THE CHINESE GOVT KNOWS HOW TO TREAT THE PROSELYTIZING CHRISTIAN AND
MUSLIM FILTH EXACTLY THE WAY THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE TREATED.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/12/world/asia/china-church-dynamite.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
Chinese Police Dynamite Christian Megachurch
By RUSSELL GOLDMANJAN. 12, 2018
HONG KONG — Chinese police officers demolished one of the country’s
largest evangelical churches this week, using heavy machinery and
dynamite to raze the building where more than 50,000 Christians worshiped.
The Golden Lampstand Church in Shanxi Province was one of at least two
Christian churches demolished by the authorities in recent weeks, part
of what critics describe as a national effort to regulate spiritual life
in China.
Under President Xi Jinping, the government has destroyed churches or
removed their steeples and crosses as part of a campaign that reflects
the Communist Party’s longstanding fear that Christianity, viewed as a
Western philosophy, is a threat to the party’s authority.
Global Times, a state newspaper, described the building’s destruction as
part of a “citywide campaign to remove illegal buildings,” and quoted an
unidentified official as saying that the church had been “secretly”
constructed without proper permits and was initially disguised as a
warehouse.
Members of the megachurch, however, have previously clashed with the
authorities, including in 2009 when the police confiscated Bibles and
imprisoned several of the congregation’s leaders.
On Tuesday, officers of the People’s Armed Police, a state paramilitary
organization, detonated explosives in the church’s underground sanctuary
and destroyed the rest of the building, according to ChinaAid, an
American watchdog group that monitors religious freedom in China.
“The repeated persecution of Golden Lampstand Church demonstrates that
the Chinese government has no respect for religious freedom or human
rights,” said Bob Fu, the group’s founder.
The authorities used dynamite and heavy machinery to raze the Protestant
megachurch. Credit ChinaAid, via Associated Press
ChinaAid said that the building was built by the married evangelists
Wang Xiaoguang and Yang Rongli with nearly $3 million in contributions
from local Christians, but that it had never been registered with the
authorities, a legal requirement.
Officially, Chinese citizens are free to practice the religion of their
choice, but the government tightly controls spiritual life, and in some
cases bans certain groups, like Falun Gong.
On Dec. 27, the authorities also demolished a Catholic church in Shaanxi
Province, southwest of Shanxi Province, destroying an altar and
confiscating vestments, according to ChinaAid.
More than 60 million Christians live in China, at least half of whom
worship in unregistered churches.