The Chinese government is more strictly enforcing a law that places age requirements on religious conversions.
China has long regulated conversions, prohibiting religious groups from proselytizing or converting anyone under the age of 18. Erik Burklin of China Partner, a missionary organization, told Mission Network News the law “has now been more intensively enforced.”
“Many churches have been notified by Religious Affairs Bureau heads that you can no longer conduct Sunday school classes in your churches,” said Burklin. “They even put signage up in the entrance of some churches to indicate that.”
Brynne Lawrence of China Aid, a religious freedom nonprofit organization, confirmed China is enforcing the age restriction.
“It has been a regulation in China for some time now, but Chinese authorities have renewed the vigor in which they crack down on it since the release of the revised Regulations on Religious Affairs,” Lawrence told the Washington Examiner. “Many Christian parents can face fines or other consequences for bringing their children to church or raising their children in faith at home. Likewise, teachers are not supposed to share their religious beliefs with children, and schools cannot use religious materials as textbooks.”
The Regulations on Religious Affairs govern religious practice and were revised in 2017. The U.S. Department of Justice notes they are “the major Chinese legislation that sets out restrictions on religious activities.”
China engages in “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom” and is considered a “country of particular concern” by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The government has persecuted Christians, Uighur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners, and others.
China’s Ministry of Education is reportedly removing religious references from children’s books, including words such as “Bible,” “God,” and “Christ.”
