The church denied the government’s request to install CCTVs.
The Chinese government’s religious crackdown now includes a ban on a large Protestant church in Beijing.
The Zion Church hosted hundreds of worshippers for years, and until April it enjoyed «relative freedoms,» according to Reuters. But after the church rejected the authorities’ request to install closed-circuit television cameras in its building, the government announced that it was «legally banned,» officially for operating without officially registering its events. Since then, its «illegal promotional material» has been confiscated.
It isn’t alone. In a joint statement released in July, more than 30 churches complained of «unceasing interference» from Chinese regulators. Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that officials in the country are «destroying crosses, burning bibles, shutting churches and ordering followers to sign papers renouncing their faith.
