 |
| Chinese Christians peer through the sealed gates of their closed-down church in this undated picture. (Photo: ChinaAid) |
ChinaAid
(Zhengzhou, Henan—Jan. 3, 2018) A “rectification notice” issued by the religious authorities in China’s central Henan on Dec. 22 ordered a house church to cease meeting, and officials arbitrarily held the person who owns the church’s property for seven hours.
The Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commision of Zhengzhou notified a church composed mostly of people from Wenzhou, Zhejiang, that they were carrying out religious events at an unapproved location and ordered that they immediately cease all activities. An anonymous church member said a collection of officials from the Erqi District National Security Bureau, the local public security bureau, street management offices, and the religious affairs bureau later interrupted one of their services and asked them to disperse the meeting.
“They said that we are on a higher floor and that the firefighting facilities have not yet been tested and lack [proper] certification,” the Christian said. In the past, officials have given Christians similar excuses of safety precautions in previous attempts to stop church gatherings.
In the midst of the ordeal, officials summoned Xue Xingjie, the owner of the church’s property, to the police station and held him for seven hours without questioning. He was released at 10 p.m. that night.
On Dec. 24, a sub-district office of the Zhengzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau reiterated that the church did not have permission to hold religious events and forbade it from holding a Christmas Eve service. As a result, the church canceled the celebration it was planning to hold.
ChinaAid exposes abuses, such as those suffered by Christians in Erqi, in order to stand in solidarity with persecuted Christians and promote religious freedom, human rights, and rule of law.
ChinaAid Media Team
Cell: +1 (432) 553-1080 | Office: +1 (432) 689-6985 | Other: +1 (888) 889-7757
Email: [email protected]
For more information, click here