China Forces Christians To Renounce Faith, Destroy Christian Symbols Or Be Cut Off From Welfare, Reports Say
By Ryan Saavedra
Jul 21, 2020 DailyWire.com
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is reportedly forcing people of faith to renounce their beliefs and replace religious symbols and imagery with portraits of Chairman Mao and President Xi Jinping.
The reports come from Bitter Winter, a publication that the U.S. Department of State has cited in official reports and describes as “an online magazine on religious liberty and human rights in China.”
A few months ago, communist officials in Linfen reportedly called officials from all the local towns and villages under its governance for a meeting.
“The participants were ordered to remove crosses, religious symbols and images from the homes of people of faith who receive social welfare payments and replace them with portraits of Chairman Mao and President Xi Jinping,” Bitter Winter reported Tuesday. “The officials were instructed to annul the subsidies to those who protest the order.”
A member of a church there told the publication that the communist officials tore down religious writings and a calendar of Jesus in his home and replaced it with an image of Mao Zedong, the most murderous dictator in world history.
The communist official reportedly told the person, “Impoverished religious households can’t receive money from the state for nothing — they must obey the Communist Party for the money they receive.”
“A preacher from a house church received a visit from local officials in May,” Bitter Winter claimed. “They removed a cross and images of Jesus from his home and posted a portrait of Mao Zedong.”
“All impoverished households in the town were told to display Mao Zedong images,” the preacher said. “The government is trying to eliminate our belief and wants to become God instead of Jesus.”