A Chinese Christian is seen during a prayer gathering in this file image. (AFP)
Jan 3 2024
A state-run body in China has re-launched a propaganda film targeting Italy-based human rights and religious liberty magazine Bitter Winter, and its parent body accusing them of promoting banned cult movements, says a report.
China Anti-Xie-Jiao Association, an anti-cult organization, has been screening the film “The Bitter Winter of Belief: Sneaking Cults” across the country since late December, Bitter Winter reported on Jan. 1.
The film slams the magazine and its parent body, the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR) as promoters of cults banned by China including the Church of Almighty God (CAG).
The film was first launched in Brussels last June. It has been screened all over China since Dec. 20, the report said.
Massimo Introvigne, head of CESNUR, alleged the film of spreading “bizarre lies” and termed it the “dumbest anti-cult movie ever made” by the country’s communist regime.
The film has “a laundry list of accusations” against cults, CESNUR and Bitter Winter put together without checking the sources nor giving them any rational order, Introvigne said.
“They are so ridiculously false that they confirm the Chinese propaganda film was hastily produced by low-level operatives,” he added.
The documentary is directed by Russian filmmaker Natalia Bashirian.
According to Introvigne Roland Delcourt, “a notorious Chinese Communist Party (CCP) fellow traveler” introduced the film to the 20-member audience during the launch in June.
The film was “deservedly forgotten” forcing the China Anti-Xie-Jiao Association to relaunch it, he said.
Introvigne also refuted allegations that Bitter Winter was mostly dealing with the CAG.
The CAG is one of dozens of controversial religious movements known as Xie Jiao (evil/heretic cults) and banned in China. Their members face brutal state persecution.
The CAG, also known as Eastern Lightning, is considered a fringe radical movement by mainstream Christian groups. The movement is believed to have 3-4 million members in China, reports say.
Founded in 1991, the movement believes Jesus has been reborn and in the form of a Chinese woman named Yang Xiangbin, the head of the church.
Yang and her partner Zhao Weishan reportedly moved to the US in 2000 and oversee CAG operations from New York City.
The movement has been accused of using illegal recruitment tactics such as kidnappings for expansion.
The group came under fire after Zhao and Yang declared open war against the officially atheist Chinese Communist Party by labeling it the “red dragon.”
It was banned and hundreds of its members have been jailed and tortured just like another well-known cult movement, Falun Gong.
Bitter Winter often reports the problems faced by the CAG and Falun Gong which are among the most persecuted religious groups in China.
“We do report about it . However, a simple perusal of our indexes would reveal that in 2022 and 2023 we have published more than 1,500 articles, of which eight deal with the CAG,” Introvigne said.
The rights group routinely labels China as one of the world’s top violators of freedom of religion or belief.
US-based advocacy group, ChinaAid, in its Annual Persecution Report 2022 released last February blasted the communist regime for multiple forms of persecution against registered and unregistered religious groups including sinicization, educational reforms, and widespread rights abuses coupled with stringent laws.
CCP officials had engaged in church demolition to suppress Christianity and its practice in the nation, the report said.
Throughout 2022 churches and worship places of Christians, including Catholics, have been demolished in Dalian, Jiangxi, Tongguan, Shaanxi, and other provinces, the report said. – UCA News
