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Chinese Police Dynamite Christian Megachurch
By RUSSELL GOLDMANJAN. 12, 2018
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By RUSSELL GOLDMANJAN. 12, 2018
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- removed their steeples and crosses as part of a campaign that reflects the Communist Party’s longstanding fear that Christianity, viewed as a Western philosophy, is a threat to the party’s authority.
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The church in 2009. CreditAndy Wong/Associated Press
Global Times, a state newspaper, described the building’s destruction as part of a “citywide campaign to remove illegal buildings,” and quoted an unidentified official as saying that the church had been “secretly” constructed without proper permits and was initially disguised as a warehouse.
Members of the megachurch, however, have previously clashed with the authorities, including in 2009 when the police confiscated Bibles and imprisoned several of the congregation’s leaders.
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On Tuesday, officers of the People’s Armed Police, a state paramilitary organization, detonated explosives in the church’s underground sanctuary and destroyed the rest of the building, according to ChinaAid, an American watchdog group that monitors religious freedom in China.
“The repeated persecution of Golden Lampstand Church demonstrates that the Chinese government has no respect for religious freedom or human rights,” said Bob Fu, the group’s founder.
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The authorities used dynamite and heavy machinery to raze the Protestant megachurch.CreditChinaAid, via Associated Press
ChinaAid said that the building was built by the married evangelists Wang Xiaoguang and Yang Rongli with nearly $3 million in contributions from local Christians, but that it had never been registered with the authorities, a legal requirement.
Officially, Chinese citizens are free to practice the religion of their choice, but the government tightly controls spiritual life, and in some cases bans certain groups, like Falun Gong.
On Dec. 27, the authorities also demolished a Catholic church in Shaanxi Province, southwest of Shanxi Province, destroying an altar and confiscating vestments, according to ChinaAid.
More than 60 million Christians live in China, at least half of whom worship in unregistered churches.