Day: October 8, 2009

— China Aid reports on “The Oppression of Linfen-Fushan Church Continues”
— “SHANXI–Huozhou City officials met on October 3rd to discuss results of the emergency meeting held on September 28th, where officials assembled to determine whether Linfen Fushan Church would be charged as an ‘evil cult.’ Citing the need to preserve stability in the province, local officials had seized Linfen-Fushan Church’s Senior Pastor Wang Xiaoguang, his wife Yang Rongli, and more than ten co-leaders on September 25 for attempting to petition Beijing, and have since continued to hold them in detention. Three days after the arrests, the Fushan Government held the emergency meeting to determine whether the Linfen-Church violated Chinese laws on religion, which explicitly ban ‘evil cults.'”
— “On October 3rd, the Religious Affairs Bureau of Huozhou (RAB) deemed the 50,000 member church to legitimate, but the government reported they would no longer tolerate the “gross violations and law-breaking actions’ of Pastor Wang Xiaoguang and his wife Yang Rongli over the past ten years. The RAB reportedly listed these violations, but no legal record of these abuses have been issued or confirmed. According to an inside source, the officials expressed satisfaction that the ten church leaders were being held in their “rightful place” in administrative detention, and the government resolved that the situation must be fully “dealt with” in the upcoming weeks.”
— “Though a state military numbers have decreased slightly in the past two weeks, ten police vehicles are still stationed at the main Fushan Church around the clock, barring members from entry and assembly.”
— “ChinaAid President Bob Fu is preparing for the gathering storm: ‘The Chinese communist government has used the National Day celebration as an excuse to intensify religious persecution throughout China. With the celebrations coming to an end, they have no intention of scaling back the attacks on house churches. They have tried to place blame for the destruction on the church itself, kidnapping the church leaders, and unjustly accused them of inciting a “violent uprising.” It is just an excuse to declare martial law, and use national military police forces to deny religious freedom! We urge the international community to raise their voice against this gross abuse of state power, and call for the immediate release of the innocent church leaders. The Chinese communist government cannot justify their abuse of basic human freedoms.'”