publicly called on the Communist government for the first time to officially recognize house churches. But the government continues to persecute believers under the rubric of its "strike-hard" policy, an ostensible crackdown on criminals that is actually hardest on Christians. China's government puts more Christians in prison or under detention than any other country and confiscates loads of church property and Bibles -- even official, government-printed Bibles.
Nettleton encourages American Christians to write or call the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, and encourage them to give more freedom to the underground church movement.
