{"id":24858,"date":"2024-10-14T11:48:54","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T15:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=24858"},"modified":"2024-10-14T11:54:10","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T15:54:10","slug":"the-chinese-communist-party-has-exerted-control-over-churches-removing-images-of-christ-and-mary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/10\/the-chinese-communist-party-has-exerted-control-over-churches-removing-images-of-christ-and-mary","title":{"rendered":"The Chinese Communist Party Has Exerted Control Over Churches, Removing Images of Christ and Mary"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_24855\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24855\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2024\/10\/chrisitan-church-china_credit-Sinopitt-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24855\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2024\/10\/chrisitan-church-china_credit-Sinopitt-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-24855\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sinopitt \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has released a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/xi-mao-ccp-slogans-replace-jesus-mary-in-chinas-churches.html\">report r<\/a>evealing an alarming amount of state control from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over Christian churches in the country. The report reveals that the CCP has removed numerous Chrisian symbols from churches such as crosses, images of Mary in Catholic churches, and images of Christ from churches, replacing them with communist symbols, including portraits of Xi Jinping. The CCP justifies such moves as \u201csinicization of religion,\u201d which is meant to conform something to Chinese culture, but the USCIRF identifies such moves as a violation of religious freedom.<\/p>\n<p>China identifies itself as an atheist country and has often been hostile to faiths within its borders. During China\u2019s Cultural Revolution, many places of worship were destroyed, and many religious adherents were killed. China\u2019s policies since the Revolution have permitted more religious practices, with about 5 percent of the country\u2019s population identifying as Christian. The CCP often instructs church religious leaders on what kinds of messages they are allowed to preach, with many being told to preach in favor of CCP ideology. \u201cAt the center of the CCP\u2019s institutional control of religion are seven state-controlled national religious organizations, often referred to as \u2018patriotic religious associations,\u2019 and their local branches,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n<p>CCP interference has forced many churches to go \u201cunderground,\u201d meaning they do not recognize CCP authority over their church. For example, underground Catholic churches recognize the Pope as the head of their churches and not the CCP. Many Catholic leaders who do not join the state-controlled national religious organizations have been \u201cdisappeared,\u201d according to the report. Similarly, underground Protestant leaders often find themselves being arrested and detained. \u201cSinicization entrenches the CCP\u2019s control and its vision for the modern Chinese state into every aspect of religious life by forcing groups from the five officially recognized religions to conform their beliefs, activities, expression, attire, leadership, language, houses of worship, and more to CCP ideology,\u201d the report concluded. It later added, \u201cEnforcement of such sinicization policies has consistently resulted in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom and related human rights, including genocide, crimes against humanity, mass incarceration, enforced disappearances, and the destruction of cultural and religious heritage.\u201d The report also noted the mistreatment of Uyghur Muslims, who have been forced into reeducation camps to renounce their language and culture.<\/p>\n<p>Anonymous Christians told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/world-news\/2024\/10\/05\/xi-and-mao-replace-jesus-and-mary-in-chinese-churches\/\"><em>The Telegraph<\/em><\/a> that such interferences intensified in 2018. The state particularly restricts any activities aimed at children. \u201cIf the authorities discover you have any kids\u2019 or \u2018next generation\u2019 activities related to religion, they have to take action,\u201d said one Chinese Christian. Wu Lixin, a Christian who fled China for the United States in 2023, described the type of invasive measures the government takes to identify believers. \u201cThey used facial recognition to identify and harass congregants, threatening their jobs and families to stop them from attending meetings,\u201d said Wu. \u201cDue to this persecution, many congregants were forced to leave China. Our church has relocated four or five times, moving frequently due to police interference. Many former brothers in the church no longer dare to believe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has released a report revealing an alarming amount of state control from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over Christian churches in the country. The report reveals that the CCP has removed numerous Chrisian symbols from churches such as crosses, images of Mary in Catholic churches, and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":24855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[451,2100,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-china","category-chinese-communist","category-christian"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Chinese Communist Party Has Exerted Control Over Churches, Removing Images of Christ and Mary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/10\/the-chinese-communist-party-has-exerted-control-over-churches-removing-images-of-christ-and-mary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Chinese Communist Party Has Exerted Control Over Churches, Removing Images of Christ and Mary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has released a report revealing an alarming amount of state control from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over Christian churches in the country. The report reveals that the CCP has removed numerous Chrisian symbols from churches such as crosses, images of Mary in Catholic churches, and&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/10\/the-chinese-communist-party-has-exerted-control-over-churches-removing-images-of-christ-and-mary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-14T15:48:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-14T15:54:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2024\/10\/chrisitan-church-china_credit-Sinopitt-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Chinese Communist Party Has Exerted Control Over Churches, Removing Images of Christ and Mary","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/10\/the-chinese-communist-party-has-exerted-control-over-churches-removing-images-of-christ-and-mary","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Chinese Communist Party Has Exerted Control Over Churches, Removing Images of Christ and Mary","og_description":"The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has released a report revealing an alarming amount of state control from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over Christian churches in the country. The report reveals that the CCP has removed numerous Chrisian symbols from churches such as crosses, images of Mary in Catholic churches, and&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/10\/the-chinese-communist-party-has-exerted-control-over-churches-removing-images-of-christ-and-mary","og_site_name":"Beliefnet News","article_published_time":"2024-10-14T15:48:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-10-14T15:54:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2024\/10\/chrisitan-church-china_credit-Sinopitt-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cecilia 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