The United States is demanding the release of Christian leaders arrested by China on Friday.
Pastor Jin Mingri of the Zion Church was detained at his home Friday evening along with leaders in at least five other Chinese provinces, according to the Associated Press.
Charges of “illegal dissemination of religious content via the internet” could follow, said Sean Long, a Chinese Zion Church pastor studying in the United States.
“This is a very disturbing and distressing moment,” Long said. “This is a brutal violation of freedom of religion, which is written into the Chinese constitution. We want our pastors to be released immediately.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration “condemns the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s recent detention of dozens of leaders of the unregistered house Zion Church in China, including prominent pastor Mingri ‘Ezra’ Jin,” according to the statement posted to the State Department’s website.
“This crackdown further demonstrates how the CCP exercises hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference in their faith and choose to worship at unregistered house churches,” he said.
“We call on the CCP to immediately release the detained church leaders and to allow all people of faith, including members of house churches, to engage in religious activities without fear of retribution.”
The statement brought a stinging response from China.
“The Chinese government governs religious affairs in accordance with the law and protects the religious freedom of citizens and normal religious activities. We firmly oppose the U.S. interfering in China’s internal affairs with so-called religious issues,” Chinese foreign ministry representative Lin Jian said, according to the BBC.
Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin, said about 30 people were arrested in the crackdown on the church, which has multiple branches and attracts about 1,000 people per week, according to The New York Times.
Grace Jin said she has heard her father will be charged with illegal dissemination of religious information as part of a crackdown on Christianity undertaken by Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Jin has been under surveillance since 2018, his daughter said, and has been barred from leaving China. Surveillance has recently increased in the aftermath of a Chinese law limiting religions online activity to registered outlets. She said he recently talked of resigning and leaving the country, but Chinese officials said he could not leave.
“After this kind of posturing, it seemed like something big was going to happen again,” Grace Jin said. “We just didn’t know when or to what extent. But I also feel like my dad is always the optimist.”
“He is sort of like, ‘Well I can’t live in fear every day, so I’m just going to continue on with what I need to do,’” she said
Corey Jackson, the founder of Luke Alliance, a U.S.-based group that advocates for Christians in China, said that the detentions could be part of a larger plan.
“If this is the first move, then it could be far worse down the line,” he said, saying the action will not stop Chinese Christians.
“The Chinese church is probably stronger than the world realizes, maybe stronger than the Communist Party realizes,” he said. “And I think that’s part of the problem the Communist Party is facing.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
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