House Church Members in Henan, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, and Sichuan Accused of Cult Activities

September 25, 2006

Government officials in Henan, Jilin, and Sichuan provinces and the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region investigated or accused Protestant house church members of being involved in "cults" during June and July 2006, according to the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China.

Government officials in Henan, Jilin, and Sichuan provinces and the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region investigated or accused Protestant house church members of being involved in "cults" during June and July 2006, according to the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China.

  • On June 27, officials raided a house church meeting and detained 30 house church leaders in Langzhong city, Sichuan province, according to a June 29 CAA report. Officials released some of the detainees the next day, but placed 14 under criminal detention. CAA later reported that 7 of the 14 were placed in administrative detention, and that authorities likely sent Li Ming, Wang Yuan, Li Jinbo, and Jin Jiyun, all leaders of the Chinese House Church Alliance who were taken into custody when they inquired about the detentions of the original 30 detainees, to a reeducation through labor center. Li Baiguang, a house church-affiliated lawyer, filed an administrative complaint on behalf of the seven individuals in administrative detention. Officials have reportedly pressured the house church members to withdraw the complaint. According to Li Baiguang’s report (available via the CAA Web site) on the repression of the house church in Langzhong, officials detained Wang Suhua, 1 of the 14 detainees, for participating in cult activities, a charge which she denied. Li Baiguang is one of a number of lawyers who are members of house churches who have begun to promote the rule of law with respect to religious belief and practice by raising house church leaders' awareness of their legal rights, and by demanding that the government comply with relevant laws and regulations.
  • On July 6, officials detained Dan Wei, a pastor from Chongqing municipality, and Xiao Tianmin, his wife, during a Bible study session in Langzhong city, Sichuan province, according to a July 14 CAA report. Officials accused them of being cult leaders.
  • On July 9, officials raided a house church service in Nanyang city, Henan province, and detained 15 house church leaders, according to the July 14 CAA report. Officials released 4 leaders the same day, but placed the remaining 11 in either administrative or criminal detention on charges of engaging in cult activities. As of July 14, all 11 leaders remained in detention.
  • On July 11, officials detained Wang Jinhua, a house church pastor, her husband Xu Jinfu, and their 8-year-old son in Jilin city, Jilin province, according to a July 14 CAA report. Officials released the boy to members of Pastor Wang’s house church. On July 14, officials transferred Pastor Wang to Baishan Prison in Jilin city, and released her husband. Public security officials sought Yu Peng, another house church leader, who went into hiding, and questioned at least three other house church leaders in Jilin city about Pastor Wang’s relationship with the banned Three Grades of Servants house church. According to CAA, Pastor Wang once was a leader of this house church. In 1999 the Chinese government banned the Three Grades of Servants house church as a cult, according to a July 7 Reuters report (via ABC News).
  • On July 27 officials detained Wu Guilan, an ethnic Mongol missionary who had preached to members of the Mongol ethnic minority in Yijinhuoluo banner in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region (IMAR) and organized evangelistic activities, and on August 5 officials sentenced her to one year of re-education through labor, according to an August 24 CAA report. The Re-Education through Labor Decision, available with the CAA report, charged Wu with spreading heresies and instigating people "to engage in cult activities."

Adherents of the religious groups that the government labels as "cults" may be prosecuted under Article 300 of the Criminal Law, which punishes the formation of "cults" ("xiejiao," often translated as "evil cults" by official Chinese media sources). Article 300 also punishes the use of such organizations or "superstitions" to violate national laws or to commit certain offenses. A 1999 National People's Congress Standing Committee Decision on Banning Heretical Sects (in Chinese) further articulates how the government punishes the activities of such groups.

Government classification of a religious group as a "cult" has in the past preceded or accompanied official harassment and legal prosecution against group members. The government has labeled other Protestant house churches as "cults," including the South China Church, the leaders of which were tried and imprisoned, initially on cult charges, as discussed in this January 2002 Christianity Today article. The government has also labeled the Three Grades of Servants house church a "cult." A court in Heilongjiang province recently tried 17 leaders of the Three Grades of Servants house church for murder and fraud, and on June 28 sentenced several of its leaders to death. Officials have used the same legal classification to persecute such spiritual movements as Falun Gong.

For more information on official treatment of Protestant house churches as "cults," see the CECC 2004 Annual Report, pages 36-37 and pages 43-44. For more information on Protestants in China, see the CECC 2005 Annual Report, Section III(d).