BEIJING--Plans for the first new churches to be built in the capital in more than 50 years are evidence of the freedom of worship in China, government officials and local Christian leaders say. But Knight-Ridder/Tribune reports indicate that new plans have not erased the old problem of Christians in China who face harassment and persecution.

China's Communist government, officially atheistic, controls religion and permits Christians to worship only in state-run churches. Rules for those churches mandate allegiance to the party first and ban baptism and Sunday school for children. Proselytizing also is forbidden.

Because of the strict censure on Christian worship, millions of Chinese Christians avoid state churches and worship in unofficial "house" churches. If caught, members risk punishment.

Government arrests have become more common in the last several years as the growth of Christianity expands in China. The government is suspicious of Christianity partly because of the history of colonialism and foreign missionaries in China. But some say the country has made large religious strides.

Gao Ying, a Beijing minister and vice president of the Beijing Christian Council, said she found it "frustrating" that the foreign media sees only religious oppression in China rather than the progress for Christianity since the Cultural Revolution.

"You make your judgments compared to Western standards, when we compare it to 30 or 40 years ago, during the Cultural Revolution, when all churches were closed down and Christians were persecuted," said Gao.

Gao's church reopened in the early 1980s and attracted 300 worshippers. Today it serves 4,000. She said she sensed a religious awakening among young, educated people "searching for meaning" and finding it in Christianity.

"There is a spiritual longing in society--people longing for love," she said. "When they come to the church they feel embraced by love and the community."

But Christianity remains bridled, even with the withering of the communist belief system and welcome of foreign influences and capitalism. The official Protestant Church claims 10 million, while 50 million or more are estimated to worship at unofficial churches. The official Catholic Church has about 5 million members, plus 8 million underground members.

New Protestant churches in Beijing have been planned since 1998 but weren't built because of funding and approval, according to Chinese ministers.

Views of Christianity vary across the country. Fundamentalist sects have been targeted. But local political and religious leaders largely determine how unofficial churches operate.

The U.S. State Department called respect for religious freedom in China "poor" because Christianity is so closely controlled by the government.