 |
| An official sign persuading people against Christian beliefs. (Photo: ChinaAid) |
ChinaAid
(Bijie, Guizhou—May 30, 2019) Authorities raided in a church in China’s southern Guizhou province, according to an online video posted to a Chinese social media platform.
The video depicts an attack on a small, rural church in Bijie, a mountainous area of the province, in which officials removed all of the church’s belongings, emptying it. In addition, two men used a rod to knock down the cross on the church’s roof.
Because the video was originally posted on WeChat, a Chinese social media platform in which posts can be accessed by the government, Christians feared it was unsafe to discuss the incident, and no further details are known.
Many Christians in mainland China say countryside churches have experienced rapid growth and development over the past few years, with one practitioner of the faith saying, “People are joining churches by the whole village, one village after another.” Although people in these areas tend to lack financial resources, many donate to the construction of church buildings, creating well-made structures for their worship services.
When asked why people in these regions convert to Christianity, the Christian quoted above claims it’s because their limited resources force them to rely on God more in their everyday lives. This gravitation toward religious belief has attracted the attention of the Chinese Communist Party, which believes religion is a tool used by foreign governments to undermine their rule. As a result, in some areas, the government erected large signs bearing anti-Christian messages, such as the one pictured above, which reads “If you go to church every day to learn about the Lord, God still cannot relieve your hardships. Follow the Party and don’t believe in God. The Party can give happiness to all. If your heart is not right, believing in the Lord is useless. Go get more positive energy so that our country will be powerful and families thrive.”
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