(FW) – The Chinese government has continued its crackdown on Christianity by fining churches that are in possession of certain unapproved bibles. In the most recent incident, a state-approved “Three-Self” church, called Fengyang Road Three-Self Great Church, was penalized for owning copies of South Korean Bibles.
Astonishingly, the books were confiscated under the Communist regime’s efforts to “eradicate pornography and illegal publications.” As such, in the eyes of the government, varied forms of the scriptures are akin to explicit and offensive material. “The government’s campaign to ‘eradicate pornography and illegal publications’ has actually swept into churches. This is slanderous to God!” one of the church’s workers told human rights organization Bitter Winter.
Another went even further, calling the campaign a “trap laid by the devil to make people mistakenly believe that there is a severe problem with the church’s ethos.” According to Bitter Winter, a letter written by Chongyang county in Hubei Province was sent out to all churches in the area. It was titled “All the People Must Take Action and Fully Carry Out Work to “Clean Up Gang Crime and Eliminate Evil” and “Eradicate Pornography and Illegal Publications” in the Religious Field!”: READ MORE
