Christianity Under Attack in China
After the stepped up attacks on Christianity from the Islamic fundamentalists, now Chinese have decided to follow suit.
Christians in China are facing an increasing severity of government crackdown, as authorities are targeting churches in an attempt to check the growing dominance of Christianity in the world’s most populated country.
The latest attack on a Chinese church, according to a CNN report, was at a gray church on the outskirts of Wenzhou – called the “Jerusalem of China” – in eastern China.
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While local Christians try to stop the government’s demolition squads, authorities have demolished scores of churches and forcibly removed more than 300 church crosses, CNN reported.
It’s being seen as the worst anti-Christian crackdown in decades, though the local authorities maintain that they’re taking action only against the illegal structures.
Earlier, according to The New York Times, a government demolition campaign targeted the symbols of the Christian faith and toppled crosses at churches in the coastal province of Zhejiang.
Today, there are over 50 million Christians in China’s population of about 1.3 billion. Although China is largely a country of atheists, it allowed a restricted adoption of religion from other countries as part of the economic reforms in 1970s.
However, now the Chinese government treats the growing influence of external faiths as a threat to the local polity and economy.
The Christians in China are expected to step up their protests against the Chinese government to protect the symbols of their religion. However, it will be an uphill task for them considering the Chinese government’s experience to deal with any unrest in the country.
Photo courtesy: Churches in China
