Christian Persecution in Atheist China

China's Christians suffer for their faith
By Kate McGeown BBC News

"They hung me up across an iron gate, then they yanked open the gate and my whole body lifted until my chest nearly split in two. I hung like that for four hours."

That is how Peter Xu Yongze, the founder of one of the largest religious movements in China, described his treatment during one of five jail sentences on account of his belief in Christianity.




Peter Xu Yongze was in jail for a total of eight years
Mr Xu, 61, is not the only Chinese Christian to suffer for his faith. Both Catholics and Protestants have long complained of persecution by the Communist authorities, and human rights groups claim the problem is getting worse.

According to the Jubilee Campaign, an interdenominational lobby group, about 300 Christians are in detention in China at any one time, and that number is set to rise.

According to Mr Wong, the number of Christians in China has continued to rise, exacerbating this perceived threat and causing the authorities to clamp down still further on unregistered churches.

Christianity is not actually banned in China. In fact, according to the constitution, "citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief."

Beijing backed up that statement in 1997, saying that "In China, no one is to be punished due to their religious belief".

But human rights groups and Christians say that the reality is different.

A believer was praying, so a jailer made other prisoners lift him up to the ceiling and drop him to the ground many times until he died

Peter Xu Yongze
"They say you can believe, but you can't evangelise," Mr Xu said. "But that is a natural act for Christians. The bible commands us to preach the gospel."

According to Mr Xu, who has now left China and lives in the US, it is against regulations to worship in groups. He said that one of his arresting officers even told him he could only avoid breaking the law if he prayed under the covers in bed.

To an Evangelical Protestant like Mr Xu, joining one of China's state-sanctioned churches was simply not an option - and it seems many other Chinese Christians agree with him.




Christians are required to worship in state-approved churches
Getting reliable numbers about the number of Christians in China is notoriously difficult. Estimates vary between 40m to 70m Protestants, only 10 million of whom are registered members of government churches.

The situation is similar for Catholics. Of the estimated 15 to 20 million Catholics in China, less than half belong to state-approved churches, which put authority to Beijing before authority to Rome.

Those Christians who want to avoid the state-controlled religious movements meet in unofficial buildings or even each others' homes - hence their description as "house churches" - risking fines, imprisonment, torture and even, in some cases, death.

Government crackdown

Human rights groups have documented an increasing number of arrests of Chinese Christians since the beginning of 2004.

According to the charity Christian Solidarity Worldwide, persecution is becoming more systematic and targeted at large-scale Christian gatherings.

Since June the charity has documented three mass arrests of unregistered Christians. In each case more than 100 people were detained.

Amnesty International has reported many cases of detained church leaders in recent years, especially in the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Hebei. Despite all the persecution and suffering, God is calling more and more people in China

Pete Xu Yongze
One of the most high-profile cases is that of Gong Shengliang, head of the South China Church, who was sentenced to death in 2001. His sentence was commuted to a prison term, but Amnesty has received reports that he has been severely tortured in jail.

In August three Christians were sentenced to jail terms for passing information to foreign governments, and in July state media reported that a woman had been beaten to death after being arrested for handing out bibles.

Peter Xu said that while he was in jail, he saw several people even being killed for their faith.

"A believer was praying, so a jailer made other prisoners lift him up to the ceiling and drop him to the ground many times until he died," Mr Xu said.

But government crackdowns - and even torture - may not make people like Peter Xu give up their faith.

"Despite all the persecution and suffering, God is calling more and more people in China," he said.




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[RonSafreed]

Hey you atheist out there, why is Christianity spreading in a communist/atheist country like China, gee I thought that chairman"s Mao little red book on communism was "the new gospel" in China. So if I"am right you atheist see them rejecting the truth of atheism/communism for the fantascy/lie of Christianity. Why don"t you atheist become "atheist missionaries" to China to "re-convert those Chinese back to Mao"s little red book. Do some real good before dying.

[kvn276]

People need to rise and take over that countrie to reform the radical atheist government

[EpicMuyskens]

Another thing is that you shouldn't try to get rid of religion in any way or even mocking it; it's insulting. You also shouldn't be telling them not to spread it, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

You shouldn't try to disprove religion because it won't work. Even if you come up with some sort of theory or evidence, there's not going to be many people who will give up their faith.

No person spreading their religion should force people to accept it, that's wrong and won't work.

[EpicMuyskens]

I'm Christian and I think that those people being persecuted are very honourable

So alot of you want christianity thrown out of the world and at some points like China's bullying of them? Well your pathetic.

Can't we all just say that this is wrong?

[MrGanjalove420]

Wow Christianity is banned in China but not Islam??wake up people!!

[obsidianstatue]

@RonSafreed ??Chinese historically are atheists. in China the most common form of "religion" is Confucianism and Taoism which follows no god only Moral and humanistic philosophies and values. any the concept of almighty god is brought to China by european missionaries

Chinese being atheists have nothing todo with communism, most Chinese were historically atheists.so take your religion and shove it up ur ass, thats what your Priests are good at doing to little boys isnt it??

[Lone432345]

Yeah this kind of world that secular thinking would lead us. Im not very religious. But New Atheist is the same Anti-Theist thinking that lead the world to Communist. And that didnt work out so well with the 70 million deaths. Not to mention the oppressed in Communist Country. Anti-Theist might be all violent. But there thinking can never lead to a good outcome. I get sick of there self righteous bullshit. There not any better then the people who came before them.

[APocketOfTime]

This is disgusting. What is the point of trying to force people to believe in something? Maybe you can make them go through the motions, but they'll never believe the thing in their hearts- you can only persuade them for that. Arrests, beatings, the vandalism of religious buildings- this is what you would expect to find in Christian Africa, or the Muslim countries. Communism is a totalitarian religion. I'm glad people have woken up to that.

[RonSafreed]

In the former USSR1917-92 atheism/evolution was taught daycare-university. The Bible was banned&it was illegal to teach it to kids. Within months of the fall of the USSRin 92 the Bible&Creationism was put back in Russian schools The main one behind it was Olga Lutsenko&she was an atheist Death threats made her leave in 96&lives in Canada now&is a Christian BTWshe is on youtube&I support her work financially Amazing how fast the Bible&Christianity came back to Russia after 75 years absent

[xXSHEAFFEYXx]

@RonSafreed Ofcourse, because hitler wasn't a Catholic, and the muslim world has been so peacefull lately, not to mention crusades and slavery, oh - and persecution based on religios beleif, and in america itself (i pressume thats where your from).

[xXSHEAFFEYXx]

@SupremeARA915 yea ofcourse....when he could be in Africa feeding starving children and stoping the spread of aids

[Flyborg]

@AtheismKills I guess I'll agree with your updated statement: in pretty much any debate, there will be individuals who hold either position without actual justification, and I've certainly seen this in YouTube comments at least. I still wouldn't call them "dogmatic" for fear of equivocating, but they're certainly not freethinkers.

However your initial comment jumped to the conclusion that this applies to me, without knowing any more than which side I'm arguing on.