Chinese Christian Churches are being forced to replace Crosses with the national flag atop their buildings and are being forced by authorities to replace images of Jesus and the cross inside the Church with pictures of Xi Jinping.
China Aid is reporting that churches throughout Xinyu County and Jiangxi have received official orders from the communist government to display the national flag on top of their buildings and to post pictures of Xi Jinping as well as posters with socialist values throughout their buildings.
In addition, children have been banned from attending church, furthermore, if local’s fail to follow the government’s instructions, the allowance for low-income nationals will be cut.
Locals have reported that in another area of Jiangxi, more than forty churches were forced to hang slogans that said: “Non-locals are prohibited from preaching; no underage people allowed in church.”
China’s Global Times Newspaper was quoted saying, in regards to the matter; “All religious venues should raise China’s national flag to strengthen awareness of respect to the flag and preserve the flag’s dignity…..places of worship [that] do not follow the practice could face scrutiny.”
Earlier this year, China initiated restrictions on religious freedom, with the goal of creating a state-sanctioned Christianity. The regulations place the state before God.
“China’s Policies and Practices on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief,” religious leaders “must conduct religious activities in the Chinese context, practice core socialist values, carry forward the fine traditions of the Chinese nation, and actively explore religious thought which conforms to the reality in China.”
An Open Doors researcher stated in regards to the matter that the Communist party “….believes the Church is a de-stabilizing force, but not because it is bad; in fact, local communities and authorities tend to believe Christians are good people. Some suggest that because Christians’ allegiance is first and foremost to God and not the Communist Party, there is a conflict of interests that the party believes can potentially hinder the process of unification. Others are more concerned by what they perceive as potential ‘chaos’ arising from the huge number of Christians.”
China’s actions against Christians are similar to what was conducted under the former Communist mass-murderer Mao Zedong and are similar to what was done under Stalin and the Soviet Union.
The persecution in China is not particularly because of the party’s leader Xi Jinping; rather, the actions are in line with Socialist and Communist principles and values.
In the majority of cases, throughout history, Christians are persecuted by regimes, who place state before person or ‘collective rights’ before individual rights, and such is wildly present in regards to socialism and communism.