by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) has shut down a well-established Christian website as part of a nationwide "Sinicization" program designed to promote Chinese patriotism and make religious groups submit to CCP ideology, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
The Jona Home website had served believers in China for 21 years before the Chinese authorities shut it down last month.
Referring to the ongoing Chinese government suppression of Christianity, Jona Home said in an online post: "Due to reasons known to everyone, from now on our site can no longer serve brothers and sisters in Christ. Thanks to all for your company and support in the past 21 years!"
Nevertheless, the Jona Home statement continued: "The disappearance of a website is merely a disappearance of a website, it does not carry any meaning. Except that the website link can no longer be opened, there is nothing else which stopped at that moment; Need not to be concerned, and just keep walking.”
In an interview with Radio Free Asia, Father Francis Liu from the Chinese Christian Fellowship of Righteousness attested: “The closure of Jona Home reflects how the Chinese authorities clamp down on Christianity. I feel sad from the bottom of my heart about the closure of such a website. Certainly, this is the most direct result of how China is currently persecuting and oppressing religious freedom.”
China ranks 17th on the US Open Doors 2022 Watch List of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.