Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from “Bitter Winter”

Editor-in-chief Massimo Introvigne, director-in-charge Marco Respinti, and all the “Bitter Winter” team wish a Merry Christmas to our Christian readers and a happy and joyful New Year and holiday seasons to everybody.

The image represents a group of Chinese Christians celebrating Christmas in 1905 (credits). These were not easy times, yet today the situation is much worse for Christians and indeed all believers who do not accept to reduce religious ceremonies to opportunities for broadcasting Communist Party propaganda.

“Bitter Winter” reports on religious liberty and human rights violations in China every day (except on Sunday and at Christmas and New Year’s Day). Our articles are quoted by hundreds of media and governmental and international organizations official reports. Many serious violations of religious liberty would remain unknown if they were not disclosed by “Bitter Winter,”

This is also increasingly true for our coverage of other countries. Our articles on Pakistan and Russia have been quoted in official reports in the U.S. and elsewhere, as well as our coverage of threats to religious liberty under the pretext of fighting “radicalization” or “cultic deviances,” or imposing ill-founded tax bills to spiritual movements, in democratic countries including France, Germany, Japan, Argentina, and Taiwan.

We have also supported religion-based asylum seekers who escape China and are arrested or worse if, against international law, democratic countries deport them back there. Although we have not always been able to prevent this from happening, the successes we have achieved demonstrate that “Bitter Winter” and its readers may in some cases even save human lives.

Christmas and the New Year festivities are a time when we all receive many solicitations for giving. There are many worthy charities, but please also consider that “Bitter Winter” is a small organization based on the volunteer work of those who write articles (and, if they live in China, constantly risk being jailed for this). Donating to “Bitter Winter” only takes a few minutes of your time and will allow us to continue offering to you exclusive news about religious persecution and human rights in 2024. These articles not only enlighten their readers but also benefit those who suffer persecution. We wish them a better 2024 and promise we will continue to help them as much as we will be able to.