A husband of a member of The Church of Almighty God was told to divorce his wife if he wanted a Communist Party position in their village.
Wang Gairong (pseudonym) from Yuzhou city, Henan Province, is a member of The Church of Almighty God, a Chinese Christian new religious movement. Her husband decided to take part in an election for a base-level position in the village, but her faith became the obstacle for him to succeed.
According to Wang Gairong, on February 21, 2018, the Party secretary offered her husband to run for the position in the village, but since he needed the approval from the Party, he had first to divorce his wife. “Your wife believes in Almighty God, and that’s going to affect your running chances directly. If you want to become the village cadre, you need to file for divorce.”
The husband refused, and on May 15, he participated in the first round of the election, winning by a considerable amount. During the second round, however, local officials threatened to expel him from the Party and sentence him to prison time if he didn’t divorce Wang Gairong.
Guilt-by-association policies, such as depriving spouses or family members of believers jobs in public offices and even a chance at one, or denying offspring the right to serve in the military or attend a university, are among the Chinese Communist Party’s classic methods for suppressing and persecuting members of The Church of Almighty God. Because of this tactic, many families of members of the Church have been fractured.
Reported by Jiang Tao
