More than 250 churches in Anhui province saw their crosses toppled by local authorities as the Chinese Communist Party stepped up its crackdown of religious faiths in the midst of rising tensions between China and the United States.

Members of the Christian community in the province said that the central government stepped up its suppression on places of worship at the end of last year over fears that Christians would “unite with foreigners against the state” as China-U.S. relations became increasingly strained.

According to human rights media outlet Bitter Winter, between January and April — while the country was still grappling with the impact of the novel coronavirus — the CCP demolished crosses at churches belonging to the state-approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement in Lu’an, Ma’anshan, Huaibei and other cities across Anhui.

While religious persecution has been a longstanding issue in China, the latest crackdowns revealed an escalation of tactics employed by the CCP as it targeted churches already approved by its own party.

Between November and December, the CCP removed crosses from Three-Self churches in 22 cities.

A churchgoer told Bitter Winter that the CCP’s intensified crackdowns were part of a national policy that targeted religious symbols of all faiths, including Christianity, Islam and Buddhism.

Provincial governments across Anhui have been using different pretexts to justify the removal of such symbols from sites of worship. In Hanshan county, crosses were toppled on the basis that they were “too tall, too large, too wide, or too eye-catching.” Meanwhile, in Lu’an, authorities cited public safety as the reason for demolishing the cross at a local church and threatened to shut down the church and imprison the leader unless she complied with the order.

In early April, officials from the religious affairs bureau and public security bureau of Fuyang, a prefecture-level city in northwestern Anhui, stormed into a 124-year-old state-run church and ordered the cross to be demolished despite not showing any documents for the order. Churchgoers resisted for close to eight hours but after authorities pressured the leader, the cross was removed at 5 a.m. the next morning.

So far, more than 250 churches in the province have been subject to the government’s increased scrutiny over religious worship. Churchgoers say those who try to resist would be charged with opposing the CCP.

---------------------------------
Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app
To know more: https://bit.ly/2yMMfQE
Apple Daily mobile app latest version DOWNLOAD NOW