Chinese government's cross removal campaign continues

The Chinese government's campaign to have church crosses removed is continuing, and Christians have not found it easy to handle.

"It's been very difficult to deal with," a church elder in Shuitou told The New York Times. "We can only get on our knees and pray."

According to the report, the campaign is limited within the Zheijang Province where many Christians live. Correspondent Ian Johnson, who traveled for four days in the area, says that it looks as though a typhoon had passed through. In the Aojiang, Shanmen, Tengquio, and Ximei villages, crosses can be seen toppled on rooftops or lying scattered in yards. In the township of Mabu, workers sawed off the cross of the Dachang Church while parishioners were blocked by riot police; and in Shuitou, they used blowtorches to dismantle the 10-foot cross from the top of the 120-foot Salvation Church steeple. This move in the province is believed to be some kind of experiment that could be expanded to other areas.

"What has been happening in Zheijang is a test," Beijing independent scholar Fan Yafeng said. "If the government views it as a success, it will be expanded."

Last month, Chinese president Xi Jinping gave a speech on religious policy, saying to Communist Party leaders, "We must resolutely resist overseas infiltration through religious means and guard against ideological infringement by extremists."

Those who embraced religions in the past decades during the time when China allowed religious affiliations and the construction of places of worship, particularly Christian churches, are now in dire straits.

"These actions are a flagrant violation of the policy of religious freedom that the party and the government have been implementing and continuously perfecting for more than 60 years," pastor Gu Yuese of the Chongyi Church previously wrote, after which he was detained in January for allegedly misusing church funds.

The crackdown on churches began in 2014 when the government announced that it would demolish a church in Wenzhou for not having building permits. It then ordered crosses to be removed, and thus far, somewhere between 1,200 and 1,700 crosses have reportedly been torn down. Some church leaders have no choice -- either they give in to having their crosses removed or have their churches destroyed.

"It was quiet late last year, but the government is now making it clear that all of the crosses will go," a Christian is quoted as saying.