China Takes New Steps Against House Churches

Compass Direct News reports that Chinese authorities this week sentenced Shi Enhao, deputy leader of the Chinese House Church Alliance, to two years of  "re-education through labor" on charges of organizing and holding illegal religious meetings. Authorities have also ordered Shi's church members to stop meeting for worship, and have confiscated musical instruments, choir robes and church donations.

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported on growing tensions between the Chinese government and illegal underground churches. It said in part:

For the first time, China's illegal underground churches, whose members are estimated in the tens of millions, are mounting a unified and increasingly organized push for legal recognition.

The government, fearing that faith in God will soon subvert faith in the party, is responding with a stepped up campaign against the churches and the networks uniting them.

The struggle is shaping up as the tensest standoff over religious freedom in China since a brutal crackdown on adherents of Falun Gong in 1999 after they made similar calls for official acceptance.