Provinces in China ready to issue online license for religious activities

03/13/2022 China (International Christian Concern) – On March 1, the Chinese government officially banned unauthorized religious activities online. Any religious group seeking to conduct religious activities online cannot do so without obtaining a government-issued license.

With Jiangsu Province’s recent announcement that the Internet Religious Information Service Licensing Examination will be launched in mid-March, all provinces in China have successively started licensing work.

Even before the administrative measures for religious information services on the Internet, the legal basis for such a ban, come into force on March 1, the Committee for Ethnic and Religious Affairs of Zhejiang Province announced on February 28 that the licensing of religious information services on the Internet across the province would begin as early as March.

His opinion reads, “The legal person organization or unincorporated organization intending to engage in religious information service on the Internet should apply to the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of Zhejiang Province, which will take a decision of approval or disapproval within 20 days from the date of acceptance of the request.

Zhejiang Province also plans to hold the “Zhejiang Internet Religious Information Reviewer Training Course” to effectively facilitate the work of applicants and improve the review ability of religious information reviewers.

After the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui, Shandong, Shaanxi and Guangdong all issued a similar notice regarding license work, according to China Christian Daily.

China Aid Pastor Bob Fu told World Magazine in a recent interview that many Christians had already started preparing before the measures came into force. Other people like really bold evangelists, they just say, “Oh, you know, are you kidding me?” This is part of the history of the persecuted church in China. And are we just waiting for things to get better? And that’s just a standard. So let’s not compromise.

While Chinese Communist Party officials say the measures are designed to protect the country’s national security and social stability, the real intention is to tighten the party’s grip on religion.

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