Religion in China

The People's Republic of China is officially an atheist state, but the government formally recognizes five religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam.

Quotes

• The struggle for religious freedom in China is a testament to the enduring desire for spiritual fulfillment and the right to practice one’s faith freely. It is a reminder of the importance of standing in solidarity with those who face persecution [of different kinds] and the need for continued advocacy for religious liberty as a fundamental [civil or natural] right. It’s also a reminder that compromise with the [Chinese Communist Party] is impossible.
  • Chuck DeVore, "The Devil And Communist China Tries To Prevent Future CCP Victims By Remembering Past Ones", The Federalist (April 12, 2024)

• When Protestant missionaries set up shop in China, they discovered that a native term roughly meaning “God” was Shangdi, so they appropriated this term as name of the Christian God. (Catholics preferred Tianzhu, the “Heavenly Boss”.) What they did not know, is that the Chinese language mostly does without the separate category of a plural, so the same word can be both plural and singular. Shangdi does not so much mean “the Sovereign on High”, as rather “the Powers on High”. In Chinese, even the grammar militates against the contrast between one and many. To monotheists this numerical matter is all-important, worthy of the iconoclastic destruction of all the “false gods”; but to regular people such as Hindus or Confucians and Daoists, it is just not an issue.
  • The idea of God, Dr. Elst, K. 3 September 2016 [1]

• What is the truth about the persecution of The Church of Almighty God (CAG) and other groups labeled “xie jiao” (heterodox movements, sometimes translated as “evil cults”) in China? Chinese embassies and their fellow travelers go to great lengths to claim that [the] persecution [against various groups whom the Chinese Communist Party calls "xie jiao"] is an invention of American propaganda or Western scholars…
  • Massimo Introvigne, "Court of Rome: Church of Almighty God Members Deserve the “Highest Form of Protection” as Refugees", Bitter Winter (June 27, 2024)
  • Curator's Note: For the term "xie jiao" and its etymology, see the entry 邪教 at Wiktionary.

• American anti-cultists involved in early deprogramming activities such as Rick Ross (despite his heavy criminal record) were invited to China to advise on how to deprogram Falun Gong practitioners.
  • Massimo Introvigne, "China, New White Paper Hails “Deprogramming” of “Religious Extremists”", Bitter Winter (January 30, 2024)

• China seems to have been very much similar to the West, both in the production of new religious movements and in attracting to them figures from the political left who were officially promoting the struggle against “superstition.” Reconstructions of “Chinese traditional culture” as “non-religious,” and of the rich Chinese religious pluralism as mere “folk religion” should be viewed as propaganda rather than history.
  • Massimo Introvigne, "New Religious Movements in China: They Were Always There", Bitter Winter (June 27, 2020)

External links

• "If Your Religion is a Xie Jiao, You Go to Jail – But What Is A Xie Jiao?" by Massimo Introvigne, Bitter Winter (August 9, 2018)