NEWS//China penalizes poor Christians

“If you believe in God, you can’t receive a subsistence allowance; if you receive a subsistence allowance, you can’t believe in God,” goes the CCP mantra” (Bitter Winter).

Eat or deny Christ

China continues to discourage faith in Christ but targeting its poorest citizens. The Chinese government is taking away the welfare benefits of those who profess a belief in God. The basic line of argument from the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, is this: It’s the state that fills your pocket, not God, so the praise and worship belongs to the Party and its leaders.

Poor Christians in China are faced with this ultimatum: Keep your government-sponsored livelihood or keep your faith.

Illegal action

China's Communist government is carrying out this persecution in spite of Article 25 of China's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That article guarantees that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care, and necessary social services.”

An example

On December 10, 2018, Song Lanying's family was threatened with loss of their welfare payments. She and her husband are in their 60s, in poor health, and responsible for a daughter suffers from depression, The deputy town mayor, the village party secretary and other officials demanded that she tear up a religious couplet, wall calendar, and cross mural in order to continue to receive help from the government.

“You don’t believe in [President] Xi Jinping, yet you believe in God,” the deputy mayor berated her. “Your minimum living subsidy is given by the state, so you must believe in the state and hang up portraits of Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping.”

The city officials then destroyed everything in the house that seemed related to Christianity. They replaced the Christian art with portraits of Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping.

Government personnel continue to come to her home to intimidate and question her. (Song Lanying name is a pseudonym.)

Sources: Bitter Winter, Persecution.org

This is not a new tactic by the Chinese government. Confer Newweek (11/14/17 ) and Persecution.org (8/10/16).