Persecution of Christians in China by the Chinese Communist Party has continued to rage on, despite COVID-19 restrictions.
Local officials have removed crosses from the rooftops of hundreds of churches, religious liberty magazine Bitter Winter reports.
In August, Two Chinese Christian Councils in a county managed by the prefecture-level city of Jiujiang in Jiangxi Province ordered over 70 affiliated churches to replace all cross symbols from their official seals with China’s five-pointed star.
According to Britannica, the Chinese flag and national emblem features one large star surrounded by four small stars, which represents the CCP as the guiding force of the nation.
Additionally, the star is utilized in all other state-run institutions.
In early September, Jiujiang’s Religious Affairs Bureau ordered official churches to remove Chinese characters for “Christianity” from church seals.
“All official churches were ordered to replace their seals so that believers accept the Party as the main leader and follow only it,” a Three-Self Church venue director from Jiujiang said.
Another Three-Self venue director explained how the cross was inscribed on its church seals as “the symbol of our faith,” but “the government replaced it with the five-pointed star to show its power.”
The latest directives were made on the churches…
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