Xi Jinping’s personality cult is reaching unparalleled heights as his portraits replace religious symbols not only in places of worship but believers’ homes too.
by Wang Yong
In its drive to eradicate religions, China’s totalitarian regime relentlessly demolishes places of worship, converts temples, mosques, and churches into government-run centers, where religious symbols are replaced with portraits of the country’s president and propaganda materials.
While losing their places of worship, the religious are not allowed to practice their faith even in the privacy of their homes: Official raid their residences to remove crosses and images of saints and deities, ordering to replace them with the only divinity allowed to be worshiped in China –President Xi Jinping.
Moreover, people are threatened to have their government subsidies revoked if orders are not implemented. Initially introduced as a means to help the disadvantaged to maintain a basic annual income, the subsistence allowance for impoverished households is now used by the CCP as a tool to coerce believers into renouncing their faith. People find themselves in an impossible situation: to continue practicing their religion or lose the only source of income to sustain their livelihood.
While losing their places of worship, the religious are not allowed to practice their faith even in the privacy of their homes: Official raid their residences to remove crosses and images of saints and deities, ordering to replace them with the only divinity allowed to be worshiped in China –President Xi Jinping.
Moreover, people are threatened to have their government subsidies revoked if orders are not implemented. Initially introduced as a means to help the disadvantaged to maintain a basic annual income, the subsistence allowance for impoverished households is now used by the CCP as a tool to coerce believers into renouncing their faith. People find themselves in an impossible situation: to continue practicing their religion or lose the only source of income to sustain their livelihood.
A believer who depends on the subsistence allowance to sustain her livelihood said that she hadn’t been to her church for over a month. “The village secretary threatens to revoke our subsistence allowance if we continue to meet, demanding us to follow what the Party tells us to do. This is happening across the county; many believers are experiencing the same situation as us.”
Source: Bitter Winter
