WaPo 'On Faith': The Rise Of Religion In China

The Washington Post:

Some in the West may find the idea of debating religion in China strange. They will cite, for example, that proselytising in public places in China remains forbidden. But few are aware that Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam and Daoism are all officially recognized and almost one third of Chinese describing themselves as religious -- an astonishing figure for an officially atheist country where religion was banned until three decades ago.

Read the whole story: The Washington Post

Comments

[Enock Zamora]

03:12 PM on 08/07/2010

For those that have searched the 'Akashic' records, China and Russia, will play a big part of the Christian religion.

[Jeff Forsythe]

01:22 PM on 08/06/2010

There are 100 million Falun Dafa(Falun Gong) practitioners in China that are being persecuted by the brutal Chinese Communist Party.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution Tuesday, Mar.16, 2010, urging the Chinese Communist Party to end its decade-long campaign against Falun Gong and expressing solidarity with victims of persecution in China.

House Resolution 605 recognizes, “the continued persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China on the 11th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party campaign to suppress the Falun Gong spiritual movement and calling for an immediate end to the campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison, and torture Falun Gong practitioners.” “The Falun Gong spiritual discipline is based on truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance,” said Ros-Lehtinen. “Yet these innocents are brutally targeted by the Chinese regime. The stark reality which this resolution addresses gives new meaning to the phrase 'Butchers of Beijing.’
Thank you for your consideration.

[ZenGardner]

07:29 AM on 08/06/2010

@StephenJK
5 hours ago (2:51 AM)

Tao Te Ching is hardly superstitious.

----------------------\\

Why are you telling me this? Didn't you see that I was only recounting what I was told? If you you what to be argumentative, please do so with the Chinese folks who believe it, not me.

[Occam123]

01:14 AM on 08/06/2010

There's the allure of forbidden, of course. It looks so much more appealing.
Same reaction happened after the fall of USSR. A legion of religious quacks swamped the region eager for more indoctrinated followers.
.
This is very, very negative development for Chinese country in general and Chinese people in particular.

[KOisGod]

06:49 PM on 08/05/2010

That the Chinese are turning to religion, whatever form that may be, is understandable. After 60 years of denying the spiritual, and holding up man's infallibility as the new God, enforced by threat of death for those who don't "get" the new religion of Communism, then yes, it's natural to see the rebound. But if the Chinese people pick back up the crown of colonial, European religions, then they won't advance much. I'd hope they pick a new direction, for they have been given their new freedom to choose something more 21st century.

I hold out hope we can move away from the religions of Kali Yuga, and turn our eyes upward, toward the religion of discovery, toward mysticism, toward our own self realization.

[lonngfello]

11:37 PM on 08/03/2010

Mr. Blair,

Can you explain how you took the statement below into consideration in regards to, your part and invovement in, the invasion of Iraq?

"One of the crucial questions for people of faith - and for those who are not - is how does interfaith dialogue impact on international policy-making? How does faith and dialogue motivate and influence decisions on a global scale? "

[TheFriendlyAtheist]

08:30 PM on 08/03/2010

The government of any state should stay out of the religious beliefs of its people. As an atheist I would rather see everyone in China convert to some religion than see atheism imposed by the government.

[PlayTOE]

07:21 PM on 08/03/2010

Religions /// always trying to BS their way into new areas.
The idea of rewarding planned ignorance should be a total turn off ... but people do like rewards.

( There is a sucker born every minute, and it seems religions have tapped into the Chinese supply )

[Aardvaark]

03:52 AM on 08/04/2010

They've tapped into the Chinese supply because it hasn't been available to them for 60 years in mainline China.

[smittlib77]

05:20 PM on 08/04/2010

Religion has been, actually. There's just no proselytizing, which is actually a good thing. Self discovery of religion allows you to decide for yourself if you want it or not, and what you want to follow. An athiestic/secular government is the best of all forms.

[nycgirl00]

03:29 PM on 08/03/2010

The Chinese will abandon Christianity as soon as the power shifts. From my experience, most Chinese people are obsessed with being Western. They pretend to be Christian to fit into white, especially American society. It's ridiculous. That was the running joke at my college.

[enigmatic zero]

03:58 PM on 08/03/2010

I for one couldn't understand why people from such a rich and ancient culture with thousand of years of history would want to ape that of others.

ps: I don't want to generalize, but this was the experience i had with a lot of new Chinese migrants.

[Aardvaark]

03:56 AM on 08/04/2010

It's a rich and ancient culture to us because it's unfamiliar.

There has been a diaspora of Chinese for centuries. They want to fit in, instead of being the cultural imperialists like we tend to be. They have done this in most nations they have spread to.

[SilentSolidarity]

04:14 PM on 08/03/2010

Then your college must have been pretty racist.

[nycgirl00]

04:19 PM on 08/03/2010

No I went to a very liberal college. Even other normal Chinese students made fun of the whitewashed Chinese.

[enigmatic zero]

05:07 PM on 08/03/2010

What nycgirl says is quite true. When i was a college student (in the ultra liberal cali bay area) the same thing happened. not because most of the non chinese students wanted the Chinese students to adopt such a western name...but because some of the bad apples or less tolerant ones always kept on saying "hey your name is too hard..is there a nickname we can use"?

those who ask for a nickname might not even realize what they are doing...and might even have wholly good intentions...but unknowingly they perpetuate this cycle where the east asian students are led to believe that their name would not allow them to fit in...and thus they ought to change their names.

oft when one asks the name of a Chinese student in college they are bound to give you a western name..but if one persists and lest them know that you would rather make the effort to pronounce their real name, they really appreciate it.

it would be a poor world indeed if everyone is a jack or a William or a Jeniffer:P diversity makes the world much more interesting.

[hyjanks]

02:47 PM on 08/03/2010

Well, it's obvious that this gain in popularity of worshipping mythical, magical beings can very easily be chalked up by just looking at the numbers: With a population of well over a billion "souls", there's bound to be millions upon millions of ignorant peasants whose lives are so miserable from toiling the rice fields that any promise of a better life after death will be a "god send".

[SilentSolidarity]

04:21 PM on 08/03/2010

1. You don't know anything about where those religious people live.
2. You don't know anything about their education, yet you assume they must be stupid.
3. You apply your understanding of the Western culture to a culture, thousands of years older with a completely different philosophy.

You are the best example of Atheist fundamentalism. Your ignorant, biased, and chauvinist comment says alot about how atheists like you think about people who don't choose to reject faith. Shameful and disgusting. You remind me of the very same religious fundamentalist who do the exact same thing that you do.

[Aardvaark]

04:18 AM on 08/04/2010

I agree partially with you, in that Christianity doesn't necessarily appeal to just Chinese peasants. I am an atheist who came from an Evangelical Fundamentalist Christian background of parents who were missionaries in China.

My faith is that there is no god, but I can comprehend why people choose to believe in god or use religion to try to make sense of the world around them.

Silent Solidarity, I also disagree with you. Chinese philosophy is not unitary. There are probably more different cosmologies in China as we have Christian sects.

The animistic nature of practiced Chinese religions, not the theoretical that we read in texts often makes it easy for them to adapt the magical Christian beings and our concept of an afterlife.

I wouldn't call hyjanks a fundamentalist, just uninformed.

[enigmatic zero]

05:11 PM on 08/03/2010

I'm an atheist myself, but this is probably not the best way to go about spreading the message. not every peasant is ignorant..nor is their lifestyle oft of their own choosing.

[Jeremyewilliams]

12:45 PM on 08/03/2010

Nooo! China you are supposed to be the ones moving forward!

[PMJ79]

07:17 PM on 08/03/2010

The PRC moves forward, alright. In tanks. Over the bodies of its people.

[jjdrma]

12:43 PM on 08/03/2010

the evangelists and missionaries, including the ilk of tony blair (HE HAD EMBRACED CATHOLICISM AFTER HIS RETIREMENT from politics) have been firmly encamped in the land of dragon. The dragon has no way of getting back to its own ancient faiths, So, if at all it manages, it will be the surprise of the millennium. South Korea has already been usurped by hte evangelists. Good luck china, im sure soon you will discuss the lines in your national anthem with Rome...

[enigmatic zero]

12:37 PM on 08/03/2010

I really hope the Chinese, if they ever get back into the religion thingie..stick to their traditional ones.

The last thing one wants to see is Chinese culture/religion destroyed the same way by a some alien religion the same way it was destroyed(albeit in a different manner) under the communist regime.

[PMJ79]

07:20 PM on 08/03/2010

Anything is preferable to Chinese Communism.

[enigmatic zero]

07:39 PM on 08/03/2010

I wouldn't go as far...both Communism and certain uncompromising religious traditions share a lot of similarities....

#The desire to claim that their path is the only path
#The wanton destruction/discrimination of/against things/ideas/buildings/cultural practices that does not conform with their agenda/worldview
#The willingness to explain away any form of atrocity in the name of "it was evil so we had to fight it"
etc
etc

[andycan]

09:44 AM on 08/03/2010

THE BEAUTY OF TAOISM

China has Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism which served her well for at least four thousand years.

In my view, Mr. Blair, the last thing China needs is the exclusivism and fanaticism induced by the abrahamic religions.

British Christian missionaries helped implant European business interests, including narcotics dealing in China during the nineteenth century.

I propose that China be left to her own devices spiritually: she has developed maybe the most elegant and artistically-inspiring mysticism the world has ever known.

[R U Sirius]

10:11 AM on 08/03/2010

Fanned, and thanks.

[enigmatic zero]

12:40 PM on 08/03/2010

i saw your post after posting mine, we pretty much have the same pov in this issue :)

btw Buddhism came from india, but it has been part and parcel of Chinese culture for millennia, and also as all the eastern religions share a lot of common themes/worldview, its not alien to China as the Abrahamic religions would be.

ps: on a related note, i also hope that some east Asian people, (especially the younger ones) would hold on to their traditional names and not adopt names such as "William"..or "jenny'..etc etc when they move outside their countries.

[ZenGardner]

12:49 PM on 08/03/2010

Kind of sad commentary... The Chinese people I work(ed) with who emigrated from China had little more than a superstitious view of Buddhism and Taoism. All were Christian - one was even a Jehovah's Witness. There is even a Chinese Christian church not far from my house.