CCP collects information on CAG members who fled China, uses agents and online propaganda to harass them. Anyone opposing the persecution deemed hostile to China.
The Church of Almighty God (CAG) is the largest Chinese Christian new religious movement, which, due to its rapid growth, has been regarded as a threat to the CCP. It was included in the list of the xie jiao in 1995 and has become the most targeted and heavily persecuted religious movements in China ever since. Under the CCP’s ruthless oppression, often accompanied by torture and long-term imprisonment, some CAG members have been forced to flee overseas, but the authorities haven’t given up on persecuting them. Continue reading →
On July 22, new false demonstrations against refugees from The Church of Almighty God start in Korea. The bigot promoting them is spreading hate against all minorities.
Massimo Introvigne
Ms. O Is Coming—But Who Is Ms. O?
Ms. O Myung-Ok, a notorious Korean pro-CCP and “anti-heresy” activist, has announced that on July 22, she will start demonstrating against the Chinese asylum seekers of The Church of Almighty God in Seoul. She will bring some thirty relatives of the refugees, coerced or manipulated by Chinese State Security agents and induced to come to Korea asking for their family members to “come home.” Obviously, should they go back to China the refugees would not go “home,” they would go to jail. In a document distributed in Washington DC during this week’s Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, 13 NGOs have vigorously protested Ms. O’s false demonstrations.
Police intervention stops further false demonstrations by CCP executives and anti-cultists harassing harmless refugees in Korea.
Bitter Winter has reported in the last few days about false “spontaneous demonstrations” organized in South Korea against The Church of Almighty God (CAG) by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) executives who came from China for this purpose, with relatives of CAG asylum seekers they had “persuaded” to join them and local anti-cultists led by pro-Chinese activist Ms. O Myung-ok. For a fortunate coincidence, the Austrian journalist Peter Zoehrer, secretary of FOREF (Forum for Religious Freedom Europe), was in Seoul for collecting material about CAG members who suffered torture in China, and was able to document and photograph the events for Bitter Winter.
On September 4, 2018 at 10:00 AM, thanks to the mediation of the police, Ms. O and her colleagues had to allow the CAG members to meet their relatives. As they reported to Peter Zoehrer after the meeting, the CAG members explained to their relatives that it was their own free decision to flee to South Korea, where they can practice their religion openly, because of the Chinese Communist regime’s inhumane persecution of the CAG in China, and that they are totally free to come and go as they please. When in turn CAG members asked their relatives questions, for instance, who told them they were held against their will by the CAG, why the relatives came to Korea now, and who brought them there and paid their tickets, and so on, they just dodged the questions. Continue reading →
Press Conference on July 22 of 2019 Given by The Church of Almighty God, a Religious Group Persecuted in China
1. Speeches at the press conference 2. Witnesses telling their story as victims: Xiao Rui and Zhao Lin
Speech on the Press Conference Held by The Church of Almighty God, a Religious Group Persecuted in China
“The Chinese government’s religious persecution is true. We are the witnesses of this fact: we were tortured and detained, and we fled here for freedom. The CCP government should immediately stop the persecution of Christians, and stop its despicable acts of using our family members to incite Korean media to make false propaganda. ”
In recent years, the CCP is persecuting all religious faiths, with its suppression of Christianity including Catholicism reaching a peak. Even the state-approved Three-Self churches are not spared: Church buildings were demolished, a large number of crosses were removed, and countless Christians were dispersed and left without a gathering place—many crying and making prayers on the ruins of their meeting venues. Due to their rapid growth, some house churches were condemned as “xie jiao” and subsequently suppressed and banned. CCP’s propaganda uses rumors and slanders to portray these churches as “anti-social religions.” Under the comprehensive and cruel suppression of the CCP, many Christians were sentenced to prison and some were even beaten to death. In addition, countless Christians were rendered homeless, fleeing here and there. Many foreign missionaries, including those from South Korea, were arrested and deported.
The Church of Almighty God (CAG) has been suffering from the CCP government’s manic suppression and persecution since its foundation 28 years ago. The CCP issued a large number of secret documents and launched many special campaigns against CAG. It has performed more than a million arrests of CAG Christians. Many of the Christians were tortured and subjected to forced indoctrination, with over a hundred death cases. Some 500,000 to 600,000 Christians have to flee from the CCP’s hunting year after year, unable to return home. Believers in God are subjected to criminal punishment for merely engaging in regular religious activities or possessing a religious book. Faced with the cruel persecution from the CCP, some CAG Christians resorted to fleeing abroad.
The Chinese government has been non-stop in its religious persecution, yet it denies such facts and carries out deceptive propaganda overseas. Through various approaches, the CCP obtained the personal information of us Christians fleeing abroad and did its utmost to find our relatives in China, who were subjected to forced indoctrination or threatened with their work, pension, and the education and employment of our children. Through coercion and temptation, our family members came to South Korea multiple times to stage false demonstrations under the banner of “searching for relatives.” They distorted facts and claimed that China had religious freedom, falsely accused us to be “fake refugees,” and tried to force us to return to China. We are standing here today to tell people the truth of our situation as Christians fleeing abroad. Despite the CCP’s attempts to deceive the government, media, and people of South Korea through lies and rumors, we choose to express what is in our hearts in the most peaceful and rational way.
There is absolutely no religious freedom in China. We were deprived of any freedom to worship God. All of us standing here are victims who personally experienced imprisonment, torture and all kinds of mistreatment in China. We are the witnesses of the CCP government’s persecution of religious faiths.
By no means is it true that China is free from religious persecution and that people who came here to escape persecution are “false refugees.” The well-founded facts of CCP’s violation of human rights are supported by the U.S. Department of State Report on International Religious Freedom, reports submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council by international NGOs with consultative status, and the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom hosted by the U.S. Department of State last week.
Having stated above, we would like to make the followings appeals:
“A Red Herring “Family Search Group.” When the CCP’s Persecution of Christians Will End!
My understanding: Because of the cruel arrest and persecution of the CCP, thousands of Christians can’t return home, living a fleeing life. Today, I read a news report saying the CCP once again staged fake “”””seeking for relatives”””” demonstrations in South Korea. They tricked Christian families to South Korea to search for their relatives, and then extradite Christians back to China. It can be seen that Christians who have escaped overseas still can’t have peace, and they still have to suffer persecution from the CCP’s minions and secret agents. Once Christians are extradited, they will be directly sent to prison, tortured by the CCP, and even they may be persecuted to death. As a member of the Church of Almighty God, I hope that you as a righteous person can pay attention to them.”
The CCP harasses again the relatives of CAG refugees in Korea who live in China, luring them to travel abroad to South Korea on July 22-24 next to “search for relatives” and bring them back… to jail.
by Zhou Hua
The Church of Almighty God: Persecuted At Home and Abroad
The Church of Almighty God (CAG) is the largest Chinese Christian new religious movement. Due to its rapid growth, the Church was included in the xie jiao list by the CCP in 1995 and has been heavily persecuted since. CAG members have been subjected to persecution, with frequent cases of arrests and torture. According to the recently released 2019 report of the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), “in 2018, the Chinese government harassed and arrested thousands of followers of […] The Church of Almighty God. Many of those detained during the year—whom The Church of Almighty God estimates to be in the thousands—suffered torture and other abuses, in some cases resulting in deaths or unexplained disappearances while in custody.” According to the yearly Report on International Religious Freedom of the U.S. State Department for 2019, covering the year 2018, “The Church of Almighty God reported authorities arrested 11,111 of its members during the year,” against 9,000 from Falun Gong, the second most targeted group. “The Church of Almighty God, the document adds, reported authorities subjected hundreds of their members to ‘torture or forced indoctrination.’” Overall, the document said, “The Church of Almighty God reported authorities subjected 525 of its members to ‘torture or forced indoctrination’ during the year. The Church also reported members suffered miscarriages after police subjected them to ‘torture and abuse’ in detention facilities.” Continue reading →
A session of the Parliament of the World’s Religions focused on religion-based Chinese refugees and introduced The Hoax, a movie about China’s attempt to harass the asylum seekers of The Church of Almighty God in South Korea.
Marco Respinti
The Parliament of the World’s Religions is the largest global inter-religious gathering. Thousands congregate every three years in a different city of the world, renewing a tradition inaugurated in Chicago in 1893.
The 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions opened in Toronto on November 1. Among the events of November 2, A Question of Justice: The Refugees of The Church of Almighty God discussed the dramatic situation of the members of The Church of Almighty God who escape the severe persecution they are subject to in China and seek asylum abroad.
Professor Massimo Introvigne, editor-in-chief of Bitter Winter, introduced the argument and explained that the arguments used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to justify the persecution are actually fake news. He referred in particular to the homicide of a woman in a McDonald’s diner in Zhaoyuan, Shandong, in 2014. The CCP attributed to the crime to The Church of Almighty God, but scholarly studies proved it was in fact committed by a different religious movement. Introvigne included among the fake news also the often repeated claims that The Church of Almighty God is “against the family.” In fact, he explained, the Church’s theology supports the family and many members are converted by their close relatives.
Professor Holly Folk, from Western Washington University, offered her interpretation and reconstruction of the theology of The Church of Almighty God. She concluded that, although an anti-cult propaganda insists in labeling the Church as “non-Christian,” in fact the notion of Christianity today is plural, non-traditional Christianities abound, and the theology of The Church of Almighty God has clearly identifiable Christian roots and supports the conclusion that this Church is indeed Christian.
Rosita Šorytė, president of the International Observatory of Religious Liberty of Refugees, presented the situation of the asylum seekers of The Church of Almighty God in different countries. She attracted the attention on the dramatic situation in South Korea and Japan, where, respectively, 979 and 266 requests for asylum were filed by members of The Church of Almighty God and not even one was accepted. She noted that in Canada and New Zealand, by contrast, most applications are accepted, and there are encouraging favorable decisions in several other countries, although the situation of the refugees remains difficult. Ms Šorytė identified the cause of these difficulties in Chinese political pressures, restrictive interpretations of the international conventions of refugees, and misunderstandings or inaccurate information about The Church of Almighty God. She also noted that international conferences, scholarly studies, and the efforts of some NGOs have improved the situation of the refugees in several countries.
A key moment in the event was the unveiling of the movie The Hoax, the first movie produced by Bitter Winter. Directed by Massimo Introvigne, the movie introduces The Church of Almighty God and its persecution in China, and tells the story how the CCP, with the help of Christian anti-cultists, did not leave alone the refugees even after they arrived in Korea and organized false “spontaneous” street demonstrations against them. The truth about these incidents, carefully planned by the CCP several weeks in advance, is revealed in the movie.
An audience from all continents gathered to hear the presentations. A female member from The Church of Almighty God’s Canadian community, and Eric Roux, president of the European Interreligious Forum for Religious Freedom, also offered their testimonies.
Human Rights | International Religious Freedom Report Concerned Over the Persecution of CAG
On June 21 of 2019, the U.S. Department of State submitted 2018 Report on International Religious Freedom to the Congress, which describes the status of religious freedom in every country. This report highlights the religious abuse in China and the Chinese government’s intense persecution of many faith groups, such as Christians, Uyghur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists. And there are many references to the persecution of The Church of Almighty God (CAG).
More Attention: Willy Fautré: South Korea Should Give Refugee Status to Asylum Seekers of The Church of Almighty God
On August 31, 2018, agents assigned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organized some relatives of Christians from The Church ofAlmighty God (CAG) who had fled to South Korea from China, to hold a press conference at the Jeju Parliament under the pretext of “seeking for relatives.” They strongly requested the Korean authorities to deport the displaced Christians back to China. Continue reading →
Police intervention stops further false demonstrations by CCP executives and anti-cultists harassing harmless refugees in Korea.
Eastern Lightning Is My Salvation 