Why did the Chinese Government destroy a new church?
PHOTO FROM CHINESE SOCIAL MEDIA (SUBMITTED TO CT) Despite the effort of hundreds of Chinese Christians who formed a " human shield " to defend their brand-new megachurch, reports of its demolition have emerged from southern China . Wenzhou 's Sanjiang Church—an impressive eight-story structure that government officials previously called a "model project"—took six years and $3.2 million in donations to build, according to The Washington Post . The congregation is listed under the government-approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement , reports AsiaNews , yet it occupies five times more square feet than what regulations originally designated— complicating the common narrative of "atheist government persecutes Christians." Image: World Watch Monitor While excavators spent Monday, April 30, tearing down the church, Communist Party officials insisted the destruction was because of city zoning, not religious persecution, reports