In their effort to “exert total control” over religion and to “sinicise” Catholic and Protestant Christianity, the authorities have “ordered the removal of crosses from churches [and] replaced images of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary with pictures of President Xi Jinping,” the report said.

The report concluded that “every facet of religious life for Buddhists, Catholics and Protestant Christians, Muslims, and Taoists” was facing pressure to incorporate CCP ideology, and religious elements considered contradictory to the state’s political agenda were being eradicated.

    • @Fades
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      3 months ago

      because China has always been oh so welcoming of other religions right? Sources are great but calling this an outrageous claim is a bit much given the historical context.

      • @[email protected]
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        3 months ago

        I mean, it’s a pretty big step from “we need to pre-approve priests” to “actually, your religion is about something completely different now”.

        And, more importantly, it’s the Telegraph. If it was the Guardian I’d go “gee whiz, that’s a whole new level, very unexpected”.

        • @Womble
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          -13 months ago

          replaced images of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary with pictures of President Xi Jinping.

          Its not saying actually Xi is your god now, its just making churches one more place where you see the dear leader. Still bad but not at the insane level of trying to rewrite one of the world’s largest religions.

          • @[email protected]
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            73 months ago

            I have a lot of doubts about this article, but also i bet i could find multiple instances of churches in certain states taking down pictures of jesus to put up pictures of trump.

        • @Squizzy
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          -63 months ago

          Why is the telegraph bad, I really like their journalists they have always come across well.

            • @nickiwest
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              3 months ago

              Yes. Yes it does.

              From Media Bias/Fact Check:

              Bias Rating: RIGHT

              Factual Reporting: MIXED

              Country: United Kingdom

              MBFC’s Country Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE

              Media Type: Newspaper

              Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic

              MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY

              • @[email protected]
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                53 months ago

                Yep. That tracks with what I was remembering. Sometimes their stuff is fine, sometimes it’s questionable right-wing rage-baiting.

          • @IndustryStandard
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            53 months ago

            Generally they write anti brown people propaganda.

            • @SkunkWorkz
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              23 months ago

              They write anti Polish people propaganda as well. Remember the British elites hate poor people harder than they hate brown people.