The communist government in China continues to crack down on Christianity, and one expert says they're working hard to "make Christianity more compatible with socialism." 

The Rev. Bob Fu spoke to members of the United States Congress at a House hearing last week and told of the Chinese governments five-year plan to water down Christianity.

Fu is a former house church leader in China who left the country in 1997. He monitors persecution of Christians in China, through his watchdog organization called China Aid.

The Christian Post reports that Fu told the House committee that the government is working with state-sanctioned churches in China to "Sincize" Christianity.

China has begun a crackdown on Christianity that has not been seen in decades. It includes demolishing churches, tearing down crosses, and forcing churches to fly communist flags.

At the centre of this new level of persecution is China's new regulation on religious affairs that was released last year but enacted on February 1.

According to Fu, the revision of the religious regulations are to actively guide religion to "adapt to socialist society."

In a written testimony, Fu said that under the new regulations religious activity sites will "accept the guidance, supervision, and inspection of relevant departments of the local people's government regarding the management of personnel, finances, assets, accounting, security, fire protection, protection of relics, health and disease prevention and so forth."

Fu told the committee that part of that plan involves retranslating the Old Testament and adding new commentary to the New Testament in order to make socialism "seem more divine."

 

Hundreds of Christian leaders in China recently signed a document condemning the new regulations, persecution, and control the communist government is trying to exert over the Church in China. The leaders wrote that they are even willing to lose their lives in disobedience.

"We believe and are obligated to teach all believers that all true churches in China that belong to Christ must hold to the principle of the separation of church and state and must proclaim Christ as the sole head of the church," the statement reads.

"We declare that in matters of external conduct, churches are willing to accept lawful oversight by civil administration or other government departments as other social organizations do. But under no circumstances will we lead our churches to join a religious organization controlled by the government, to register with the religious administration department, or to accept any kind of affiliation. We also will not accept any 'ban' or 'fine' imposed on our churches due to our faith. For the sake of the Gospel, we are prepared to bear all losses — even the loss of our freedom and our lives."