Christians face harassment and disruption in Beijing crackdown on religion, US government agency reports

In their effort to “exert total control” over religion and to “sinicise” Catholic and Protestant Christianity, the authorities have “ordered the removal of crosses from churches [and] replaced images of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary with pictures of President Xi Jinping,” the report said.

The report concluded that “every facet of religious life for Buddhists, Catholics and Protestant Christians, Muslims, and Taoists” was facing pressure to incorporate CCP ideology, and religious elements considered contradictory to the state’s political agenda were being eradicated.

  • Fades@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1617·
    1 month ago

    because China has always been oh so welcoming of other religions right? Sources are great but calling this an outrageous claim is a bit much given the historical context.

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      321·
      1 month ago

      I mean, it’s a pretty big step from “we need to pre-approve priests” to “actually, your religion is about something completely different now”.

      And, more importantly, it’s the Telegraph. If it was the Guardian I’d go “gee whiz, that’s a whole new level, very unexpected”.

      • Womble@lemmy.worldEnglish
        34·
        1 month ago

        replaced images of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary with pictures of President Xi Jinping.

        Its not saying actually Xi is your god now, its just making churches one more place where you see the dear leader. Still bad but not at the insane level of trying to rewrite one of the world’s largest religions.

        • emeralddawn45English
          7·
          1 month ago

          I have a lot of doubts about this article, but also i bet i could find multiple instances of churches in certain states taking down pictures of jesus to put up pictures of trump.

      • Squizzy@lemmy.worldEnglish
        17·
        1 month ago

        Why is the telegraph bad, I really like their journalists they have always come across well.

          • nickiwest@lemmy.worldEnglish
            5·
            1 month ago

            Yes. Yes it does.

            From Media Bias/Fact Check:

            Bias Rating: RIGHT

            Factual Reporting: MIXED

            Country: United Kingdom

            MBFC’s Country Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE

            Media Type: Newspaper

            Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic

            MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY

            • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
              5·
              1 month ago

              Yep. That tracks with what I was remembering. Sometimes their stuff is fine, sometimes it’s questionable right-wing rage-baiting.

          • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            1 month ago

            They write anti Polish people propaganda as well. Remember the British elites hate poor people harder than they hate brown people.