Christians face harassment and disruption in Beijing crackdown on religion, US government agency reports

In their effort to “exert total control” over religion and to “sinicise” Catholic and Protestant Christianity, the authorities have “ordered the removal of crosses from churches [and] replaced images of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary with pictures of President Xi Jinping,” the report said.

The report concluded that “every facet of religious life for Buddhists, Catholics and Protestant Christians, Muslims, and Taoists” was facing pressure to incorporate CCP ideology, and religious elements considered contradictory to the state’s political agenda were being eradicated.

  • Fades@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    because China has always been oh so welcoming of other religions right? Sources are great but calling this an outrageous claim is a bit much given the historical context.

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      I mean, it’s a pretty big step from “we need to pre-approve priests” to “actually, your religion is about something completely different now”.

      And, more importantly, it’s the Telegraph. If it was the Guardian I’d go “gee whiz, that’s a whole new level, very unexpected”.