As the Beijing Olympics drew to a close Sunday, August 24, with televised fireworks and a multi-million dollar show, there was concern over rights abuses of Christians in Communist-run China, amid reports that an American pastor disappeared.
As the Olympics draw to a close, new evidence of religious freedom abuses offers a stark contrast to China’s efforts to provide religious services for athletes and visitors during the Games.
As President Bush today (Sunday) visited and attended a service at the Three Self Patriotic Movement’s (TSPM)Kuanjie Church established by the government, a renowned Christian social activist in Beijing was arrested once again by the Chinese police, but has since eluded authorities.
China Aid Association has learned that two of the four missionaries detained in Inner Mongolia in early July have been released after serving 30 days adminstrative detention.
As China prepared for the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games Friday, August 8, a key Chinese house church leader and his wife remained detained amid signs government leaders fear Christians will use the event to highlight reports of religious persecution.
The three Christians arrested in China yesterday have arrived safely in the United States after being deported for speaking out about oppression in China.
Chinese police detained house church leader Zhang Mingxuan, along with his wife Xie Fenlang and co-pastor Wu Jiang He, at a police station in Hebei after a BBC journalist attempted to interview him on Monday (August 4).
Three American Christian leaders were deported from China Thursday, August 7, after being arrested for the second time in as many days for publicly praying and protesting against China’s “religious persecution”, the “policy of forced abortion” and other alleged civil rights abuses, family members said.
As U.S. President George W. Bush attends Olympic events in Beijing this week and a church service in the capital next Sunday, Chinese authorities have banished house church pastor Zhang Mingxuan from the city for the duration of the Games. Several other Christians remain in detention or face ongoing harassment.
Beijing bookstore owner and House Church leader Mr. Shi Weihan, has been suffering a deterioration in health since his imprisonment four months ago.
One of China’s most respected house church leaders remained homeless Sunday, July 20, with his wife after authorities expelled them from their home in the Chinese capital Beijing for meeting an American Congressional delegation, officials and a rights group said.
An evangelical pastor who trained Christian missionaries and evangelized in northwest China and Tibet has been sentenced to two years forced because of his Christian activities, investigators said.
A key member and missionary of an unofficial ‘house church’ in China’s Heilongjiang Province faced difficulties Monday, July 7, to worship with fellow believers after Chinese security forces briefly detained him and two co-workers, representatives said.
Chinese security forces raided a house church at a coal mine in China’s Gansu Province and detained several Christians as part of a crackdown on unauthorized worship services in the Communist nation, a Christian rights group said Monday, June 30.
A frail prominent Chinese house church leader and Christian bookstore owner already detained for three months remained in a Chinese prison Sunday, June 22, after a court hearing was unexpectedly cancelled, Chinese Christians said.
The president of the Chinese House Church Alliance, a major umbrella group of underground churches, has been detained along with his interpreter while on his way to meet a senior European Union official, fellow Christian workers said.
Christian bookstore owner Shi Weihan, detained in a Chinese prison without his medication for diabetes, is due in court Thursday (June 19) to face as yet unspecified charges.
As China mourned Monday, May 19, some 34,000 people killed in a massive earthquake, Chinese security forces, operating outside the international media attention, continued a crackdown on underground house churches, Christians said.
A bookstore owner in Beijing was still behind bars Saturday, April 19, a month after he was re-arrested for publishing Bibles and Christian literature, his wife said.
Chinese security forces detained dozens of House Church Christians in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, forcing them to show allegiance to the government as part of crackdown similar to a campaign against Buddhist monks in nearby Tibet, rights watchers said Thursday, April 17.