Young, Persecuted Member of The Church of Almighty God Is Granted Asylum in US

18-year old Sister Danxiang Cheng was recognized as a refugee after a legal battle that lasted several months.

Sister Danxiang Cheng is an 18-year-old member of The Church of Almighty God (CAG). During her time as a CAG member in China, she experienced several episodes that made her uncomfortable and fearful of living in Chinese society as a CAG member. She received intense scrutiny in school regarding students’ religious affiliation and, even though she was a good student, this pressure resulted in her dropping out of school. Her mother was nearly arrested by the police for her CAG membership and narrowly escaped, forcing her to hide in another town away from her daughter. In addition, two CAG members that Ms. Cheng was close to were arrested by the police and one of them was even sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment for her beliefs and activities!

Protection of Uyghurs, Church of Almighty God Refugees Requested at OSCE Meeting in Warsaw

Three speakers at the yearly Human Rights Implementation Meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe ask OSCE participating States to grant asylum to religion-based refugees fleeing China.

On September 13, during the yearly Human Rights Implementation Meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Warsaw, three speakers have asked States in the OSCE area to grant asylum to religion-based refugees who flee from China.

Willy Fautré, of Human Rights Without Frontiers, focused on The Church of Almighty God (CAG). He explained the persecution of this Christian new religious movement in China, mentioning cases of torture and extra-judicial killings, and the scandalous attitude of several OSCE participating States, which do not recognize the obvious persecution of the CAG, refuse to grant asylum to the majority of CAG refugees, and even deport some of them back to China.

Document to Suppress The Church of Almighty God Exposed

A recently uncovered confidential document details the 2018 campaign to crack down on this persecuted Christian new religious movement in a region of Jiangsu Province.

The document, issued in April 2018 by the Public Security Bureau in a region of Jiangsu, an eastern-central coastal province of China, specifies the details of a campaign to suppress The Church of Almighty God (CAG), jointly implemented with the province’s Public Security Department. In 2018, as part of the nationwide campaign against the CAG, 1,984 Church members were arrested in Jiangsu Province, more than in any other region of China, according to the Annual Report on the Chinese Communist Government’s Persecution of The Church of Almighty God(the report has been reviewed in Bitter Winter).

Church of Almighty God’s Sister Zou Demei Is Free

Supported by a campaign by Bitter Winter and several NGOs, the former leader of the CAG in four Chinese provinces, who escaped to the US with a false passport, has finally left jail.

Sister Zou Demei is free. This is very good news for Bitter Winter and the NGOs who supported her case and, together with the Lantos Foundation and supported by the International Religious Freedom Roundtable, wrote to President Donald J. Trump asking for her release. It is also good news for her lawyer, Mr Russell Abrutyn, who spared no efforts to secure the result. In March, the Immigration Judge had granted her withholding of removal based on his conclusion that she will be persecuted in China because she belongs to The Church of Almighty God (CAG). He found, based on statements by scholars, the human rights community, and her fellow church members, that she is in fact Zou Demei, she belongs to the CAG, and China persecutes CAG members. Although asylum in the US was not granted for a number of technical reasons, Sister Zou is allowed to remain in the country. And now she has left the jail where she had been detained in Detroit for more than two years, and is a free woman.

South Korean False Demonstrations Against The Church of Almighty God Refugees End in Disgrace

Police intervention stops further false demonstrations by CCP executives and anti-cultists harassing harmless refugees in Korea. 

Bitter Winter has reported in the last few days about false “spontaneous demonstrations” organized in South Korea against The Church of Almighty God (CAG) by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) executives who came from China for this purpose, with relatives of CAG asylum seekers they had “persuaded” to join them and local anti-cultists led by pro-Chinese activist Ms. O Myung-ok. For a fortunate coincidence, the Austrian journalist Peter Zoehrer, secretary of FOREF (Forum for Religious Freedom Europe), was in Seoul for collecting material about CAG members who suffered torture in China, and was able to document and photograph the events for Bitter Winter.

“They Killed My Mother, They Arrested My Father”: Sister Zou Demei’s Father’s Day Reflections

The former leader of The Church of Almighty God in four Chinese provinces is free in the United States, but her mother has been killed and she cannot contact her elderly father in China.

Editorial note: Bitter Winter readers are familiar with the story of Sister Zou Demei. In the United States, June 16 is Father’s Day. In this article, she talks about her father and how the persecution prevents her from contacting him.

Anti-Refugees “Demonstrations” in South Korea: The Real Story

On September 2–4, 2018, Austrian journalist Peter Zoehrer was an eyewitness to false “spontaneous demonstrations” staged by the CCP and Korean anti-cultists against asylum seekers of The Church of Almighty God in Seoul. He tells the whole story to Bitter Winter.

Bitter Winter reported extensively about the false “spontaneous demonstrations” organized in South Korea between August 30 and September 4 by the Chinese Communist Party and Korean anti-cultists against the asylum seekers of The Church of Almighty God, a Chinese Christian new religious movement heavily persecuted in China.

We also reported that an Austrian journalist, Peter Zoehrer, was an eyewitness to the events. Zoehrer is also the secretary of FOREF (Forum for Religious Freedom Europe) and has uploaded on FOREF’s YouTube channel videos of the events. We have interviewed Zoehrer in Warsaw, where he was attending the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe).

The Church of Almighty God / Eastern Lightning: 10 False Myths

Most of what you find on the Internet about The Church of Almighty God is false. Here is why, and where to look for more reliable information.

The Church of Almighty God (CAG) is the largest Chinese Christian new religious movement. It is also known as “Eastern Lightning.” It has been founded in 1991, and after its rapid growth alarmed the Chinese regime, it was banned in 1995. It was heavily persecuted since, with hundreds of thousands arrested, hundreds of cases of torture, more than one hundred well-documented instances of death while in custody or as a consequence of police mistreatment, and several cases of organ harvesting. In the 21st century, to justify the persecution, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has launched a massive campaign of fake news against the CAG. Unfortunately, despite having been debunked by independent Western scholars, the fake news has been uncritically spread by some Western media and is still widely available on the Web, where Chinese propaganda is also active with anonymous or pseudonymous texts. Here is a guide to the most common myths and fake news.

The Church of Almighty God: The Most Persecuted Religious Movement In China

The Church of Almighty God has replaced Falun Gong as the main target of Chinese religious persecution. Here is the essential information on what this Church is and why it is persecuted.

Eastern Lightning

Readers of Bitter Winter frequently encounter references to The Church of Almighty God, a Chinese Christian new religious movement. There is a good reason for this. The Church of Almighty God is the most persecuted religious group in China today, often referred to as “the new Falun Gong”— not because of its theology, which is obviously very different, but because it has become the main target of the repression of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a position Falun Gong occupied until a few years ago.

Refugees of The Church of Almighty God in Japan

Oral statement of Ms Christine Mirre, of the accredited NGO CAP-LC, at the 40th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva, 13 March 2019.

As of January 2019, 270 members of The Church of Almighty God (CAG), a Chinese Christian new religious movement, have escaped China and applied for asylum in Japan. None of the requests has been granted.

That the CAG is ruthlessly and cruelly persecuted in China is an established fact. The CAG claims that more than 300,000 of its members have been arrested, and scholars regard the figure as credible. There are hundreds of published Chinese court decisions showing that CAG members have been sentenced to heavy jail penalties for the only circumstance of being active in a banned religious organization. NGOs have also reported instances of torture, extra-judicial killings, and organ harvesting.

We acknowledge and respect the problems of Japan in dealing with a high number of asylum requests. However, the members of the CAG seeking asylum in Japan, whose number (270) should not create a national problem, run the serious risk of being arrested and sentenced to heavy jail penalties, or worse, should they be sent back to China. We urge Japan, a country widely respected for its commitment to human rights, to lend its helping hand to the refugees of The Church of Almighty God.

Source: BITTER WINTER

Persecution of Chinese Refugees of The Church of Almighty God in South Korea Should Not Start Again

That The Church of Almighty God (CAG) is heavily persecuted in China, with thousands of arrests and many documented cases of torture and extra-judicial killings, is now an established fact, recognized inter alia by official United Nations and U.S. State Department documents. Hundreds of CAG members have escaped to South Korea, where they are seeking refugee status.

Accomplices: Western Companies Supporting CCP Atrocities Denounced in Washington

At the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom organized by the U.S. State Department in Washington DC, high-tech companies supplying components to Chinese surveillance systems are told that this is immoral—and should be illegal too.

The Largest Religious Freedom Event in the World

The Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, now in its second edition, is the largest religious liberty gathering in the world. Some 100 governments and 500 NGOs and religious organizations answered the appeal of U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and U.S. Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, to work together for religious freedom. The Ministerial includes a closed-door program for delegates and several side events.

Story of O: Korea #1 Bigot Harasses Refugees (and Many Others)—Again

On July 22, new false demonstrations against refugees from The Church of Almighty God start in Korea. The bigot promoting them is spreading hate against all minorities.

Confidential Documents Expose CCP’s Plans to Persecute The Church of Almighty God Abroad

CCP collects information on CAG members who fled China, uses agents and online propaganda to harass them. Anyone opposing the persecution deemed hostile to China.

The Church of Almighty God (CAG) is the largest Chinese Christian new religious movement, which, due to its rapid growth, has been regarded as a threat to the CCP. It was included in the list of the xie jiao in 1995 and has become the most targeted and heavily persecuted religious movements in China ever since. Under the CCP’s ruthless oppression, often accompanied by torture and long-term imprisonment, some CAG members have been forced to flee overseas, but the authorities haven’t given up on persecuting them.

TODAY IN SEOUL, KOREA: Press Conference by Chinese Christians Who Fled From Persecution

Press Conference on July 22 of 2019 Given by The Church of Almighty God, a Religious Group Persecuted in China

1. Speeches at the press conference

2. Witnesses telling their story as victims: Xiao Rui and Zhao Lin

Speech on the Press Conference Held by The Church of Almighty God, a Religious Group Persecuted in China

“The Chinese government’s religious persecution is true. We are the witnesses of this fact: we were tortured and detained, and we fled here for freedom. The CCP government should immediately stop the persecution of Christians, and stop its despicable acts of using our family members to incite Korean media to make false propaganda. ”

New Bitter Winter Movie on The Church of Almighty God Refugees Unveiled in Toronto

A session of the Parliament of the World’s Religions focused on religion-based Chinese refugees and introduced The Hoax, a movie about China’s attempt to harass the asylum seekers of The Church of Almighty God in South Korea.

The Parliament of the World’s Religions is the largest global inter-religious gathering. Thousands congregate every three years in a different city of the world, renewing a tradition inaugurated in Chicago in 1893.

The 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions opened in Toronto on November 1. Among the events of November 2, A Question of Justice: The Refugees of The Church of Almighty God discussed the dramatic situation of the members of The Church of Almighty God who escape the severe persecution they are subject to in China and seek asylum abroad.

CAG Christians Denounce CCP at DC Tiananmen Remembrance Rally

The afternoon of June 4, 2019, hundreds of people gathered on the United States Capitol West Lawn to attend a rally of remembrance for the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The event was organized by Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, and representatives from more than 20 NGOs and religious groups spoke, including Freedom House, Campaign for Uyghurs, Initiatives for China, and The Church of Almighty God.

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European MP at ISHR Annual Meeting: CCP's Rule Exceeds Orwell's 1984

April 6 and 7, 2019, the 47th annual meeting of the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) was held in Frankfurt, Germany. This year's theme was "Enlighten, Help, work up—Human Rights Commitment today." The ever-worsening human rights situation in China as well as the issue of the rights of persecuted Christians were constantly brought up, garnering a great deal of attention from participants.

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The Hypocritical CCP Instigates Farcical Demonstration in South Korea

Since coming to power, the CCP has never stopped persecuting religious belief. Especially since Xi Jinping has taken office, religious persecution, and in particular, the suppression of Christianity, has escalated to new heights today. The unscrupulous suppression, arrests, and persecution have not only been carried out against house church Christians. Even officially-run Three-Self churches and crosses have been demolished in large numbers. Christians have been arrested, sentenced, and jailed in large numbers, and some have even been beaten to death. Countless Christians have had to flee their homes to avoid the CCP’s arrest, unable to return, and many Christians have been persecuted so severely that they have no choice but to flee to democratic nations to seek asylum. Yet the evil CCP is hardly content to allow these Christians to escape. The CCP not only uses diplomatic and economic means to put pressure on these democratic nations, it also trains and embeds large numbers of special agents to work in these countries and monitor Christians, with the goal of extraditing these escaped Christians to China by every possible way. In September of 2018, for example, an incident occurred in South Korea targeted at threatening these Christian refugees. A Korean woman led over ten family members of escaped Chinese Christians living in Korea, in a demonstration, in which she claimed that the Christian asylum seekers of The Church of Almighty God (CAG) in South Korea were “false refugees,” and demanded that the Korean government repatriate them to China. The demonstration proved immediately controversial. But, the demonstration poses a question: Why would a South Korean citizen, living long-term in South Korea, lead more than ten relatives of Christians, of Chinese nationality, in such a demonstration? She was entirely unfamiliar with these Christians’ family members, and didn’t know the background of the CCP’s persecution of Christians, so why would she organize the relatives of these Chinese Christians to conduct such a demonstration in South Korea? Why did she claim that these CAG Christians fled to Korea were false refugees and demand that the South Korean government repatriate them? It truly is a puzzling situation. What hidden factors were behind this demonstration? On today’s program, our guests are two Christians from The Church of Almighty God whose Chinese family members took part in the demonstration. Today’s topic will be a discussion of the events surrounding the demonstration.

EU Parliament: The Church of Almighty God Christians in worse position than Uyghur Muslims

On December 10, 2018, Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) and EU Reporters held a round-table discussion in the European Parliament. The discussion centered around the current situation of religious persecution in China, and focused on the persecution suffered by The Church of Almighty God. Among the participants were EU Parliament member Tomáš Zdechovský, political advisor Dr. Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, HRWF director Willy Fautre, and HRWF deputy director Lea Perekrests.

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