Essay: Remembering those for whom freedom is not a reality this Christmas

ELLIS HEASLEY, of UK-based religious freedom advocacy CSW, urges us to pray for those Christians will not be with their families at Christmas…

This month marked the fifth anniversary of one of the most painful days in the life of Early Rain Covenant Church.

Five years ago, starting in the afternoon of 9th December, authorities in Chengdu in China’s Sichuan Province launched a large-scale crackdown on the church, raiding members’ homes and arresting dozens of leaders and seminary students.

In total, more than 100 members of the church were arrested on that day; most were released relatively swiftly. One elder, Qin Defu, served a four-year prison sentence on charges of ‘illegal business operations’, and was released this time last year, but another remains in prison.

The church’s pastor, Wang Yi, spent a year in detention before he too received a nine-year sentence on charges of “illegal business operations’, and a further charge of ‘inciting to subvert state power”.

Pastor Wang had been a vocal critic of the Chinese Government’s policy towards unregistered or independent churches – also known as house churches – and of controversial regulations on religious affairs that were introduced in February, 2018.

He knew that his arrest was coming; he had prepared his church for the possibility and was ready to make a stand for his religious belief. In a statement to be released if he was detained for more than 48 hours, he declared: “Separate me from my wife and children, ruin my reputation, destroy my life and my family – the authorities are capable of doing all of these things. However, no-one in this world can force me to renounce my faith.”

Five years later, Pastor Wang is still separated from his wife and children, who remain under close surveillance, the authorities have done all they can to ruin his reputation, and the harassment of Early Rain Covenant Church continues. A UN Working Group has determined that the pastor’s detention is arbitrary, but repeated calls for his release have fallen on deaf ears.

Of course, there are many others like him, both within China and around the world; at this time of year CSW often thinks of those who will be spending Christmas behind bars, unable to celebrate with their loved ones, on account of their religion or belief.

Another case that should be familiar to regular readers of this column is that of Cuban Protestant Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo, arrested during nationwide protests in July, 2021, and now spending his third Christmas in prison as he continues to serve a seven-year sentence on unfounded charges of ‘disrespect’, ‘assault’, ‘criminal incitement’ and ‘public disorder’.

Earlier this year Pastor Lorenzo was moved from a maximum-security prison to a minimum-security facility closer to his family. His wife told us that the family is ‘a little more at peace’ now that her husband is closer to home, but he is still unjustly imprisoned and is due to serve at least four more years.

Even in prison, Pastor Lorenzo has continued to practice his faith. In a letter to CSW he informed us he had been pastoring some of his fellow prisoners, and he explained that ‘it makes me very happy to be able to help them laugh again and that their lives can have meaning in Jesus Christ.’

‘I don’t think that any man can get used to this place, and even more so when one knows that one is here unjustly,’ he added. ‘But I am not afraid.’

Equally unjust has been the relentless judicial persecution of Pastor Matthias Haghnejad in Iran, which has continued throughout 2023, after his arrest on Boxing Day last year whilst he was on prison furlough.

Pastor Haghnejad has spent most of the past five years in prison. He is currently in prison on charges for which he had already been exonerated in 2014 after a judge overturned his acquittal, which were brought forward just two weeks after he was released from prison, having served three years of a five-year sentence for ‘endangering state security’ and ‘promoting Zionist Christianity’.

Most recently, in July this year the pastor was accused of undermining state security after a couple from the Church of Iran denomination to which he belongs was pressurised into incriminating him and another church leader, Yousef Nadarkhani.

Pastor Haghnejad has never met his accusers, and Pastor Nadarkhani has only a vague acquaintance with them, but just days after the accusation was made he was transferred to a prison over 1,600 kilometres from his home in Bandar Anzali in the north of the country.

This Christmas, as ever, we remember that God Himself came into the world as a man, Jesus, and in Luke 4 He explains that Hiis mission was to “proclaim good news to the poor”, “freedom for the prisoners”, and “to set the oppressed free”.

Please pray that we would see this in the cases of Pastor Wang Yi, Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo and Pastor Matthias Haghnejad, and indeed, many others around the world for whom freedom is not a reality.

Ellis Heasley is public affairs officer at UK-based religious freedom advocacy CSW.