• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • ABOUT CHINA
    • NEWS
    • TESTIMONIES
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • GLOSSARY
    • CHINA PERSECUTION MAP
  • FROM THE WORLD
    • NEWS GLOBAL
    • TESTIMONIES GLOBAL
    • OP-EDS GLOBAL
    • FEATURED GLOBAL
  • INTERVIEWS
  • DOCUMENTS AND TRANSLATIONS
    • DOCUMENTS
    • THE TAI JI MEN CASE
    • TRANSLATIONS
    • EVENTS
  • ABOUT
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • TOPICS

Bitter Winter

A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

three friends of winter
Home / China / Testimonies China

Church of Almighty God Members Hounded Their Entire Lives

07/20/2020Lu Xiu |

Countless members of this Christian new religious movement are blacklisted in China and are harassed and persecuted for years, pressured to renounce their faith.

by Lu Xiu

Once they are arrested for practicing their faith, most members of The Church of Almighty God (CAG)—the single most persecuted religious movement in China—are oppressed for the rest of their lives. As soon as their names are put on file by China’s law enforcement institutions, they are subjected to continuous surveillance and control. At least 26,683 CAG members suffered harassment in 2019: they had their personal information collected, were forced to sign “statements of guarantee” to renounce their faith, required to be photographed and recorded on video, or obliged to give their biometric data, like fingerprints, blood, or hair.

A CAG member from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region told Bitter Winter that she had been continuously surveilled and harassed by the police since her arrest in 2012. The police often took photos and videos of her and ordered her to attend flag-raising ceremonies every day and indoctrination classes at the community committee office. She encountered numerous obstacles to get a business license, rent a place to live, or when travelling.

A residential community in Xinjiang organizes its residents for a flag-raising ceremony
A residential community in Xinjiang organizes its residents for a flag-raising ceremony.

When she returned from Xinjiang to her hometown in the central province of Henan in June, the woman was immediately summoned to a local police station for questioning. “It’s so challenging to practice your faith in China. The police have relentlessly harassed me for mine,” she said.

A CAG member in the southern province of Guangdong was visited at home by the police on April 8, who questioned her about her faith, pressuring her to give it up through indoctrination, and warned not to contact other CAG members again. The woman was arrested for her belief in 2014 and was subjected to intense forced indoctrination for over two months. She has been monitored since then. From 2017, government officials call or visit her at least once a year.

“Officials say that those who don’t give up their faith will not be removed from government’s blacklists and will continue to be controlled and monitored,” the believer explained. The same officials told her that her dossier could be removed from the provincial Public Security Department’s files, and she would not be “disturbed” again if she renounces and stops practicing her religion.

Xinjiang residents participate in an indoctrination class
Xinjiang residents participate in an indoctrination class.

Long-term harassment and persecution take their toll on CAG believers: Many are forced to flee their homes, while others are driven to suicide, unable to bear constant intimidation and threats. Some die unexpectedly as a result of police harassment. 

A couple from the northeastern province of Jilin are both members of the CAG. The police had surveilled them since 2003 when they were first arrested for practicing their faith. In March, police officers came to their home to accompany them to a local police station to take their saliva samples. The husband, 67, was receiving an intravenous treatment at the time the police arrived. He tried to persuade the officers that he was too ill to go anywhere, but they continued to pressure him. After a short while, the man began feeling weak and lightheaded, and his eyes were rolling back. Instead of calling an ambulance, the officers went outside to take a sample of the wife’s saliva. When she returned, her husband was dead.

The family believes that the man would still be alive if the police had not come to harass him. “My father-in-law was harassed to death,” the dead believer’s daughter-in-law told Bitter Winter.

Tagged With: Authorities Against Christians, The Church of Almighty God

bw-profile
Lu Xiu

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • 전능하신 하나님 교회 난민들: 한국 대통령에게 발송한 편지

    전능하신 하나님 교회 난민들: 한국 대통령에게 발송한 편지

  • United Nations States that Christians in China Are “at Risk of Torture”

    United Nations States that Christians in China Are “at Risk of Torture”

  • Church of Almighty God: False Demonstrations in Korea—Again

    Church of Almighty God: False Demonstrations in Korea—Again

  • Southern Mongolia: The CCP Mobilizes Traditional Culture Against Religion 

    Southern Mongolia: The CCP Mobilizes Traditional Culture Against Religion 

Keep Reading

  • Church of Almighty God Persecution Continues to Increase
    Church of Almighty God Persecution Continues to Increase

    The “2021 Annual Report on the Chinese Communist Government’s Persecution of The Church of Almighty God” is rich in statistics— and every number hides a tragedy.

  • Church of Almighty God Refugees: A Letter to the President of South Korea
    Church of Almighty God Refugees: A Letter to the President of South Korea

    The Church of Almighty God is the most persecuted religious movement in China. Its members who are in South Korea should not be deported back there.

  • 1000+ Church of Almighty God Members Arrested
    1000+ Church of Almighty God Members Arrested

    The crackdown prepared the Chinese Communist Party’s 100th anniversary.

  • China: National Security Education Day Focused on Fighting Illegal Religion
    China: National Security Education Day Focused on Fighting Illegal Religion

    On April 15, Chinese were called to support repression of banned religions, including Falun Gong, The Church of Almighty God, and the Association of Disciples

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • There Are Christian Uyghurs, Too: New Organization Launched in London by Ruth Ingram
  • The Last Words of a Uyghur Father: A Son’s Memory by Abdurehim Gheni Uyghur
  • Xi Jinping: Beijing’ National Art Museum Is Not Socialist Enough by Hu Zimo
  • Occupied Ukraine: Anti-Cult “Experts” Target Moscow Patriarchate Dissident Priest by Massimo Introvigne
  • Chinese Agents Tried to Bribe U.S. Tax Officer in Anti-Falun-Gong Plot by Massimo Introvigne
  • Russia: Lunatic Theory that Yellowstone Volcano Caused the War in Ukraine Gains Momentum by Massimo Introvigne
  • Vandalism Against Catholic Churches on the Rise in Bavaria by PierLuigi Zoccatelli

CHINA PERSECUTION MAP -SEARCH NEWS BY REGION

clickable geographical map of china, with regions

Footer

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief

MASSIMO INTROVIGNE

Director-in-Charge

MARCO RESPINTI

ADDRESS

CESNUR

Via Confienza 19,

10121 Turin, Italy,

Phone: 39-011-541950

E-MAIL

We welcome submission of unpublished contributions, news, and photographs. Each submission implies the authorization for us to edit and publish texts and photographs. We reserve the right to decide which submissions are suitable for publication. Please, write to INFO@BITTERWINTER.ORG Thank you.

Newsletter

LINKS

orlir-logo hrwf-logo cesnur-logo

Copyright © 2023 · Bitter Winter · PRIVACY POLICY· COOKIE POLICY