Fox News | Caleb Parke | Oct. 17, 2019
Authorities in China forcibly removed Christians and arrested several faith leaders gathered at a state-recognized church that suddenly was deemed “illegal” by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), moments before it was demolished, according to a Chinese persecution watchdog.
Around 1,000 Chinese personnel, including police officers, carried out a raid at the True Jesus Church in the province of Henan, forcibly removing congregants — including two elderly members who were injured in the incident and had to be taken to the hospital — before excavators began demolishing the church worth roughly $1.4 million, Bitter Winter, a religious liberty magazine focused on China, reported.
Marco Respinti, director-in-charge of the Italian-based publication, told Fox News the CCP persecution of religion is nothing new, but going after this church, one that belongs to the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, a state-sanctioned Protestant church “supposedly not touched by the state,” doesn’t bode well for open believers living in the Communist nation.