Chinese Authorities Block Easter in Beijing

This article talked about how hundreds of uniformed and plain-clothed police officers kept people from entering the Shouwang Church. Sources say that the congregation had spent months on preparing for a Easter service, but the police said that they were stationed at the church for "security purposes." The police even had the senior pastor of the church under house arrest, as well as several other members from the congregation. The Shouwang Church is one of the largest illegal "houses" (or unofficial churches) in the country, with more usually hundreds of people gathering to worship. One independent pastor said that this kind of reaction from the government towards believers in faith will only have the opposite impact of what they are looking for. He was quoted saying, "Worshippers are not a threat to stability, not a threat to society, and not a threat to China's harmonious society." Over the past month, the article said that over 200 churchgoers have been arrested. The actual number of practicing Christians in China is not very clear, but there have been speculations of 15 million all the way up to 130 million.