Patriot Brief

• Chinese authorities arrested underground Christian leaders as part of an escalating religious crackdown.

• The CCP continues treating independent faith as a political threat, not a human right.

• Western condemnation persists, but Beijing shows no sign of backing down.

There is something uniquely grotesque about a government so insecure that it treats prayer as a threat.

The Chinese Communist Party’s latest arrests of members of the Early Rain Covenant Church aren’t an aberration or a misunderstanding. They are policy. When six congregants are detained for the crime of worshipping outside state control, it confirms what Beijing has been making clear for years: faith is only tolerated when it is obedient, monitored, and stripped of anything resembling independence.

The CCP does not fear Christianity because of doctrine. It fears it because loyalty to something higher than the state is unacceptable in a system that demands ideological submission. That’s why churches like Early Rain — peaceful, nonviolent, and persistent — are targeted repeatedly. It’s why Pastor Wang Yi remains imprisoned years after a mass raid that detained over 100 congregants. The message is unmistakable: believe what you want, as long as the Party approves it first.

China’s so-called “sinicization” of religion is nothing more than forced conformity. Churches are bulldozed, Bibles confiscated, online sermons banned, and crosses replaced with slogans praising Xi Jinping. Even state-approved churches aren’t spared humiliation, ordered to swap scripture for political quotations. This isn’t regulation. It’s coercion.

What makes this especially infuriating is the predictability of it all. The CCP is officially atheist, openly hostile to any institution it cannot fully dominate, and unapologetic about crushing dissent. And yet, every new round of arrests is met with carefully worded concern, as if outrage has been dulled by repetition.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is right to call for the release of detained church leaders. But statements alone won’t change a regime that has calculated — correctly — that it can persecute believers with minimal consequence. Beijing understands power, pressure, and cost. Moral appeals mean little without them.

This isn’t just about Christians in China. It’s about whether the world is willing to treat religious freedom as a principle or merely a talking point. Right now, the CCP is acting as if it knows the answer — and it isn’t flattering.

From Western Journal:

Chinese authorities have detained members of a prominent underground church as part of the government’s tightening control over unsanctioned religious activity in the country, Human Rights Watch reported Tuesday.

Six members of the Early Rain Covenant Church, an underground Protestant congregation in Sichuan province, were arrested this week, according to a church statement posted on social media that was cited by the human rights advocacy group. The arrests come just weeks after authorities arrested roughly 100 members of another unofficial “house church,” the group said.

“The Chinese government has ushered in the new year with new arrests of underground Protestant church members,” Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch, said of the arrests. “The government should immediately free those detained and let them freely practice their religion.”

Chinese authorities are conducting another round of high profile arrests against Early Rain Covenant Church of Chengdu. The PRC’s war against faith continues to escalate. Back in 2018, ERCC and Zion were two of the most prominent targets of that campaign, and Pastor Wang Yi of… https://t.co/VBwOtrD5R2

— Bill Drexel (@bill_drexel) January 6, 2026

Police raided the home of the church’s leader, Li Yingqiang, and took him into custody. Other key members were also reportedly detained, and two additional congregants were summoned by authorities, Human Rights Watch reported.

Founded in 2008, the Early Rain Covenant Church has long been a target of Chinese authorities.

In December 2018, police detained over 100 congregants in a coordinated raid. Founding pastor Wang Yi remains in custody for “inciting subversion of state power” and running “illegal business operations,” according to Human Rights Watch. In September 2024, Li Yingqiang and three others were also briefly detained.

The crackdown comes amid a broader wave of repression against Christians and other religious groups by the Chinese Communist Party, which is officially atheist and bars its members from belonging to religious organizations.

Nearly 30 pastors and staff of Zion Church, another major underground church, were detained by police in a nationwide operation in October. Mingri “Ezra” Jin, the pastor and founder of the church, remains in custody.

Following the arrests, Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanded the release of the Zion church leaders and called on the Chinese government to “allow all people of faith, including members of house churches, to engage in religious activities without fear of retribution.”

Under President Xi Jinping’s policy of “sinicizing” religion, restrictions on Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, and Muslims have intensified, including the demolition of unsanctioned churches, bans on online religious content, and confiscation of unauthorized Bibles.

The Chinese government grants legal status to Protestant churches that affiliate with the “Three-Self Patriotic Movement” or the China Christian Council, which operate under the control of the CCP’s United Front Work Department, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Even churches that comply, however, have been forced to remove their crosses and replace the Ten Commandments with quotes from Xi Jinping, according to the Family Research Council.

“Xi Jinping’s government has tightened ideological control and intensified its intolerance of loyalties beyond the Chinese Communist Party,” Uluyol said. “Concerned governments and religious leaders around the world should press the Chinese government to free detained religious adherents and respect religious freedom in China.”

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