Christian group and family raise outcry over detention of another 'house church' elder in China

BANGKOK (AP) — Ding Zhongfu was awakened by loud pounding on his door. Five policemen greeted Ding, an elder in a Chinese church.

The officers pinned him to the wall that Thursday morning in November and interrogated him while searching the apartment he shared with his wife, Ge Yunxia, and their 6-year old daughter.

Ding's family now pleads for his release after he was taken from his home in China's central Anhui province on suspicion of fraud. In their first public comments on the case, the family denies that Ding committed any fraud.

Instead, they told The Associated Press in an interview, it is part of a wider crackdown on religious freedoms in China.

Four others were detained, all senior members of the Ganquan church, a name that means “Sweet Spring," according to the family. All were taken on suspicion of fraud, according to a bulletin from the church.

“Under the fabricated charge of ‘fraud,' many Christians faced harsh persecution,” said Bob Fu, the founder of a U.S.-based Christian rights group, ChinaAid, who is advocating for Ding's release.

Police have started using fraud charges in recent years against leaders of what are known as house churches, or informal churches not registered with the government in China.

While China allows the practice of Christianity, it can only legally be done at churches registered with the state. Many who choose to worship in house churches say that joining a state church means worshiping the supremacy of the government and Communist Party over God, which they reject.

Beijing in the past several years has increased the pressure on house churches. In 2018, Chinese leader Xi Jinping issued a five year-plan to “Sinicize” all the nation’s officially allowed religions, from Islam to Christianity to Buddhism, by infusing them with...