Human rights lawyers and religious leaders decry systematic accusations of ‘fraud’ against unregistered churches

A group of lawyers, human rights activists and religious leaders have released an open statement decrying the Chinese government’s systematic violation of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) by accusing house churches not registered under the government of being illegal, and declaring that offerings made to these churches are therefore fraudulent.

The statement, published on X (formerly Twitter) on 1 December by the China Human Rights Lawyers Group (@RightsLawyersCN), states: ‘The logic of the authorities’ accusations is that house church pastors do not have religious clergy qualifications, and the church is not registered, so the collection of offerings by a house church constitutes fraud.’

The signatories point out that the giving of offerings is a long-established church tradition and biblical principle, and emphasise that house churches should be afforded protection under Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution, which provides for the right to FoRB, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which China has signed but not ratified, among other international mechanisms.

Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) updated the Regulations on Religious Affairs Department in June 2017 which enabled it to directly manage religious affairs, the authorities have increasingly used charges of ‘fraud’ as a basis to penalise house churches. The CCP considers collection of tithes and offerings as fraud; church leaders are deemed as scammers accused of defrauding believers; and church members are deemed as victims of fraud. Church leaders convicted on these charges could face a sentence of more than ten years in prison.

These charges represent the third stage of the CCP’s systematic approach to its repression of house churches. The churches are first prohibited from being registered as legal entities, then accused of being illegal groups or illegal gatherings, and therefore the church leaders are considered illegal clergy, and finally the house churches’ collection of offerings is considered fraud.

The statement highlighted in particular Linfen Covenant Home Church and its two pastors, Li Jie and Han Xiaodong. Li and Han were taken into a form of secret detention known as Residential Surveillance in a Designated Location (RSDL) in August 2022 after the church was raided by more than 100 police officers during an outdoor family event. They were officially arrested in September 2022. In May 2023, the Linfen Yaodu District Procuratorate prosecuted the case to the court in the name of ‘fraud’, but the trial has yet to begin. Four members of Covenant Home Church are among the signatories to the statement.

In addition to the above case, the statement highlights 12 other cases of house churches across the country that have been persecuted on charges of ‘fraud’ since 2018.

CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘CSW stands with these lawyers, activists and religious leaders in their call on the Chinese Communist Party to respect and protect the right to freedom of religion or belief. We condemn the unjust legislation that the authorities uses to divide Chinese churches, legitimising only the Three-Self Churches who accept the government’s intervention and supervision of beliefs, and making the house churches that resist the government’s intervention illegal. We further condemn the unfounded fraud charges against pastoral workers and call for the immediate release of Li Jie and Han Xiaodong of Linfen Covenant Home Church, and for the dismissal of the charges against them.’

Notes to Editors:

The China Human Rights Lawyers Group was established in 2013 as an open platform for lawyers to collaborate on human rights issues.
Public signatories to the statement are as follows: