Christian Persecution: China Orders Towns to Count How Many Citizens Believe in God and Monitor Them

China's central government is putting pressure on officials to track the number of Christians living in their towns, and threatening repercussions if the figures do not add up, according to a report.

The CCP (Communist Party of China) has been cracking down on religion in recent months and has now intensified its measures by ordering local governments to closely supervise and monitor its residents who believe in God, ChristianHeadlines.com noted.

Town officials are expected to report back to government on a regular basis. The consequences are severe if the numbers appear to have been doctored.

"The government is taking the matter of religion very seriously now," one unidentified local official from the central province of Henan told Bitter Winter. "Every day, they ask us how many people in our village believe in God. If we say there aren't any believers, they claim that we're concealing what we know and failing to report it. If it is determined that we didn't report the situation truthfully, we will be punished."

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Local officials are expected to report back to the township government twice a day and fill out a form in the evening with further information.

"It's like our lives are being threatened," another local official told Bitter Winter, which serves as a watchdog for religious freedom in China. "After reporting someone, we have to restrict their movements and report their situation every day."

Failing to do so could come with severe consequences, residents from Henan's Yongcheng city said.

Earlier this year three local government officials were suspended from their duties after discrepancies in their reports were discovered. They were later reinstated after pleading leniency.

An official in the southeastern province of Jiangxi said that government was taking things so seriously it had even resorted to using messaging platform WeChat to share information and supervise campaigns targeting Christians.

"Government officials have a WeChat group," the unnamed official told Bitter Winter. "Everything is sent to it: the latest orders from higher authorities, the status of regular inspections of religious venues, photos of believers and their movements during religious holidays, activities in closed down meeting venues."

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