China has detained two members of a Protestant church the eastern province of Anhui over its refusal to join a government-backed body, accusing them of being involved in a “cult,” rights groups said.
Police in Anhui’s Fuyang city raided the Wheatseed Reform Church on March 10, holding two of its members under administrative detention for “using cult activities to endanger society,” the Weiquanwang rights website reported on Saturday.
The two detained church members have engaged lawyers and filed an administrative review, but the Fuyang municipal government has neither accepted nor rejected the review, it said.
The U.S.-based Christian rights group China Aid also reported the incident.
A Fuyang-based Christian who gave only the surname Wang for fear of reprisals confirmed the report.
“Two church members were recently given administrative sentences of 15 days in detention for ‘using cult activities to endanger society’,” he said.
Local Christians said the move was likely linked to the church’s refusal to join the ruling Communist Party’s Three-Self Patriotic Association of approved Protestant organizations.
Under President Xi Jinping, officials have engaged in a nationwide crackdown on Muslim, Christian and Tibetan Buddhist religious activities and venues since 2017.
Three-Self Patriotic churches
Protestant churches are allowed to function if they are part of the government-backed Three-Self Patriotic Association. The three “selfs” refer to self-governance, self-support and self-propagation –- essentially rejecting any foreign influence –- and the “patriotic” refers to loyalty to the Chinese government.
China has many unauthorized “house churches” across the country, which are frequently raided by authorities, and some “Three-Self” churches have also been targeted at times, too.
Pastor Wang said more than a dozen church members have been targeted by police in recent years, either receiving warnings or being detained.
“This has happened a lot over the past three or four years,” Wang said. “The state security police have warned church members that any church that doesn’t join the Three-Self Association is a cult.”
Repeated calls to the local police station and to the Fuyang municipal religious and ethnic affairs bureau rang unanswered during office hours on Tuesday.
Local Christians said the Wheatseed Reform Church has always refused to join the Three-Self Patriotic Association, and has been vocal in support of religious freedom, making them an ongoing target for harassment and detention by the authorities.
At least 19 of its members have been detained over the past three years, while some were forced to move out of their homes. Police also physically attacked some members after they led a meeting with children present, they said.
“They’ve been hit hard,” a local pastor who gave only the surname Zhang for fear of reprisals told RFA Mandarin on Tuesday. “Churches are targeted because they refuse to join the Three-Self Patriotic Association.”
“If they don’t join, they say you are a cult, and also engaging in fraud,” he said. “Cult activity is a catch-all charge used to target anyone who is religious.”
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.