China’s online religious restrictions to take effect after Beijing Olympics

 By Diana Chandler - Posted at Baptist Press:

BEIJING (BP) – As the Winter Olympics in Beijing approach, China is set to impose new restrictions on online religious content that will essentially outlaw evangelistic Scripture just days after the games conclude, according to Christian persecution watchdog China Aid.

“If you promote Gospel spreading, John 3:16, or the Great Commission of Matthew 28,” said China Aid Founder and President Bob Fu, “these are all regarded as conversion of state power, because you are essentially spreading messages for other persons to believe and to encourage others to share the Gospel.”

The new law, Measures for the Administration of Internet Religious Information, takes effect March 1 as China enters the fourth year of its five-year plan to Sinicize Christianity, Fu said in the Jan. 31 issue of the Bob Fu Report.

“If you post any religious-related content on the Internet without a license, it’s declared totally illegal,” Fu said. Christian House Churches are excluded from applying for licenses. Worship songs and Sunday School discipleship material are among restricted content, with sermons and other messages to be examined for compatibility with communist dogma. Even tithing is criminalized, Fu said.

“It is illegal for those who are under 18 years old receive any religious education in any form online,” Fu said. Content eligible for submission for approval is limited to Sinicized content from five religions the Chinese Communist Party recognizes, namely the Sinicized Three-Self Church brand of Protestantism, Catholicism, Daoism, Buddhism and Islam, Fu said.

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