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PERSECUTION.ORG
http://www.persecution.org

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Note: The following text is an exact quote (minus the photos):
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P O Box 27693
Alb., NM 87125-7693
Tel: (505) 400-7145
www.joyjunction.org

COORDINATED CRACKDOWN ON SOME OF CHINA'S HOUSE CHURCHES

A House Church Worship Service in China (through CAA).

Reports are emerging that there has been a coordinated crackdown on Christian believers attending house churches in China's Jilin Province.

According to a news release from the China Aid Association (CAA), the crackdown occurred at about 5 a.m. on May 22, while house church leader Zhao Dianru, 58, was praying at his home. About a dozen Chinese police and public security officials raided and searched his house without showing a search warrant.

Dianru was incarcerated until June 6 at the Jiutai City Detention Center in Jilin Province, when he was released.

According to CAA sources, Dianru's arrest document accused him of "using other means to instigate and disturb social stability," but did not mention religion or church activities. About 20 boxes of Christian books were confiscated during the police raid. Dianru had been overseeing about 18 house churches in his area. Although he had been asked three times recently to join the government sanctioned church, he declined.

Meanwhile, according to CAA, police and Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers simultaneously raided about 100 house churches in Changchun area, the capital city of Jilin Province in northeastern China.

Almost 600 house church believers and leaders were taken into custody, CAA reported. Most were released after 24 to 48 hours of interrogation, but about 100 of the leaders including professors from Changchun University are reportedly still being held in different detention centers.

Sources told CAA that university students, professors and other young intellectuals make up a large portion of the raided house church groups. It's believed, CAA reported, that this is a coordinated campaign to eliminate the influences of house churches in the university areas.

China's new law on religion, the Provisions on Religious Affairs, took effect on March 1. Some people had believed, CAA reported, that the new legislation would lead to less restriction on unregistered churches, but the large-scale raids and arrests seem to show otherwise.

The raided house churches are not all part of the same group, and are not affiliated with any of China's major house church networks. According to CAA, they are independent house churches with thousands of believers who choose not to register their Christian activities with the Communist government.

"While (the) Chinese government has been claiming to the world community that Chinese people are enjoying religious freedom, this major assault on unregistered house churches in Jilin Province really shows the opposite," said Bob Fu, CAA president, in a news release. "The manpower, coordination and planning involved in raiding such a large number of church meetings simultaneously shows that this effort came from high levels of the Chinese government."

A news release from CAA said the organization is calling "upon the world community to urge the Chinese government to immediately release these innocent religious leaders. It's time for China to live up to the commitments and treaties it has signed on religious freedom."

Anyone wanting to express their concern may write to the Embassy of the People's Republic of China, 2300 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC 20008. The Embassy telephone number is (202) 328-2500. China's Director of Religious Affairs may be reached at (202) 328-2512.

According to its website, China Aid, established in 2002, is "a non-profit Christian organization with a mission to explore the truth, to tell the truth and to preserve the truth on the issue of religious freedom in China, particularly focusing on the fate of the unofficial church. We do this through field investigation, public advocacy and academic research. We hope the valuable heritage that God has given to the suffering Chinese church may be well preserved, known and advocated, so that the outside world can have a better understanding of God's work inside China."

For additional information about the ministry of China Aid go to www.chinaaid.org/english.htm