China formally arrests 18 leaders of underground Zion Church amid religious crackdown

Chinese authorities formally arrested 18 leaders of a large underground church, clearing the mode for their prosecution and imaginable situation sentences of up to 3 years. 

According to Reuters, which reported the arrests Wednesday citing a Christian NGO advocate, astir 30 pastors and unit members belonging to Zion Church were detained by constabulary successful mid-October successful the biggest crackdown connected Chinese Christians successful 7 years.

ChinaAid, a Christian non-profit quality rights organization, said successful a connection that the leaders were arrested connected "politically motivated charges."

"These pastors and co-workers are being treated arsenic criminals simply due to the fact that they faithfully shepherded a large, legally unregistered religion that refused to taxable to CCP power and surveillance," the connection work successful part.

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Christians be a location religion work astatine Zion Church successful Beijing, China, connected April 6, 2008. (Jos+¼ M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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Dr. Bob Fu, the laminitis and president of the organization, called the arrests of the pastors and unit members a "chilling milestone successful the CCP’s all-out warfare connected Christianity successful China."

"Their lone ‘crime’ is preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, shepherding God’s flock, and refusing to crook Christ’s religion into a propaganda instrumentality of the Communist Party," helium added. "By turning pastors into governmental prisoners, the CCP is not lone persecuting these individuals and their families—it is sending a informing to each autarkic religion successful China: taxable to Party power oregon look destruction."

Jin Mingri, caput pastor of the Zion Church, poses successful Beijing connected September 12, 2018, days aft officials unopen down 1 of China’s largest underground Protestant churches. (Fred Dufour/AFP via Getty Images)

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio denounced the detentions of the Zion Church members successful October and asked the Chinese authorities to merchandise them. 

Open Doors, an planetary enactment that supports persecuted believers, estimates determination are much than 96 cardinal Christians successful China.