China Gov't Intensifies Crackdown on Beijing House Churches after Christmas

|TOP|A campaign to clamp down on Beijing house churches has intensified after Christmas, a Chinese persecution watchdog group reported.

China Aid Association announced that several eyewitness reports have indicated that Beijing Ark House Church in Nanhu Xiyuan, Chaoyang District was raided by Beijing Public Security agents on two consecutive Sunday services this month.

In the most recent account, the well-known Beijing house church was reportedly raided at 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 15 by four public security bureau (PSB) agents one week after a Jan. 8 raid.

One of the officers involved in the raid reportedly declared that the church was disturbing the neighbours while another policeman told the congregation that the gathering was an “illegal religious gathering place because it is not registered,” according to CAA.

|QUOTE|A further plain-clothed PSB agent allegedly started beating a member of the church when he noticed the PSBs were being videotaped by one of the house church’s foreign friends that was present.

According to Yu Jie – one of the founders of the church and a best-selling author and internationally-known commentator – the Beijing house church was also raided the previous Sunday by seven PSB agents.

The church is well-known because many of the members are prominent writers and lawyers. Among them are freelance writer Bei Cun, Beijing University professor Jiao Guobiao, and human rights defence lawyers Li Baiguang and Gao Zhisheng.

Besides Beijing Ark House Church, police also raided several other house churches in Beijing. Soon after Christmas, Pastor Jin Tianming – a pastor of at least nine house churches in Haidian District – was detained and questioned at a police station for one night. Dozens of other leaders in his church were also questioned, CAA reported.

|AD|Jin, a Korean minority and a Qinghua University graduate, had been negotiating with the government to register his churches.

In addition, a house church in Dayinjia village in Jilin Province was raided on Jan. 4 during a gathering of 40 members. Five officials from the PSB and Religious Affairs office posted up a government seal notice and declared the gathering “illegal.” The church pastor, 40-year-old Cui Guojun, was interrogated for three hours in a local PSB office and then released.

CAA expressed deep concerned about the escalation of crackdowns against house churches before 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“The Chinese house churches have their constitutional right to hold free religious worship,” said CAA president the Rev. Bob Fu, in a news release by the group. “House churches like the Ark House Church chose purposely to worship openly without hiding because as Mr. Yu Jie said, ‘The church welcomes every sinner even President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are welcomed to worship with them'.”

In the release CAA also called upon the international community to continue to pay attention to the escalating situation on religious persecution in China and urged the Chinese government to “sincerely comply” with the international human rights covenants they signed to respect religious freedom for Chinese citizens.