Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Seasons of Grace

Home
Catholic
Bravado and Bulldozers: Chinese Churches Topple Under Communist Decree

Bravado and Bulldozers: Chinese Churches Topple Under Communist Decree

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:53 pm by Kathy Schiffer

Bravado and Bulldozers: Chinese Churches Topple Under Communist Decree 2016-09-30T15:53:14-05:00 Kathy Schiffer

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Today in China, bulldozers are hard at work destroying what Christians have taken years to build.

Church in Communist China being demolished

The Sanjiang church in Wenzhou, according to a report in the London Telegraph, has become a symbol of resistance to the Communist Party’s draconian clutch on religion. Earlier this month, thousands of Christians formed a human shield around the church in Wenzhou, a coastal city known as the “Jerusalem of the East”, after the Communist government announced that it was one of at least ten churches which would be demolished as part of an anti-church crackdown. (The actual number of churches destroyed, according to some reports, is between 1,000 and 1,200.)

Black police vans, military trucks and security agents have blocked the main road into the area, preventing media from accessing the scene.

* * * * *

I had heard this day was coming, but I had hoped that someone would intervene.

After all, I remembered the anger around the world in 2001 when the Taliban, under orders from Mullah Mohammed Omar, destroyed two 1,700-year-old statues of Buddha as part of a campaign to obliterate all non-Islamic statues. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan spoke with the Taliban’s foreign minister, Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, in an effort to save Afghanistan’s cultural heritage; but to no avail. Annan said to reporters, regarding the destruction:

“They will be doing themselves a great deal of disservice, and no religious leaders from the Islamic world have supported the edict. I told them you have to respect what is sacred to others.”

But to no avail. The Taliban destroyed all moveable statues, including those in a museum in Kabul, as well as the towering ancient statues which stood in niches at the foot of the Hindu Kush mountains in central Afghanistan.

One of two statues destroyed by the Taliban in March 2001.
(This photo dates from 1976.)

This time, the offender is China. The Chinese Communist Party, according to a report from Loyola University,

“…does not tolerate religion. Due to its Marxist sympathies the Party simply eradicates those religious institutions that do not support its Communist agenda. Only those religious groups that support the Chinese Communist Party are allowed to exist. These institutions are made up of “puppet” religious leaders that promote the Communist Party. Religious leaders who do not follow the Chinese Communist Party are imprisoned or sent to labor camps. Christians, Buddhists, and Muslims are all persecuted.”

The US Department of State, in its 1998 human rights report, said of the People’s Republic of China:

Unapproved religious groups, including Protestant and Catholic groups, continued to experience varying degrees of official interference and repression. The Government continued to enforce 1994 State Council regulations requiring all places of religious activity to register with the Government and come under the supervision of official, “patriotic” religious organizations. There were significant differences from region to region, and even locality to locality, in the attitudes of government officials toward religion. In some areas, authorities guided by national policy made strong efforts to control the activities of unapproved Catholic and Protestant churches; religious services were broken up and church leaders or adherents were detained and, at times, reportedly beaten.

At year’s end, some remained in prison because of their religious activities. Citizens worshiping in officially sanctioned churches, mosques, and temples reported little or no day-to-day interference by the Government. The number of religious adherents in many churches, both registered and unregistered, continued to grow at a rapid pace. In Tibet the reeducation campaign aimed at monks and nuns was renewed, as was a rhetorical campaign against the Dalai Lama. (State Department 1)

Even before the Communist takeover of China, there were anti-Christian sentiments which came to the fore–in, for example, the Boxer Uprising in 1900 and the anti-Christian movement of 1922-1927.

At this point, the Communist government in China has adopted a brutal policy opposing all religions except for the government-sponsored “official” church, with its puppet leader. Free the Fathers, an organization which works to expose government brutality and assist imprisoned church leaders, reports:

Over 200 Priests are still in prison in China today. Some are in forced labor camps, where they quarry rock, clear land, or labor in rice paddies. The Chinese Authorities are known to use hideous tortures on their Priest prisoners. Some have been punished by being kept in handcuffs 24 hours a day. Protestants are also persecuted. Thousands of “House Church” members, mainly Baptists, Presbyterians, and Pentecostals, have been arrested and sent to labor camps.

The suppression of Christianity continues unabated. Jiang Mingyuan, a Catholic bishop from the Henan province who was ordained but not by the “official” church, was detained in August 2013 in the crackdown on the underground Catholic Church. Some 85 Henan Christians were charged last month under China’s so-called “evil cult” legislation.

Christians reported to the Telegraph that their telephone lines were being monitored, and they feel unsafe.

Bob Fu, a Chinese American Christian pastor and founder/president of the China Aid Association, said,

“This government-orchestrated barbaric forced demolition represents a serious escalation against religious freedom in Zhejiang. The Chinese regime chooses to disregard its own laws and the will of its best citizens.”

Today, there was no word whether the church would be demolished in its entirety, or whether only part of it would be permitted to stand. The government has refused to comment; but reports out of China on social media show the church in a shambles.

Picture of the felled church

Previous Post

April 27, 2014

Heaven Is For Real: Secrets Colton Burpo Didn't Tell You in the Book or the Movie

Next Post

April 29, 2014 Community Service Alert: Don't Text and Drive!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category #Synod14 Abortion Abstinence Abuse Addiction Adoption Advent Adventure Advertising Aging Agnosticism All Saints Day All Souls Day Amish Anathema Angels Anglican Animals Annulment Annunciation Apocalypse Apologetics Apostles Apostleship of the Sea Apparitions Archangels Archbishop Cordileone Archbishop Dolan Archbishop Vigneron Archeology Architecture Art Art Buchwald Ash Wednesday Assisted Suicide Astronauts Atheism Athletes Babies Baptism Beatification Beauty Bible Biochemistry Bioethics Birds Bishop Lori Bishops Blasphemy Books Canon Law Canonization Capital Punishment Cardinal Burke Cardinal Dolan Cardinal George Caritas Catechesis Catechism of the Catholic Church Catholic Catholic Education Catholic Higher Education Catholic Social Teaching Celibacy Cemeteries Character Charity Chastity Cheapskate Christian Unity Christmas Churches Civil Rights Cloning Comedy Communion of Saints Community Kitchens Confession Confirmation Conscience Consequences Consistory Constitution Contraception Conversion Cooking Councils of the Church Creativity Criminal Justice Cristero War Crucifixion Crystal Cathedral Culture Death Death and Dying Death Penalty Department of Health and Human Services Diaconate Dictatorship of Relativism Dignity Disability Discrimination Dissidence Divorce Doctors of the Church Early Church Fathers Easter Economics Ecumenism Education Encyclicals Environmentalism Episcopal Church Eucharist Euthanasia Evangelism Evangelists Evangelization Evolution Excuses Facebook Faith Families Family Fashion Fasting Fatherhood Federal Government Feminism Fiction Film First Amendment First Communion For Greater Glory Forgiveness Free Speech Friends Friendship Gender Discrimination Germany Gnosticism Good Friday Government Grace Greed Gregorian Calendar Happiness Health Heaven Heresy History Holidays Holiness Hollywood Holy Land Holy Saturday Holy Spirit Holy Week Holy Year Home Sweet Home Homosexuality Hope Humanism Humility Humor Imagination Immaculate Conception Immigration Impulsivity In Vitro Fertilization Incarnation Indulgences Infallibility Internet Islam Italy Jerusalem Jesus Judaism Justice Kathleen Sebelius Labor Movement LCWR Lent Life Literature Liturgy Lourdes Love Magi Marketing Marriage Martyrdom Martyrs Mary Mass Media Medical Ethics Mexico Michigan Miracles Missionaries Modernism Modesty Monks Monothelitism Motherhood Movies Mushrooms Music Muslim Mystery Mysticism Mythology Nativity Natural Law Nature New Evangelization New Media New Year New Year's Resolutions Nostalgia Obscenity Occult Old Testament Origen Orthodox Orvieto Pallium Papacy Parenting Patience Patriarch Bartholomew Patriotism Peace Peace and Justice Penitence Pentecost People Persecution Philosophy Poetry Political activism Political Correctness Politics Polls Pop Culture Pope Benedict XVI Pope Francis Pope John Paul II Pope John XXIII Pope Paul VI Pope St. Pius X Pope Urban VII Population Prayer Preaching Prejudice Pride Priesthood Pro-Life Protestantism Psychology Purgatory Queenship of Mary Racism Rape Real Presence Reconciliation Reformation Relics Religious Religious Liberty Reliquary Renewal Reproductive Technology Resurrection Rights Romance Rome Royalty Sacraments Sacred Heart Saints Satanism Science Science Fiction Scripture Seal of Confession Secularism Seniors September 11 Seventy Times Seven Sexuality Sharks Sin Smoking Social Communications Social Justice Social Networking Social Sciences Space Exploration Spirituality Sports St. Luke St. Patrick's Day St. Paul St. Peter St. Teresa of Avila Stations of the Cross Steve Jobs Superstition Supreme Court Symbolism Synod Technology Teen Rebellion Television Terrorism Thankfulness Thanksgiving Theology Think This, Not That Tobit Toilets Toys Tradition Traditions Transplants Travel Trinity Twitter U.S. Air Force Uncategorized United Nations USCCB Valentine Vatican Vatican Archives Vatican Blogfest Virtue Vocations Where We Pray White Heart Women World Day of Social Communications World Meeting of Families World News World Youth Day Worship Writing Year of Consecrated Life Year of Faith Year of Mercy Youth

Select a Month December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the Jewish place of assembly for worship and teaching called?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Temple Court Tabernacle Synagogue