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
      -1•2 months 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
        31•2 months 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
          -1•2 months 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.

        • @Squizzy@lemmy.worldEnglish
          -6•2 months ago

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