Catch-22, China’s Christian Challenge: Navigating Faith and State
It’s not illegal to be a Christian in China, but it’s a catch-22 situation for Christians who wants to worship God in a church.
There are almost 65,000 churches registered in China, and the CCP mandates that all of them use only hymns that aligns with the Communists’ principles, congregants must stand to sing National Anthem and offer praise to the Communist Party before beginning their worship, their sermons must be reviewed and approved by government officials in advance, with any message lacking socialists themes subject to censorship.
In addition, all registered churches are required to install facial recognition cameras, including at the pulpit to allow the government to monitor any individual who dares to attend.
In 2023, the CCP re-wrote portions of the bible to align with the party’s doctrine in the gospel of John where Jesus tells the crowd that he who is without sin, cast the first stone.
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The CCP’s version twists the narrative to Jesus himself, stoning the woman to death to underscore the party’s message of zero tolerance for crime.
Since 2018, the bible has only been available in government – controlled churches, which raises a hunting question; If these are the only places the bible is legally available, and those Bibles are altered, do Christians in China now have access only to the CCP’s version of the scriptures?
So, here’s the Catch – 22, attend a state – approved, and risk being indoctrinated with CCP altered teachings and worship in an underground God – centered fellowship, and risk being harassed, arrested, or locked up, what would you do?
Content Credit | Dada Blessing
Image Credit | google.com
