The nine-page provincial policy statement says the government aims to regulate "excessive religious sites" and "overly popular" religious activities, but it specifies only one religion, Christianity, and one symbol, crosses.

"The priority is to remove crosses at religious activity sites on both sides of expressways, national highways and provincial highways," the document says. "Over time and in batches, bring down the crosses from the rooftops to the facade of the buildings."

Beijing says it's all a misunderstanding: "I want to emphasise that the Chinese government earnestly protects the rights of Chinese citizens including safeguarding their freedom of religious beliefs," said Hong Lei, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "With regard to what has happened in Zhejiang, there has been some misunderstanding. The demolitions took place because those sites were built against relevant regulations. It has nothing to do with religious beliefs."

Curious, then, that it is only the churches and other Christian institutions which are being targeted. More curious still is that the cross of Christ is being singled out among all religious symbols. Of course, churches may be built without crosses: it is not an object of worship. But it is the symbol of salvation, and Christians ought to be free to display it within and upon their places of worship, without fear of harassment, monitoring or summary detention.

The cross of Christ liberates and redeems: its energy is a revelation of justifying righteousness. If you hide the proclamation of Christ's death, you eradicate the need for His suffering and so relativise the resurrection. There ceases to be any eschatological dimension because there is no end in sight: history is censored; the truth concealed. Forgiveness may still be found, but you have seek it with more than all your heart and dig very deeply in the underground fellowship of the living.

According to China Aid, the persecution of Christians in China is soaring. Their 2014 report -- The Year of Persecution and Endurance -- makes truly alarming reading. As Christians there multiply (as they are doing), and as the Church there grows (as it is flourishing), they are increasingly perceived by the Communist Party of China to be a subversive and dangerous cult. Christianity corrupts, and corruption must be eradicated.

There can be no individual freedom of conscience for the seditious; nor the freedom to express belief for the subversive. Such people are extremists and must be monitored, lest they disseminate their ideological doctrine and propagate their poisonous creed. The state cannot be constrained in the defence of its legitimacy and the assertion of its authority. Only 'approved religion' can be sanctioned: the rest is cultic, intolerant and, in the final analysis, 'extremist'.

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Hong Kong cardinal appeals to Beijing over church crosses

VATICAN RADIO
August 13, 2015

Cardinal John Tong Hon, the Bishop of Hong Kong has issued an "urgent appeal" to China's ‎Communist Party chiefs, calling on them to order a halt to an ongoing cross-removal campaign in ‎Zhejiang province. "I sincerely and urgently appealed to the central government to contact the ‎Zhejiang provincial government and investigate the real situation and stop all illegal cross removals," ‎the cardinal said in an Aug. 12 statement. The Chinese authorities should "return to the right path, ‎placing supreme importance on the constitution, ruling the country according to the law, and governing ‎by the law," he said. The cardinal also called on Catholics in Hong Kong to pray and fast for religious ‎dignity and freedom in order to share the sufferings of their persecuted brothers and sisters on the ‎mainland.‎

His appeal comes after Chinese authorities on Aug. 11 scotched rumors circulating among Christian ‎leaders and on social media that the 20-month campaign, which has seen the removal of more than ‎‎1,200 crosses, would be halted. The appeal also comes less than a week after Hong Kong's Anglican ‎archbishop, Paul Kwong, called on Chinese authorities to halt cross removals in Zhejiang province, ‎which is home to an estimated 2 million Christians, including 210,000 Catholics.‎

Observers on social media have criticized Hong Kong's Christian leaders, accusing them of dragging ‎their feet in issuing responses to the cross removals. Soon after the Catholic diocesan weekly, Kung ‎Kao Po, posted Cardinal Tong's statement on its Facebook page, blogger Anthony Yuen left a message ‎saying the appeal was too slow in coming. "Hasn't the response come a bit late?" he asked. In response, ‎Sister Pauline Yuen of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception said the cardinal's ‎statement was "better late than never".