The Chinese language authorities just lately eliminated Pray.com from the Apple app retailer in mainland China as a part of a crackdown on faith-based content material.
In response to Faithwire, the removing of the app is a part of China's measures to manipulate on-line non secular data companies that took impact in March 2022.
The Congressional Government Fee on China, an unbiased company of the US authorities that screens human rights in China, famous that these restrictions, launched in 2022, require a government-issued allow for the publication of non secular content material and ban on-line broadcasts of non secular ceremonies. , occasions and companies.
Launched in 2017, Pray.com is the world's #1 each day prayer app, providing each day Bible studying plans and religious formation packages. Its removing comes months earlier than the Nationwide Day of Prayer on Could 2.
“Because the founding of Pray.com, we’ve change into accustomed to a optimistic relationship with China,” stated co-founder Michael Lynn. “President Xi [Jinping] enabled the printing of almost 150 million Bibles per 12 months and [former] President [Donald] Trump made certain Bibles have been exempted from Chinese language tariffs.”
Steve Gatena, founder and CEO of Pray.com, stated in a press launch: “In response to those restrictions, our staff is exploring alternative routes to ship our content material and companies to individuals in mainland China. Whereas we work on an answer, I need to personally invite President Xi Jinping to hitch us for this 12 months's Nationwide Day of Prayer occasion in Washington, DC”
Over time, the Chinese language Communist Get together has cracked down on Christianity, even going as far as to rewrite the Scriptures and name Jesus a “sinner.”
In 2019, the CCP introduced that it will launch an “updat[ing] Bible to 'sustain with the instances'”.
“The revisions will embody the addition of 'core socialist values' and the removing of passages that don’t mirror communist beliefs,” stated The Voice of the Martyrs, a Christian persecution watchdog. “In a textbook for highschool college students printed in September 2020, the authors included a passage from John 8 as revised of their new model.”
As CBN Information reported final 12 months, Chinese language officers are testing an app that requires residents to pre-register to attend non secular companies.
“This spring in Henan province, they launched an utility to get approval for any form of non secular service,” defined VOM's Todd Nettleton. “Which means you need to have the app in your cellphone.
“It’s a must to register upfront to go to a non secular gathering, give the Chinese language authorities all of your data, inform them who you might be, the place you reside, your identification particulars and so forth,” he added.
Photograph credit score: ©iStock/Getty Photos Plus/TARIK KIZILKAYA
Milton Quintanilla is a contract author and content material creator. He’s a contributor to Christian Headlines and host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast dedicated to sound doctrine and biblical reality. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
