Lawmakers Push To End Christian Persecution In China As Underground Church Pastors Face Detention

Republicans on Monday introduced a bill that would sanction Chinese entities linked to Beijing’s persecution of Christians.

The “Combating the Persecution of Religious Groups in China Act” aims to “strengthen America’s response to combat the CCP’s ongoing acts of religious persecution targeting Christians and other religious minorities,” a copy of the bill reviewed by The Daily Wire reads. If passed, the United States will sanction any official of the People’s Republic of China who is responsible for or has directly carried out “abuses of religious freedom.”

Abuses include “Arbitrary detention, forced sterilization, torture, forced labor, and serious restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, expression, and movement.”

Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) introduced the bill on October 27, International Religious Freedom Day. Congressman Mark Alford (R-MO) introduced the bill in the House.

The legislation comes just weeks after the Chinese Communist Party detained more than 30 pastors and staff from Zion Church, a well-known Christian house church in China. Zion Church was shut down in 2018 but re-emerged in multiple locations, NPR reported. In response, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement condemning the detentions and calling for the immediate release of the church members.

Rubio said the incident shows how the CCP “exercises hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference in their faith and choose to worship at unregistered house churches.”

Co-sponsors of the bill in the Senate include Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn (TN), Ashley Moody (FL), Thom Tillis (NC), and Todd Young (IN), while co-sponsors in the House include Republican Reps. Greg Steube (FL), Dan Crenshaw (TX), and Michael McCaul (TX).

In a statement, Budd said China’s “disdain for religious freedom is not new,” noting it is an “ongoing and brutal pattern of abuse that must be met with steadfast American strength.”

“As the leader of the free world, the United States must promote religious freedom around the world and hold China’s authoritarian regime responsible for decades of persecution targeting Christians and other religious minorities. The CCP’s restrictions on freedom of religion and cruelty toward religious minorities in China must come to an end,” Budd said.

Alford said the CCP “has perpetrated heinous abuses against religious groups for decades.”

He said he believes it’s time for the United States to “stand up for religious freedom in China as we have in other parts of the world.”

The bill would also bolster State Department efforts to combat the ongoing persecution of Protestant Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners, and other religious minorities.

A 2024 report said that the CCP “tortured, physically abused, arrested, disappeared, detained, sentenced to prison, subjected to forced indoctrination in CCP ideology, and harassed adherents of both registered and unregistered religious groups.”

On October 23, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced a resolution calling on the CCP to release the members of Zion Church and all other wrongfully detained religious leaders.