The US has called for the release of 30 leaders of one of China’s largest underground church networks who were reportedly detained in overnight raids in various cities.

The Chinese Communist Party promotes atheism and tightly controls religion – still, some Christian groups are calling this the most extensive crackdown against the faith in decades.

Christians have long been pressured to join only state-sanctioned churches that are led by government-approved pastors and toe the party line.

Urging China to release the church leaders, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on Sunday that “this crackdown further demonstrates how the CCP exercises hostility towards

Christians who reject Party interference in their faith and choose to worship at unregistered house churches”.