U.S. Agency Calls on China to Allow Easter Worship

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is calling on China to end harassment and detentions of Christians this Holy Week and Easter Sunday.

Commission deputy director Scott Flipse says congregations like Beijing's unregistered Shouwang Church should be free to worship on Christianity's most sacred holiday.

But he says the government has driven Shouwang members from their purchased and rented worship sites, and has arrested them when they tried to meet outdoors.

Flipse says it's part of an ongoing crackdown on religious groups whose growth the government views as threats to its legitimacy.