Chinese Christians on the mainland punished for Hong Kong protests
by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Officials in China are extremely threatened by the involvement of Christians in recent mass protests in Hong Kong, with many churches on the mainland pinned for supposed extremism in recent months for their association with Christians in the Special Administrative Region.
It was revealed to members of a Three-Self Patriotic movement church in Ganzhou city on Oct. 28 who went to renew their church permit that the Religious Affairs Bureau had “decided at a meeting yesterday that all religious meetings should be banned and churches must be shut down.”
When the believers asked what reason the local government had for doing so, they were told that Christians in Hong Kong had been involved in “riots” against the mainland communist power.
Similarly, members of a house church in Xuzhou city who applied for Hong Kong passports with the intention of hearing a sermon there during China’s National Day on Oct. 1 were told they might be part of “anti-China forces” and denied.
Christians have been instrumental in calling for democracy against communist Chinese overreach in protests that began in Hong Kong in March, but for believers on the mainland, the protests seem to be fodder for officials who already believe they are foreign agents.