Freedom of Religion Communist China Style

Pastor Wang Yi

“A Chinese court sentenced a pastor to prison for nine years Monday after the pastor called the Chinese Communist Party ‘morally incompatible with the Christian faith.’ The court sentenced 46-year-old Pastor Wang Yi, who led Early Rain Covenant Church in the Chinese city of Chengdu, for incitement of subversion of state power and for illegal business operations, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Chinese government often uses those charges against religious leaders and against those who disagree politically with the government, according to the WSJ. Wang wrote a 2018 essay titled ‘Meditations on the Religious War’ in which he wrote that the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party is ‘morally incompatible with the Christian faith and with all those who uphold freedom of the mind and thought.’ Wang’s church had been one of the most politically active churches in China for years, holding a service every year commemorating the 1989 massacre at Tiananmen Square, even though the government severely restricts the observance of this massacre, the WSJ reports. But the church was closed in 2018 as the Chinese government cracked down on religious houses of worship.”

“Pastor Imprisoned for Nine Years,” The Stream, Dec. 30, 2019

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