The Motivations Of China's Religious Persecution
Why China Restricts Religion - A Matter of Statism and Revolution
Apr 27, 2009
While this article examines the motivations behind Chinese policy, the restrictions themselves are discussed in these other articles.
China May Be Motivated By Statism
One possible reason for China’s behavior has to do with its desire to assert its power as the state over its people. China itself has no opposition to religion, but its policy of closely monitoring religious groups shows that the state is concerned with people believing in “illegal religions.” By making beliefs illegal, the Chinese assert that a secular, atheist government is more important than anything else in the lives of its people.
For instance, at the Olympic games in Beijing, the Chinese provided spaces for religious worship to foreign visitors, but these spaces were not open to the Chinese populace. This is, in effect, a statement by the Chinese that the right to religion is a state right and not a human right, which in turn is indicative of a belief that the state has more power and rights than the individual.
China May Be Trying to Prevent a Revolution
The International Coalition for Religious Freedom stated in a paper on May 9, 2004 that the Chinese government fears a link between religion and separatist movements. The paper points to empirical examples such as the role of the Catholic church in breaking the Soviet Union’s grip in Eastern Europe during the 1990s.
China May Be Trying to Break Ethnic Bonds
With the understanding that organized religion has the power to break the strength of a state, the Chinese government has likely taken many of its measures in the interests of self-preservation. Likewise, ethnic groups that retain separate identities from the Chinese model often associate with a given religion.
As the Uighur people in Western China associate with Islam, the Tibetan people are generally affiliated with Buddhism. In this regard, a group of people unified by a religion have access to an ethnic commonality, something which threatens the stability of Chinese collectivist ideals because they create divisions within what ought to be seen as a homogeneous group of people.
China May Trace its Motivation to the Cultural Revolution
China’s anti-religious stances may lend themselves to the ideology of its cultural revolution. As the CIA world fact book points out, the government’s official religion is atheism. This stands in contrast to many western nations which instead opt for no official religion.
The zealous atheism of the Chinese government was best reflected in the Cultural Revolution, during which time all religion was seen as backwards and contrary to social progress. While the government has become more relaxed toward religion, it owes much of its modern thought to the Cultural Revolution.
Perhaps in a way then, the Chinese government continues to distrust religion overall. Government policy could very well be part of an ongoing effort to modernize China and bring it out of what it sees as a superstitious age.
China May Have Legitimate Grounds for its Laws
Of course, despite the fact that the state may be overly zealous with regards to its religious policies, China must be credited with the fact that some religions do pose a genuine threat to the people of China. The government outlined this philosophy in a 1997 statement in The White Paper that reads:
"... since the 1980’s, some pernicious organizations have sprung up in certain areas of China which engage in illegal and even criminal activities under the signboard of religion. Some of the heads of these pseudo-religions distort religious doctrines, create heresies, deceive the masses, refuse to obey the State’s laws and decrees, and incite people to overthrow the government."
The White Paper correctly points out that not all religious groups have the noble intent of upholding personal integrity. Just as some cults within the United States have the potential to ruin lives or divide families, so too do they have this potential in China. That the government has an obligation to protect its people is certain. For the Chinese, this protective obligation is extended to protection from brainwashing groups, propaganda organizations, or a religious sect that in itself cuts off personal access to rights.
