China has lately been using churches to spread the ideas of the Communist Party of China (CCP). Church services that are running are being monitored and locals should have a sign that says «Civilization Practice Station for a New Era».
In October, the department of religious affairs in Putian, a prefectural city in Fujian province, spent 500,000 yuan (just over US $ 76,000) to build the first floor of a Three Car Church in the city of Daitou, Xiuyu District, a CCP training station.
More than 100 government officials attended the opening of the propaganda center on November 6, the place was filled with 168 posters about Mao Tse-tung, Xi Jinping, and other communist leaders from both past and present.
That day, the pastor was forced to integrate stories of the genocidal Mao Zedong into his sermon, which upset him and the congregation, who are now gathered on the second floor of the building.
“We dare not reject these propaganda materials for fear that the government will ban our meetings. We are powerless to challenge them”, said a church member.
Numerous places of worship have received an ultimatum that if there is no portrait of dictator Xi Jinping in the church, the place will be closed. The order was issued in August after a Three Car church in Shangrao, Jiangxi province, rejected the order to display the portrait of the Communist Party leader in the church.
After the event, a government representative arrived on the scene and hung the president’s portrait on a religious calendar on the wall of the church. The site also had to hang four national flags and slogans on socialist values inside the church, in order.
«I had to agree to this, for fear of losing our meeting place», explained the preacher.
A state Protestant seminary in Zheijiang is forced to teach its students to learn and preach according to socialist dogmas and to interpret the Bible according to socialism, according to a student at the institution.
Bitter Winter reported that all religious sites are being forced to indoctrinate their followers to socialism, even Buddhist temples have been brought under the control of the Communist Party.