Source: Direct Reports from China
Date: June 30, 2018
Fifty-one crosses have been taken down from Christian sites of worship in the city of Gongyi, Henan Province from early June 2018, states the Special Operation Briefing, a copy of which Bitter Winter has received.
The briefing orders to replace crosses with bronze plaques made by the government as symbols of churches. The local government has set the taking down of crosses as an important indicator for evaluating towns’ and sub-district offices’ work on religions. To promote this work in areas that are too slow, it states that, “The municipal Housing and Construction, Planning, Security, Firefighting, and Urban Management Departments are required to work in turn to exert continuous pressure through non-religious means.”
The briefing also stressed the importance of strengthening the grasp on public opinion before carrying out any demolitions, stating, “In the process of demolition, strengthen overall management and control, minimize the number of believers on-site, and prevent onlookers from taking photos. In addition, carry out comprehensive monitoring and control of online public opinion.”
According to an analyst, this briefing reveals the tendency of the authorities’ current administration to use the demolition of crosses as a method of persecuting religious beliefs. A new phase of the persecution of Christianity has fully begun.
ADHRRF – The Human Rights Day rally on December 10 attended by more than one hundred people at Dam Square in Amsterdam demanded the Chinese Communist government stop persecution, respect human rights and release all the prisoners of conscience.
...
The sentenced believers – aged from 17 to 78 – were prosecuted for making videos for the Church. Two among them will be kept behind bars for eight years.
...
On November 28, 2017, in response to concurrent public attacks and smears against The Church of Almighty God in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea, South Korean human rights expert Do Heeyoun and eight other non-governmental organizations jointly condemned the Chinese Communist government…
...
As the province with the most significant number of religious people, Henan continues to suffer Cultural Revolution-style crackdown on its churches.
...