On September 10, ChristianPersecution.com reported that Christians were being compelled to pray for the martyrs of the Red Army. Now this story depicts a group of Christians praying at a shrine of martyrs of the Chinese Communist Party. There is no mention of force in the article below, but it is likely that anyone who refused to honor the CCP’s martyrs would face professional difficulties at very least, and likely other penalties as well. The Chinese Communist Party is working actively and on numerous fronts to destroy Christianity and replace it in the hearts, minds, and souls of the people of China.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in China, see here.
“Christians Worship the Communist Martyrs,” by Zhang Chunhua, Bitter Winter, September 28, 2021:
The picture we present to you today was taken in Wenying Park in Taiyuan city, Shanxi province. It shows Pastor Zhang Enlai, the leader of the government-controlled Three-Self Church in Taiyuan city, praying with other Three-Self leaders and lay workers at the shrine of the CCP martyrs.
The place they are worshiping at is called the Heroic Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Tower. It honors the members of the CCP who perished in the civil war. The top part of the memorial depicts the unity of workers, peasants, soldiers, intellectuals, and women. They hold the torch of the revolution dispelling the darkness of counter-revolution and obscurantism. In front is the national emblem of Red China, and an inscription signed by Chairman Mao, “Long Live the Martyrs!”
It is a shrine to the Marxist revolution winning over the forces of the “counter-revolution,” which in Marx’s and Chairman Mao’s philosophy clearly include religion. In Communist iconography, “darkness” and “obscurantism” defeated by the light of the revolution refer to the old, non-materialistic ways of living and thinking, including “superstition” and religion.
It is to this shrine, inaugurated in 1951, that the Three-Self Church went to worship at the beginning of September. It was not an isolated incident but part of the campaign aimed at further “sinicization” of Chinese Christians that started with the 100th anniversary of the CCP in July. “Sinicization” does not mean becoming more Chinese, it means becoming more subservient to the CCP….
