People’s Republic of China (PRC) has banned one of the largest Protestant churches in Beijing. Protestants in China have been running many underground unofficial churches.

“On Sunday, the Beijing Chaoyang district civil affairs bureau said that by organising events without registering, the church was breaking the rules forbidding mass gatherings and was now ‘legally banned’ and its ‘illegal promotional material’ had been confiscated,” Reuters reported.

Zion Church, one of Beijing’s largest house churches, was ordered by Beijing city officials to install surveillance cameras in its sanctuary but it refused to budge with the order.

Around 70 officials stormed into the Zion Church - after its Sunday (Sep 9) afternoon service, chased everyone out and sealed off the place, even tearing down signage on the wall, AFP quoted church pastor Jin Mingri.

China had announced a five-year plan to ‘sinicise’ Christianity along with new rules on religious affairs. Over the past few months, thousands of ‘house churches’ have been shut down by authorities according to the report. Authorities have also seized Bibles, and e-commerce sites in China have pulled out the book from their websites. Christians in China have reportedly been holding their masses in secret amid the crackdown.

As part of the crackdown, Chinese authorities are raiding churches and demanding that the practitioners and the churches be registered with the government. The report also cites the case of a township where Christians were encouraged by the authorities to replace paintings of Jesus with portraits of Xi Jinping.

The epicentre of China’s attack on Christianity has been its Christian heartland of Henan province. Several pastors have fled the country to the United States because of its religious policy.

Out of the 200 million believers in China, 67 million are reportedly Christians. This has led to the crackdown on Christianity which is seen as being aligned with Western ideals.