(Beijing — October 29, 2025) The Chinese government has recently passed a revised version of the Public Security Administration Punishments Law of the People’s Republic of China, announcing that the revised law will officially take effect on January 1, 2026. The revision marks the first time that “illegal religious activities” have been explicitly included within the scope of administrative punishments and is widely seen as Beijing’s latest move to exert unprecedented pressure on unregistered Christian house churches.
Article 31: New Penalties for “Illegal Religious Activities”
According to the revised Article 31, anyone who “organizes, instigates, intimidates, induces, or coerces others into cult, sect, secret society, or illegal religious activities,” or “uses the name of religion or qigong to disrupt social order or harm others’ physical health,” may be subjected to five to fifteen days of detention and fines ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 yuan. The provision also penalizes those who “produce or disseminate articles, information, or materials promoting cults or criminal organizations.”
Compared with the previous version of the law, the new law not only increases the severity and amount of penalties but also expands the scope of punishable activities, for the first time clearly including “illegal religious activities” within the scope of administrative punishment.
Expanding State Control Over Unregistered Churches
In China’s legal framework, “illegal religious activities” typically refer to religious groups or missionary activities that have not been registered with or approved by official religious affairs departments. This means that the activities of tens of thousands of unregistered house churches, as well as underground Catholic churches, may now face more direct legal risks.
State-Defined “Normal Religious Activities”
Although China, on the surface, officially recognizes the “normal religious activities” of the five major religions — Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism — what constitutes “normal religious activities” is defined not by religious communities themselves but by the government. Therefore, state-recognized religious groups are required to cooperate with official political narratives and ideology; otherwise, even clergy from official churches may also face punishment.
Local Report-Reward Systems Intensify Crackdown
In recent years, in order to thoroughly suppress unregistered religious groups, local authorities have introduced report-reward systems, encouraging citizens to provide information on “illegal religious activities,” with Christians of house churches as the primary target of the crackdown. Rewards for informants have ranged from several hundred to several thousand yuan.
Analysts: Ideological Control and Legalized Crackdown
Analysts pointed out that the Chinese Communist regime, which upholds “atheism,” maintains a high level of vigilance toward any religious force that does not submit to its control, viewing such forces as potential threats. The introduction of the revised law demonstrates the government’s intent to strengthen ideological control by ensuring that religious belief must be filtered through political loyalty and serve state interests; legalize crackdowns on house churches by providing a clear legal basis for prohibiting and punishing unregistered religious activities; and create a new source of revenue through fines, potentially becoming a new pretext for local authorities to collect fines.
Criticism of Human Rights Violations
Such actions of using legal measures and monetary incentives to coerce Christians and restrict the growth of Christianity have been criticized as violations of fundamental human rights and reveal the regime’s deep-seated fear of the power of faith that transcends all authority.
Reported by Special Correspondent Gao Zhensai for ChinaAid
