Communist China pressures Christians to renounce faith or be cut off from welfare

It has been reported that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pressuring people to give up their faith as well as swapping out any of their religious symbols with portraits of President Xi Jinping and Mao, according to the Daily Wire.

The US Department of State reported that this information was discovered within a publication called Bitter Winter, that said that "in April, the government of a town administered by Linfen, a prefecture-level city in the northern province of Shanxi, called officials from all villages under its jurisdiction for a meeting."

"The participants were ordered to remove crosses, religious symbols and images from the homes of people of faith who receive social welfare payments and replace them with portraits of Chairman Mao and President Xi Jinping. The officials were instructed to annul the subsidies to those who protest the order."

Bitter Winter goes on to say that  "a member of a Three-Self church in one of the villages" said that the local officials entered his home, tore down "all religious couplets" and a calendar with an image of Jesus displayed on it and "posted a portrait of Mao Zedong instead"—a dictator The Washington Post called the most violent in history.

The church member continued by saying that the official told him that "impoverished religious households can't receive money from the state for nothing—they must obey the Communist Party for the money they receive."

Bitter Winter reported that this same kind of rule is being implemented into other areas around China too, writing that "in April, the government of Xinyu city in the southeastern province of Jiangxi withdrew a disabled Christian's minimum living subsidy and a monthly disability allowance of 100 RMB (about $14)."

This is nothing new, however, as the Daily Wire reported that The Washington Post published a story in 2017 about the language with which communist China is attempting to eradicate the Christian faith, writing: "Jesus Christ won’t drag you out of poverty or cure your illnesses, but the Chinese Communist Party will, so take down those pictures of Christ and put up a nice photograph of President Xi Jinping."

"That’s what thousands of villagers in southeastern China have been told by local officials, in a sign of the growing cult of personality around the country’s powerful leader, as well as rising pressure on Christian worship."

Bitter Winter concluded its report by bringing up an elderly woman from Henan's Shangqiu city having her "minimum living allowance canceled on April 14 because government officials found a cross image posted on her house door."

The woman recalled how they removed it and left her without a way to continue living, adding that she has diabetes and needs "injections regularly."

“This little money she received from the government was her bread and butter," the report noted. “But it has been cancelled because of a cross image, causing great harm to this woman.”