Seven Christians arrested in China following protests against government campaign to remove crosses from churches

Seven Christians detained in China are charged with misappropriation and disturbing social order after taking part in demonstrations against the state-sanctioned removal of crosses from churches. The captives were identified as Pastor Bao Guohua, his wife Xing Wenxiang and five members of Holy Love Christian Church staff.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - Church officials angrily denied the claims against the group, saying they had been besieged simply for taking part in protests against the removal of the cross from the church. An authority in Zhejiang is believed to be under a two-month deadline to remove crosses from the 4,000 or so churches that dot the thriving region.

About a dozen Catholics wept and sang hymns outside their church as a man climbed to the top of the building and removed a cross with a cutting torch. It collapsed with a thump. This summer, Zhejiang has banned rooftop crosses completely.

The government has sought to curtail several of the visible symbols of faith in the western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, where Buddhist and Islamic beliefs socialize with ethnic personalities.

The Catholic Patriotic Association of Zhejiang claimed it is illegal to remove crosses from properly registered churches. The Christian Association of Zhejiang cautioned that the action has triggered hatred toward the ruling part.

In the Zhejiang city of Jinhua, two pastors from the official Jinhua City Christian Church have been detained in line with suspicion of corruption after the two declined to remove the rooftop cross from a newly-built refuge. One parishioner sat in the small entrance to the church grounds, trying to block the intruders, but was commanded to leave.  As several men built the platform, parishioners' sobbing and singing echoed over the church grounds, "He uses the love of the cross, the cross, to conquer the man."

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