Shanghai (AsiaNews/AP) - More than 100 members of an independent Protestant church group have been arrested in central China, part of a growing crackdown on worship outside the state-controlled church, reported China Aid Association, based in Pennsylvania, USA.
Last 11th June, about 50 police raided a religious retreat held by the China Gospel Fellowship in the city of Wuhan (Hubei province). A senior Gospel Fellowship leader, Xing Jinfu, 39, was among those detained. It isn't known where those arrested were being held. At the same time as Friday's raid, police searched the home of another Gospel Fellowship pastor, Shen Xianfeng, and placed him under house arrest.
Police and government religious affairs officials in Wuhan said they had no information or refused to answer questions about the reported incident and arrests.
The 20-year-old Gospel Fellowship is one of five major sects in the independent church movement and claims about 5 million members.
Chinese government allows worship only in churches run by its official Christian associations, registered at the Office for Religious Affairs, which claim about 14 million members. But according to independent sources, tens millions more worship in independent groups, sometimes called 'house churches' because their members meet clandestinely in private homes, refusing the restrictions of the government.
The China Aid Association said Xing has been arrested at least three times before and served three years in a labor camp after being charged in 1996 with illegal preaching.
The Communist Party has maintained a hard line against the independent church, but it shows more openness to the official groups. In the last months, the government gave permission for the building and reopening of several official protestant churches.
According to the China Aid Association, the party's governing Politburo ordered a new crackdown on independent religious groups following a recent conference on religious affairs, held last November. (ThR)