The growing crackdown on unofficial churches deepened on 9 September when authorities closed one of the largest churches in Beijing.
The church had faced growing threats from authorities, including eviction, since it refused to comply with a government order to install closed-circuit television cameras at its worship site.
Bob Fu, president of advocacy group China Aid, said authorities have begun to enforce rules requiring registration in order to exercise increased control over ideologies. He said: ‘The Communist Party has started to burn Bibles and coerce millions of believers in the Christian faith and other religious minorities to sign a written pledge to renounce their basic religious beliefs. The international community should be alarmed and outraged at this blatant violation of freedom of religion and belief and demand the Chinese regime stop and remedy this dangerous course.’
