Keep hostile foreign forces out of China’s peaceful religious environment

[Robert Carbonneau]

By Mi Guanghong
Source:Global Times Published: 2015-1-28 21:53:08

China's religious groups have either established or restored friendly relationship with their counterparts in most countries and regions in the world, and have proactively worked with international religious organizations to safeguard peace as well as promote dialogue.

In the globalized times, the encounter of different religions and cultures often produces new religious thoughts and schools of faiths. Since it came into place, religion has always been used by political forces as an important way to practice their political strategies, which gives religion its increasing influence in social life. It is more than a matter of faith.

China's open policy has allowed extensive exchanges of culture, thoughts and religions in addition to capital and technology.

Many overseas religious organizations now consider China the biggest faith market worldwide and endeavor to do missionary work and expand their presence in China by all means. The formation of electronic networks has considerably accelerated and expanded the outreach of foreign organizations in China.

Meanwhile, to counter China's rise, some Western countries seek to exert pressure on China in regard to human rights, ethnic issues and religion as they run out of military and economic means. They also employ universal values and public opinion to stigmatize China's international image.

Today religion has become a commodity that can be marketed by religious organizations to those believers and potential ones.

Such a marketization pushes religious organizations to compete for more presence and measures a religion by numbers, which severely diminishes the scope of a faith.

It's hard to give an accurate number for religious followers in China given the status quo and complexity, with the official number standing at more than 100 million. But it is indisputable that the number of China's believers keeps growing.

People in central and eastern China, attracted by the mysterious Tibetan Buddhism, introduce it to these regions, while believers in eastern China take business opportunities to preach in western China. Overseas hostile forces want to contend for believers and disrupt freedom of faith by preaching in western China and border areas. So in the long run, the religious ecology will become more diverse.

Resisting religious penetration requires the coordination of multiple parties. Specifically, religions need to be handled differently according to their own features.

When dealing with emergency incidents related to religion, efforts are needed to detach them from religion and make them less sensitive.

Socialized management is best in administrating religions. Religious heads and property should have their social attributes highlighted while religious behaviors such as preaching have their legal aspect emphasized.

Moreover, efforts are also needed to regulate the religious activities of foreigners. It is necessary to set up leaders' coordination and working mechanism to resist religious penetration.

All in all, it's imperative to closely watch the influence of the development of international religions on Chinese ones, uphold our independence and stick to the leadership in terms of religions to safeguard China's national security.

* The author is a scholar of religious studies based in Beijing.