270 House Church Pastors Detained For Alleged Illegal Religious Gathering
Posted Dec 10 2007December 10, 2007
Shandong Province- China Aid Association has learned that 270 House Church Pastors have been detained for what Chinese officials are calling an “illegal religious gathering”.
On December 7 at 1:30pm, House Church pastors in Hedeng District, Linyi City, were gathered for a Bible Study, when their meeting was disrupted by police officials. According to Pastor Li, an eyewitness, 12 police cars and 40-50 policemen from 12 different towns were involved in the massive detention. The pastors were handcuffed two-by-two and taken to the local police station for questioning. As of this morning 120-150 pastors remain in custody. The others have been released on a Y300 ($40) interrogation fee.
The humiliation these pastors received by being led away in handcuffs as common criminals, for attending a Bible study is an unjustifiable act of religious persecution. In addition, the large scale and high profile of the detentions shows the apathy of Chinese officials in moving towards a  policy for toleration of religious freedom. Behavior unbecoming of the World’s host for the Olympic games in 2008.
For those concerned, contact:
Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Ambassador: Mr. Zhou Wenzhong
Address: 2300 Connecticut Avenue, N. W., Washington D.C. 20008, U.S.A.
Tel: +001-202-3282500, 3282501, 3282502
Fax: +001-202-3282582
Email: chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn
Issued by CAA on December 10, 2007making soap software wordpress stats
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December 11th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
[…] Police raid Bible meeting, detain 270 Posted December 11, 2007 China Aid writes: 270 House Church pastors have been detained for what Chinese officials are calling an “illegal […]
December 12th, 2007 at 4:51 am
[…] When commenting on this incident, the China Aid Association said: […]
December 12th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Were all these 270 pastors in a house? My understanding of the “house church” is a small group. Were they actually illegally gathered in a group larger than allowed by Chinese law?
December 12th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Not much has changed in the world - I’ve been studying 2 Timothy,(Bible) which is the last letter the Apostle Paul wrote from a Roman prison in the first century. He was beheaded by Nero and the Christians were blamed for the fires of 64 AD that wiped out the city. Christians face the same kind of hate & persecution in China & most of the third world today. My question is why does a Christian nation like America support this godless Chinese dictatorship? Although I don’t expect a serious answer from most of our Godless congressmen and senators, certainly our president should respond.