Religion in China

Chinese constitution – Article 36 – says “enjoy freedom of religious belief”, but
government only recognizes
o Buddhism
o Taoism
o Islam
o Catholicism
o Protestantism
• Communist Party of China is atheist
o According to US state department CCP demands expulsion of the party members who belong to religious organizations but still a lot of members do practice their faith. It is not a big problem if you practice it through a state –sanctioned way
• The ruling elite is not religious at all and there are very few religious practitioners
• Government views religious practitioners as charlatans who take advantage of people
• Chinese Christians are a minority .
• The Chinese Catholic Church is growing in numbers, enjoying relative freedom of worship
o Supervised by government
o Pope cannot appoint bishops and cardinals
o Many Chinese Catholics belong to an illegal underground church
o State limits the number of people who can join each church

Let’s see who will win: the constitution or the well-anchored politicians? It is funny to note that religion which is maybe the highest form of organization, is cut off by another organization: the rulers’ organization.

Sources:

• http://www.usccb.net/church-updates/UnderstandingRCCinChina.pdf
• http://www.theworld.org/2013/03/catholics-china/
• http://atheism.about.com/library/world/AJ/bl_ChinaIndex.htm
• http://www.cfr.org/china/religion-china/p16272