East Chinese country shuts churches

BEIJING – A county government in eastern China has displayed unusual vigour in a campaign to suppress religious groups, closing hundreds of churches and temples, a Hong Kong-based rights centre reported on Saturday.

A total of 10 churches and 392 temples have been shut down, and in some caes demolished, over the past two months in Deqing county, Zhejiang province, the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement.

Repeating a practice once common in revolutionary China, 92 temples have been turned into cultural venues of various kinds, according to the information center.

The campaign to “Rectify Illegal Religious Movements” has gone on since September under the leadership of the county chief and his deputy, the center said.

Every village in the county has formed small task forces of Communist Party cadres charged with spying on underground religious activities, it reported.

Similar campaigns have been launched in other parts of Zhejiang, including the provincial capital of Hangzhou, where at least 10 churches have been torn down in the period from July to October, the centre said.

It is little more than a week ago that Premier Wen Jiabao told journalists in Beijing that Chinese enjoy religious freedom.

Wen made that remark in response to a question about a recent incident in which police in northeast China raided a religious retreat and arrested about a dozen Roman Catholic clergymen.

Read Another Article

Debating execution of youth
Police question bishop over gay row

Related News Articles Topic(s): Religious Persecution Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Religious Persecution Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog