Coronavirus Doesn’t Slow Religious Persecution

Coronavirus Doesn’t Slow Religious Persecution

The past three months have jolted the world out of complacency with regard to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s long record of poor governance and lack of consideration for humanity.

Religious persecution has continued amidst the coronavirus outbreak, and the CCP has even gone so far as to brag about its misdeeds—though it surely hoped readers would fail to read between the lines. China performed a double lung transplant on a coronavirus patient after only a 5-day wait. Organs on demand can only come from China’s huge bank of prisoners of conscience—the majority of whom are Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

In the face of the epidemic, the Chinese government spares no effort in controlling and suppressing people of faith instead of fighting the disaster. Some believers were arrested just because they prayed for coronavirus victims or shared epidemic-related photos and messages. Sun Feng, a Christian from Shandong’s Zibo city, posted a message online calling on people to pray and fast for nine days for the ending of the epidemic. One week later he was arrested.

The Coronavirus has not slowed religious persecution, but neither have destroyed the faith of many who are infected and persecuted.

Voice of the Martyrs reports that some believers in China see the coronavirus outbreak as an opportunity to more openly evangelize because they are wearing surgical masks and China’s facial-recognition cameras are less likely to identify them.

A Wuhan pastor wrote a public letter to fellow believers after the coronavirus outbreak. “As for family, I have gathered masks and foodstuffs and have ventured out of doors as little as possible. As for the church, the safety of the congregation, the possibility that members could contract the illness, have all become a great area of struggle. It is readily apparent that we are facing a test of our faith.

We are to seek peace for this city, seek peace for those who are afflicted with this illness, seek peace for the medical personnel struggling on the front lines, seek peace for every government official at every level, seek peace for all the people of Wuhan. And we can through online networks guide and comfort our friends and loved ones with the Gospel, reminding them that our lives are not in our own hands, and to entrust their lives to God who is faithful and true.”

International Religious Freedom Headlines

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has released a factsheet on the global response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the impact on religious practice and religious freedom around the world.

Government officials in Balochistan, Pakistan are scapegoating the already vulnerable and marginalized Hazara Shi’a community for this public health crisis,” stated USCIRF Commissioner Anurima Bhargava. “This virus does not recognize religion, ethnicity, or border and should not be used as an excuse to discriminate against a single community.”

The revelation of the religious identity of infected individuals in Cambodia set off a deluge of online hate directed at the minority community.

What We Are Reading

Prayer4Awakening, a daily e-prayer written by Sheila King Everett.

God's Double Agent: The True Story of a Chinese Christian's Fight for Freedom by Bob Fu, Baker Books

Tens of millions of Christians live in China today, many of them leading double lives or in hiding from a government that relentlessly persecutes them. Bob Fu, whom the Wall Street Journal called "The pastor of China's underground railroad," is fighting to protect his fellow believers from persecution, imprisonment, and even death.