FROM CHRISTIAN TODAY:
A
communist official in China has condemned the rapid growth of
Christianity in the region as "excessive", but has denied allegations of
increased persecution.
Officially
an atheist state, the right to freedom of religious belief is
guaranteed under Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution but protections
are limited to those who worship within state-sanctioned bodies.
Chinese
Christians often suffer at the hands of government authorities, and the
Asian superpower is ranked the 37th worst country in the world for
Christian persecution by the Open Doors World Watch List.
Despite
this, reports suggest that between 3,000 and 10,000 people are turning
to Christianity every single day in China, and while there were just one
million believers in total when the Communist party came to power in
1949, there are now thought to be more than 100 million.
It
is perhaps unsurprising, therefore, that the government is said to be
stepping up its defenses against those who practice the religion, with
12 churches in Zhejiang province currently facing demolition.
Believers are
refusing to back down, however. Thousands of Chinese Christians flocked
to a church in Wenzhou last week to protect it from being torn down by
city officials.
A 24 hour
human shield has been established at Sanjiang church following a
demolition notice which states that it has been constructed illegally.
Those mounting the protest say they will not leave until they are sure
their church is safe.
Li Jingliu, a
member of Sanjiang church for 34 years, declared: "I will guard the
church until the very end, without fearing hardship or death."
"They said
the holy cross was built too high and violated the building code, but
why only target churches when many buildings violate height limits?"
Timothy Liao, a priest from Wenzhou, asked. "Clearly, this is a pretext
to tear down churches."
Though
officials have countered claims of an offensive against church
buildings, the chairman of Zhejiang's ethnic and religious affair
committee is reported to have denounced the growth of Christianity as
"too excessive and too haphazard" in a recent speech.
The
committee's website notes that Feng Zhili also criticized "deep-rooted"
problems in the development of Christianity in the region, and has
condemned the way in which it has apparently caused "social friction".
Just
yesterday, the UK's Prime Minister David Cameron declared that
Christians "are now the most persecuted religion around the world" and
called for the international community to "stand up against persecution
of Christians and other faith groups wherever and whenever we can".
_____________________________________________________________________
FROM CHARISMA NEWS:
http://www.charismanews.com/world/43416-thousands-of-christians-form-human-shield-to-protect-church
Thousands
of Christians have formed a human shield around a newly constructed
church in Zhejiang province in China after authorities earlier this week
threatened to demolish the building. The Sanjiang Christian Church
reportedly cost more than $4.8 million to construct and was built over a
six-year period in Wenzhou, one of China's most Christianized cities.
Friday evening, the Telegraph reported that
hundreds of Christians, including elderly and disabled church members,
had stationed themselves inside the church to block access to demolition
teams during the night.
"I
slept here last night and I will do the same again tonight. We pulled
two pews together so it was quite all right. We feel at peace and
fearless when we are with our God," He Hongying, an 81-year-old church
member, told the Telegraph. Many of the Christians forming the
human shield have expressed their determination to remain at the church
until authorities back down.
The
standoff at the church reportedly began after a Communist Party
secretary visited the area and insisted the church was too large.
"When
the Party secretary Xia Baolong visited the local areas, he found the
cross on top of the church very conspicuous. So he ordered that it be
demolished. Then, the officials from Yongjia county demanded that the
church tear down the cross and the top floor of the church," Zheng
Leguo, a young leader at Sanjiang Church, told ChinaAid.
On Thursday evening, several hundred police officers with bulldozers took up positions around the church.
"I held their hands and said, 'Comrades, don't take down our cross. I can give you my head instead,'" Yang Zhumei, 74, told the Telegraph.
"Even if they take my head, I can still find happiness with God," she shouted.
Sanjiang
Christian Church is a part of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM),
China's government-backed Protestant Christian organization, making the
conflict highly unusual. In November, nearly two dozen TSPM church
members, including a church pastor, were arrested in
Henan province in a crackdown over the church's community activism.
Christians who attend illegal house church gatherings in China, believed
to be as many as 80 million, are subject to far more frequent
harassment and arrest.
Ryan
Morgan, International Christian Concern's (ICC) regional manager for
East Asia, says, "We call on the authorities in Zhejiang province to
immediately rescind their orders for the demolition of Sanjiang
Christian Church. This church was legally constructed and has every
right to exist in a nation which strongly claims, at least in the
international community, to respect the religious freedom of its
citizens.
"No
one of any faith should have to place their life between a bulldozer
and their house of worship. ICC stands with the Christians of Zhejiang
province as they take this courageous stand to protect their rights."
Taken from an upper level of Sanjiang Church, this photo shows the crowd of believers gathered at the church to guard it against demolition.
Thousands of Christians formed a human shield around Sanjiang Christian Church in Zhejiang province in China after authorities threatened to demolish the building. The Sanjiang Christian Church reportedly cost more than $4.8 million to construct, and was built through thousands of individual donations, was built over a six-year period in Wenzhou, one of China's most Christianized cities.
Thousands
of Chinese Christians have camped themselves in and around a church in
the eastern part of China to prevent it from being demolished after
several crosses have already been torn down under a provincial campaign
to curb the excessive spread of Christianity.
__._,_.___
No comments:
Post a Comment