30th July, 2015
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Hundreds of crosses have been removed from churches in a government-backed campaign. PICTURE: www.freeimages.com
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Protestant and Catholic Christians in China have joined in an online campaign calling on Christians to make crosses and carry them everywhere in response to a spate of government-ordered cross removals and church demolitions in the country’s eastern province of Zhejiang.
The move comes as numerous church leaders, lay Christians and human rights lawyers have spoken out against the campaign to demolish churches and remove crosses which has reportedly seen more than 1,200 crosses removed since late 2013.
While it has been claimed that the government has ordered an end to the cross removals and demolitions, UK-based religious freedom advocacy Christian Solidarity Worldwide said despite a slowing in the rate of such events – which peaked in the middle of last year – it recorded 32 cross removal between May and July this year and say the figure is likely to be higher.
Among the church leaders who have spoken in recent weeks is the elderly Bishop Vincent Zhi Weifang who reportedly held a protest with 26 other priests from his diocese outside a government building in Wenzhou City. It comes a year after he issued a pastoral letter condemning the practice.
China Aid has reported that in mid-July, a group of Christian human rights lawyers formed a new group, Lawyers for the Protection of the Cross, with the aim of fighting for religious freedoms within the framework of China’s existing laws.
Mervyn Thomas, CSW’s chief executive, said that despite the protests, authorities have persisted in "eroding all trust between the government and the churches by forcibly removing the symbol of the Christian faith".
He said CSW joined with Christians in Zhejiang calling for the end of cross removals and other actions taken against registered and unregistered churches.
Mr Thomas said CSW also remained "deeply concerned by the wave of arrest, interrogations and disappearances of lawyers and activists since 10th July". "We urge the government to release all lawyers, activists, and other individuals still detained, and to allow the legal community to defend their clients without disruption, intimidation or threats."
– DAVID ADAMS
