Poor Christians living in a rural southeastern county in China say they have been told to take down pictures of Jesus in their homes and replace them with photos of Chinese president Xi Jinping in order for them to receive financial aid.
In what appeared to be another move against Christianity in China, Chinese officials reportedly went from house to house in Yugan county, located in Jiangxi province, to tell poor residents to take down the images of Jesus and other religious items they have and replace them with portraits of Xi, the South China Morning Post reported. Yugan county has a large number of Christians living in it.
The communist party has been accused of using a campaign to "alleviate poverty" to convert Christians from being "believers in religion" to "believers in the communist party."
According to a local social media report that was since taken down Monday afternoon, cadres visited homes in Yugan's Huangjinbu township to promote the communist party's policies and help residents "solve their material problems," the SCMP noted.
As a result of the cadres' visits, more than 600 residents "voluntarily" took down their religious items and replaced them with portraits of the Chinese president.
The move, according to the report , "melted the hard ice" in the hearts of the villagers and "transformed them from believing in religion to believing in the party."
Liu Yi, an American-Chinese pastor, told Radio Free Asia that the communist party is threatened by any organized activity from the West, including what are perceived to be Western religions.
Amid a perceived government crackdown on Christianity in the past few months, he said it appeared they were trying to replace God with Xi.
A pastor named Huang said the poverty relief campaign was a scam.
"The officials told people not to believe in Jesus," he said, "and told them to learn from president Xi and take Xi as a role model."
China Aid, an organization that aims to expose the systematic persecution of Christians in China, reported in August that Chinese officials forcefully removed a cross from a church in Jiangxi province.
