Xi Jinping Images Replacing Jesus Christ Images in Churches
The Chinese government has replaced images of “Xi Jinping” with images of Jesus Christ in churches throughout the country.
According to reports from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), at the direction of the Chinese government, the Communist Party has systematically persecuted Christian believers by removing Christian-related images from some churches in the country and replacing them with images of the country’s president.
USCIRF, while pointing out that the Chinese government is implementing a policy of Sinicization of religions, warned about the difficult situation of religious followers in the country. The commission emphasized that the suppression of religious groups has become the primary objective of the Chinese government in managing religious affairs.
The most important issue that has existed between Beijing and the Vatican in recent years is that the Chinese government wants to appoint priests and bishops itself rather than the Vatican. For this reason, Beijing made every effort to ensure that Chinese churches, particularly the Catholic Church, do not have strong ties to Vatican institutions.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom also wrote in its reports: “The current policy of the Chinese government includes removing crosses from churches and replacing images of Jesus Christ or Mary, the mother of Jesus, with images of President Xi. The Chinese government has also made it mandatory to display slogans of the Communist Party of China at the entrances of many churches and has forced priests to promote the ideology of the ruling party through censorship and alterations to Christian theological texts.”
China is recognized as the nineteenth most Christian-persecuting country in the world, and according to experts, Chinese authorities prefer that Christian symbols be as invisible to the public as possible.
