See Chinese cops destroy evangelical megachurch
China Aid said in an update Wednesday that Chinese military police detonated explosives inside Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen, destroying the $2.6 million house of worship, which was owned by the Christians who worshiped there.
ChinaAid, a US-based Christian advocacy group, said local authorities planted explosives in an underground worship hall to demolish the building following, constructed with almost $2.6m (£1.9m) in contributions from local worshippers in one of China's poorest regions. "Officials often prosecute such choices, however, and some of Golden Lampstand Church's leaders have been imprisoned for one to seven years, simply for serving at their church", ChinaAid said in a statement on January 9.
Members of the megachurch, however, have previously clashed with authorities, including in 2009 when the police confiscated Bibles and imprisoned several of the congregation's leaders.
More than 60 million Christians live in China, at least half of whom worship in unregistered churches.
But the surging popularity of non-state-approved churches has raised the ire of authorities, wary of any threats to the officially atheist Communist Party's rigid political and social control.
In an annual report on freedom of religion, the U.S. state department found that "the government physically abused, detained, arrested, tortured, sentenced to prison, or harassed adherents of both registered and unregistered religious groups for activities related to their religious beliefs and practices". Charges of land or building violations and disturbing the peace are among the most common.
As many as 1,200 crosses have been removed from churches in Zhejiang province since 2015, with officials arguing that numerous demolitions have been down to building code violations.
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Pictures distributed by ChinaAid showed the church's steeple and cross toppled in a large pile of rubble.
ChinaAid, a US-based group monitoring China's human rights situation, notes that under the guidance of the Communist Party, the country's freedom of religion has seen the worst retreat since the Cultural Revolution. Authorities periodically arrest pastors or demolish buildings used by unsanctioned congregations.
The charity said this is not the first time the church has faced persecution.
A local pastor, who asked not to be named, said that he saw "more police than I could count" at the site, preventing worshipers from approaching.
The Golden Lampstand church was built a decade ago and cost a total of 17m yuan (£1.9m) at the time, according to the head pastor Yang Rongli.
The couple had been preaching around Linfen since 1992, establishing congregations in improvised spaces such as factory dormitories and greenhouses.
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