In the King James Version of the Bible, Exodus 20:3 states, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
This foundational tenet of both Judaism and Christianity directly conflicts with the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which places the Party above all things—including the people, the constitution, and God.
Consequently, the CCP can never truly allow freedom of religion, despite the Chinese constitution’s claim to protect it. That freedom exists only insofar as religious practices do not pose a “national security threat.”
In practice, China’s definition of national security is so broad and fragile that simple acts such as attending worship meetings in private homes, reading uncensored Bibles, or allowing children under 18 to participate in religious activities are prohibited.
Amid China’s slowing economy and its ongoing trade war with the United States, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has escalated its repression of religion in a sweeping campaign to tighten ideological control.
On September 30, 2025, a coalition of human rights and religious freedom organizations gathered in Washington, D.C., for a conference titled Faith Under Siege: Confronting Religious Persecution and Oppression in China.
The event, organized by the International Republican Institute (IRI) and several partner groups, featured expert witnesses and survivors who described the CCP’s systematic assault on faith communities.
In a joint statement following the conference, the organizations condemned the CCP as the world’s largest perpetrator of religious persecution, accusing it of weaponizing repression to preserve political power.
The statement traced China’s decades-long war on faith, from Mao Zedong’s ideological purges to Xi Jinping’s high-tech surveillance state, targeting Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners, and other believers.
Open Doors International’s World Watch List 2025 ranked China 15th globally for Christian persecution, scoring 78 out of 100.
The report describes China as an officially atheist state where the government enforces Communist doctrine and suppresses competing belief systems.
Texts such as The Principles of Scientific Atheism are distributed across universities and Party institutions to promote secular orthodoxy and eliminate spiritual influence.
While an estimated 96.7 million Christians live in China, most citizens identify as agnostic or follow philosophies such as Confucianism, praised by the CCP as “truly Chinese” because it aligns easily with Communist values.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) operates as both government and guardian of its own survival, crafting policies to ensure the regime’s continuity.
It studies the collapse of other Communist systems and views unregulated social groups—especially Christians, as potential threats to stability.
Under Xi Jinping, local officials are pressured and rewarded for enforcing anti-Christian measures.
The newly implemented Ethnic Unity Law gives authorities broad power to tighten ideological control in multiethnic regions, providing legal justification for forced assimilation and suppression of religious diversity.
In 2024, according to Bitter Winter, a group that monitors persecution against Christians around the world, there was a severe increase in anti-Christian initiatives by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The worst year for religious persecution in recent history, the Ministry of Public Security broadened its campaign against so-called xie jiao (“heterodox teachings”), branding independent Christian house churches, Catholic dissidents, and other unregistered groups as threats to state authority.
Violent incidents and state repression were widespread throughout the year. On January 27, authorities raided a house church in Xiaotun, Heilongjiang Province, detaining more than 200 Christians.
In April, a court in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, sentenced believer Ban Yanhong to five years in prison for “illegal business operations” after distributing Bibles at a loss.
On June 24, Pastor Du Mingliang from Xinzhou, Shanxi Province, received a five-year sentence for “organizing illegal border crossing.”
On July 24, Elder Zhang Chunlei of Guiyang Ren’ai Reformed Church in Guizhou Province was sentenced to three and a half years for “inciting subversion of state power” and “fraud.”
Open Doors estimated that at least 1,000 churches were attacked or closed during the reporting period, while hundreds of Christians were detained or imprisoned, figures considered minimums since many incidents go unreported.
According to Bitter Winter, a media that reports on repression of Christians, public security authorities conducted over 56,000 anti-xie jiao operations in 2024, reaching more than 17 million citizens.
Around 18 million internet users were compelled to join an online campaign called “Say No to Xie Jiao,” publicly denouncing independent religious groups.
At least 12,000 Christians were investigated, threatened, or detained, and more than 1,000 were sentenced or sent to re-education camps.
Over 2,000 house churches were shut down, and 500 were demolished, including some registered under the state-approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement.
The CCP also installed more than 40,000 new surveillance cameras to monitor religious sites as part of its expanding high-tech control network.
Increasingly, the government uses economic crimes, such as “fraud” and “illegal business operations,” to justify the arrest of pastors and lay leaders.
In 2023 alone, at least 50 pastors were detained, and 15 were sentenced to prison terms of five years or longer.
Reports describe torture, disappearances, and confiscation of church assets, creating an atmosphere of legalized persecution.
House churches and underground congregations are the only way many Chinese Christians can read uncensored Bibles or allow anyone under 18 to practice their faith.
For Catholics, they are also the only way to remain in communion with the pope, since the state-run Patriotic Catholic Church is not.
It is illegal to worship outside scheduled times, designated locations, or with unapproved texts. In short, there is no real religious freedom in China.
As the Communist Party struggles to deliver on its unspoken bargain, obedience in exchange for economic prosperity, it seeks to block people from turning to religion to find a better way.
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