While I was in the bed I truned on KERA(PBS i think) and they were doing a piece on china;I heard them say that China is officially an aethiest state;mainly becuase they have some kind of elite chineese govermental club or something& them members are not allowed to believe in any religion.
What do you think?
2007-01-16 10:56:28 · 27 answers · asked by Maurice H 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
There may be an "eilite governmental club" where members must profess atheism, but China has many believers of many religions.
Religion plays a significant part in the life of many Chinese. Buddhism is most widely practiced, with an estimated 100 million adherents. Traditional Taoism also is practiced. Official figures indicate there are 20 million Muslims, 5 million Catholics, and 15 million Protestants; unofficial estimates are much higher.
While the Chinese constitution affirms religious toleration, the Chinese Government places restrictions on religious practice outside officially recognized organizations. Only two Christian organizations--a Catholic church without official ties to Rome and the "Three-Self-Patriotic" Protestant church--are sanctioned by the Chinese Government. Unauthorized churches have sprung up in many parts of the country and unofficial religious practice is flourishing. In some regions authorities have tried to control activities of these unregistered churches. In other regions, registered and unregistered groups are treated similarly by authorities and congregations worship in both types of churches. Most Chinese Catholic bishops are recognized by the Pope, and official priests have Vatican approval to administer all the sacraments.
2007-01-16 11:04:08 · answer #1 · answered by MyPreshus 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's a pretty simple interpretation. Communism, as a rule, is supposed to treat everyone equally. That's why there can be no 'saved' or 'unsaved' people, since all are required to work and live according to the same rules. Religion is not necessary theoretically, so communism is officially atheistic. It is powered by the People, not by some divine mandate. That doesn't mean people in China don't believe in their own gods or deities, just that the government isn't supposed to put anything above the people. It doesn't always work that way in practice, since no matter who you vote for, the government always seems to get in.
I highly recommend that you also read about the history of missionaries in China, and why Christians aren't necessarily so welcome over there, especially in certain towns.
2007-01-16 11:03:00 · answer #2 · answered by auntiegrav 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am a Chinese that live in Beijing and I can tell you that we don't have a so-called 'elite govermental'. And we are NOT aethiest, it is ture that we don't have a state religion but we house a large number or buddhist and people that belive in Christianity. We are allowed to believe in any religion but the goverment wouldn't recommend you to do that.
2007-01-17 02:07:27 · answer #3 · answered by chankljp 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, they have Church at home and get killed for it. Yet they choose to do it anyhow.
Many Christians choose however to meet independently of these organizations, typically in house churches. These fellowships are not officially registered and are seen as illegal entities and are often persecuted heavily. For this reason some meetings take place underground, coining the term "underground church". These Christians have been persecuted throughout the 20th century, especially during the Cultural Revolution, and there remains some official harassment in the form of arrests and interrogations of Chinese Christians. At the same time, there has been increasing tolerance of house churches since the late 1970s.
2007-01-16 11:04:10 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
I think that blows a hole in one guys statement a few months back saying that Christianity was growing at a rate of like a hundred thousand a day or some unrealistic number in China. I mean this guy was nice and I enjoyed emailing him, but he was seriously deluded by a fake number he was giving by some preacher.
2007-01-16 11:06:09 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Good for china, btw if you do missionary work you get jailed, i think its fair because of all the things religious folk have done over the centuries, btw china is Buddhist and not atheist.
2007-01-16 11:03:18 · answer #6 · answered by uzumakinarutoninjafox 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
PBS is not exactly a good source of non-biased information.
Historically China has believed in the Divinity of their emperor.
and many mystical traditions come from China.
2007-01-16 11:01:18 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Of course. All single-party Communist countries are atheist. They are dogmatically Communist, which considers religion antithetical to communal state government. Cuba is also an atheist country, and when eastern Europe was under Communist control, the same was true of most of those states, as well.
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2007-01-16 11:00:24 · answer #8 · answered by NHBaritone 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well yea... Communism does not allow for mythical characters in their doctrine. As Mao declared "Religion is the opiate of the masses".
North Korea, Cuba and the old Russia also prohibited mythical air dieties.
2007-01-16 11:01:01 · answer #9 · answered by Dane 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Did you know that there are perhaps 100 million or more believers in Jesus Christ who meet illegally in church homes, and that many of them suffer persecution to the point of imprisonment and death? If you are interested in more on this go to WWW.Asiaharvest.org
2007-01-16 11:03:21 · answer #10 · answered by wefmeister 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋