Chinese communists ramp up 'sinicization' campaign, removing remaining Christian symbols

The atheistic communist regime in China has long sought to crush or, at the very least, control Christianity within its borders.

According to a new report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the communist campaign to forcibly eradicate "religious elements considered contradictory to the CCP's political and policy agenda" is ramping up under dictator Xi Jinping.

Although the report reveals much about the regime, it also signals a great deal about the Chinese people's perseverance and enduring faith. After all, the regime's desperation now is the result of its failure these past 75 years to crush the faith of Chinese Christians with torture, murder, propaganda, and imprisonment.

Captive to the Marxist notion that religion is an "opiate of the masses," the communist Chinese regime began taking over churches and temples in the 1950s; deporting missionaries; and closely monitoring religious groups.

Pew Research noted that during the Cultural Revolution, dictator Mao Zedong sought to eliminate religion outright, banning all religious activities, viciously persecuting religious personnel, and, in many cases, slaughtering Christian clerics and laypeople. While the regime drew blood and flattened churches, the faithful went underground.

'The government has implemented the coercive "sinicization of religion" policy, which has fundamentally transformed China's religious environment.'

While there was a relative easing of restrictions in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the regime has continued to subject Chinese Christians of all denominations to harassment, torture, detentions, and executions.

Breaking bodies hasn't worked, so the regime is trying harder now to break the Chinese Christian's mind.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom's noted in its September report:

Under Xi Jinping's rule as the paramount leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the government has implemented the coercive "sinicization of religion" policy, which has fundamentally transformed China's religious environment. Sinicization, or the complete subordination of religious groups to the CCP's political agenda and Marxist vision for religion, has become the core driving principle of the government's management of religious affairs.

The report highlighted the regime's "Sinicization Work Plans," including for Protestants and Catholics, "emphasize patriotism, loyalty to the CCP and China's political system, and conformity of religious doctrines, sermons, rituals, and architectural styles of places of worship with the CCP's ideological requirements."

Authorities have reportedly ordered the removal of all crosses from all known churches and for images of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary to be replaced with pictures of Xi Jingping. The regime also requires the display of CCP slogans over the entrances of churches. Religious texts have been censored or removed altogether.

Homilies are censored. Surveillance cameras installed on altars surveil all church happenings.

Blaze News previously reported that to ensure state atheism takes, people under the age of 18 are also barred from participating in religious ceremonies.

'Tens of millions of Christians have opted not to join these organizations.'

These sinicization plans appear to be primarily targeting the "official" churches and associations, such as the Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, and the China Christian Council, which are all under the thumb of the regime. Meanwhile, the unregulated, underground churches continue to resist the regulation of the state.

According to the report, "while the state-controlled Christian religious organizations have pushed and enforced the state's restrictions on religion, tens of millions of Christians have opted not to join these organizations and instead worship independently."

Underground Catholics, for instance, "view the Vatican as the sole legitimator of spiritual authority, which the CCP views as a threat," and reject the CCP-aligned bishops installed without the Vatican's consultation and approval. Leaders in the underground Catholic church are often "disappeared."

"Independent house church Protestants face similar repression for not joining the [Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement], with the government detaining, arresting, and incarcerating independent Protestant leaders and laypersons," said the report.

A 2011 Pew Forum report indicated that the number of Christians, including Protestants and Catholics, exceeded 67 million. The Economist similarly indicated in 2020 that official numbers aren't reflective of the reality; that Chinese Christians and Muslims together outnumber the membership of the communist party (92 million).

According to the Christian persecution watchdog Open Doors, there are now an estimated 96.7 million Christians in China.

Open Doors indicated that the persecution level in China is "very high," ranking it as the 19th-worst offender worldwide. Freedom House, meanwhile, ranks China as "not free," giving it a score of 9 out of 100, with 100 being the most free when compared with other countries.

In its annual report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that the U.S. government re-designate China as a "country of particular concern" for "engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom." The watchdog further recommending imposing sanctions targeting those Chinese officials and entities responsible for such freedom violations.

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