Chinese officials snatched about 100 worshipers of the Early Rain Covenant Church in districts of Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan. The activity was to close down one of the country’s prominent Protestant “house churches.” The coordinated raids began on the evening of 9 December 2018 according to South China Morning Post.1
U. S. China Aid spokesman, Bob Fu, said “the crackdown represented a major escalation of religious persecution in China.” Fu indicated that increases of Christian detention have increased dramatically over the last year.
China’s harassment of Early Rain Covenant Church was denounced by the United States State Department in May, when the church was planning a memorial service for victims of an earthquake.2
The church said on its Facebook page more church members were detained following further raids on Monday and Tuesday morning, and accused police of physically assaulting some worshipers and stomping on their feet.3
Dr. Ray Hermann
OutlawBibleStudent.org
Photo credit: Facebook
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References & Notes
- “100 Christians snatched in overnight raids on underground Chinese church,” (South China Morning Post, 11 December 2018), https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/2177263/100-snatched-china-church-raids-overnight
- Hayward, John, “Dozens of Christians Detained in Chinese Raid on Independent Church,” (Breitbart, 10 December 2018), https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/12/10/dozens-of-christians-detained-in-chinese-raid-on-independent-church/
- Walsh, Michael, and Xiao, Bang, “Chinese police detain more than 100 Christian church members in series of raids,” (ABC News, [Australian Broadcast Corporation], 11 December 2018), https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-11/chinese-police-detain-more-than-100-christians-in-raids/10605648
