WASHINGTON, DC — Persecution against Christians, Muslims, and other religious groups in communist China has escalated as Communist Party leader Xi Jinping’s atheist regime attempts to crack down on religion in the country, a top official from a U.S. religious freedom panel and a human rights lawyer told Breitbart News.
Bob Fu, the founder and president of the U.S.-based Christian human rights group China Aid, and Kristina Arriaga, the vice chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), indicated that China’s oppressive tactics employed againstChristians have intensified in recent years.
Their comments came in response to a Breitbart News question on the state of Christianity in China posed during a discussion on religious oppression sponsored by the Heritage Foundation on Friday.
“A lot of things have happened in the last few months that are very troubling for the future of Christianity in China,” Arriaga told Breitbart News.
“The situation for Christians there is dire. … One thing we know for sure is that the persecution [against] Christians has doubled in intensity,” she added.
Earlier, she noted that communist authorities recently demolished the Golden Lampstand Church in addition to taking down crosses and religious iconography from various other worshipping centers.
Echoing Arriaga, human rights lawyer Fu told Breitbart News the number of persecuted Christians in China has “dramatically increased” over the last year.
