The Chinese government is ordering poor Christian villagers to remove images of Jesus from their homes and replace them with portraits of Chairman Mao and President Xi Jinping. Residents who fail to comply risk losing their welfare benefits.
The Chinese Communist Party has been on a campaign of transferring religious fervor of the country away from God and toward the state instead.
In May, an official in the eastern province of Shandong raided the home of a local Christian and hung pictures of Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping on the wall in place of the Christian Images.
“These are the greatest gods. If you want to worship somebody, they are the ones,” they reportedly said.
We’ve previously reported on government officials instructing widows in an area of China to stay home on Sundays and not attend Church services. The widows are often ridiculed for their religious practices: “The Chinese government gives you 160 RMB [about $23]. How much money does Jesus Christ give you?’” they’re reportedly told.
The Chinese government has long been repressive to the free exercise of religion. By global estimates there are about 1 million Uyghar Muslims interned in concentration camps in the country right now. These individuals are being “re-educated” in efforts to “combat extremism,” the government says.