Party members expelled for practicing religious cults, taking drugs

Several members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Central China’s Hubei Province were expelled or warned for practicing religious cults under the guise of Christianity, the local discipline watchdog announced.

Two Party members, Xiong Shijun and Huang Mingqing, had been participating in and leading cult organizations, according to a notice released by the discipline inspection commission in Hubei’s Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture on Tuesday.

Xiong and Huang, who were expelled from the Party, had been spreading heretical ideas of the Mentuhui (Disciples Sect) cult and have introduced seven other people to the cult, the notice said.

Another Mentuhui participant, Qiu Hantang, received a serious warning from the Party.

Chen Jinzhi, a Party member from Enshi, joined a cult in 1995 and fooled local residents by saying that their illnesses could be treated after joining the cult. The Party also seriously warned Chen.

Enshi’s discipline inspection commission said those involved have neglected the Party disciplines and national laws.

The Hubei Daily reported on Wednesday that several Party members were punished for taking drugs in Hubei’s capital, Wuhan.

The Mentuhui cult, which boasts of tens of thousands of followers, has spread pseudoscience and evil thought under the guise of Christianity, according to the Xinhua News Agency in September 2016.

Classified as a cult by the Chinese government in the 1990s, the cult amassed more than 40 million yuan ($6 million) between 2011 and 2014 through donations and businesses, according to Yu Shaochao, deputy police chief of Yunxi county, Hubei Province.