Study: Rising Religious Tide in China

[lakhota]

One of the last great efforts at state-sponsored atheism is a failure.

And not just any kind of failure. China has enforced its anti-religion policy through decades of repression, coercion and persecution, but the lack of success is spectacular, according to a major new study.

No more than 15 percent of adults in the world's most populous country are "real atheists." 85 percent of the Chinese either hold some religious beliefs or practice some kind of religion, according to the Chinese Spiritual Life Survey.

Members of the Chinese Communist Party and Youth League are required to be atheists, yet 17 percent of them self-identified with a religion and 65 percent indicated they had engaged in religious practices in the last year, reported sociologist Fenggang Yang of Purdue University, a lead researcher in the project.

The notion of China as a secular nation with little or no religion is "silly," said sociologist Rodney Stark of Baylor University, another principal investigator.

"It's a pretty religious bunch of folks if you follow what they're doing," he said.

Buddhist, Christian Growth

In a nation with few sources of independent data on religion, the spiritual life survey represents one of the best pictures to date of the Chinese religious landscape. The 2007 survey involved a random national sample of 7,021 people ages 16 and older in 56 locales throughout mainland China.

The results find a middle ground between the official government figure of 100 million religious believers and extreme projections of growth that estimate the number of Christians has become as high as 130 million.

Among the findings:

• Buddhism is the largest religion in China, with about 18 percent, or 185 million people, self-identifying as Buddhists. Another 31 percent of respondents reported having at least one Buddhist belief or participating in at least one Buddhist practice. More than 12 percent of Chinese Communist Party members self-identified as Buddhists.

• About 3.2 percent of the population, or 33 million adults, self-identified as Christians. Again, however, an additional 40 million people said they believed in the existence of Jesus Christ or participated in Christian activities.

• Among popular religious practices, the results indicate up to 754 million people practice ancestor worship, including attending and maintaining ancestral temples, venerating ancestor tablets at home or visiting graves to honor ancestral spirits. About 145 million people observed fengshui restrictions or consulted a fengshui master in the past year.

The actual numbers may be even higher. Religious affiliation still can have consequences in China, from loss of jobs to prison, so researchers note that participants may be reluctant even in an anonymous survey to identify with religion. That is a particular concern with faiths such as Christianity that have been special objects of attack by authorities.

Using one model testing that theory, researchers found a closer ballpark estimate of Chinese Christians may be in "the low 60 millions," Stark said.

More: www.huffingtonpost.com/david-briggs/study-rising-religious-ti_b_811665.html

Chinese Spiritual Life Survey: www.thearda.com/archive/files/descriptions/origCB/SPRTCHNA%20questionnaire.pdf

[lakhota]

As an Atheist, I must say that Buddhism makes much more sense to me than Christianity.

buddhismbeliefs.org/

www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism1.htm

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If atheism is the absence of belief in gods, then many Buddhists are, indeed, atheists.

Buddhism is not about either believing or not believing in God or gods. Rather, the historical Buddha taught that believing in gods was not useful for those seeking to realize enlightenment. In other words, God is unnecessary in Buddhism. For this reason, Buddhism is more accurately called nontheistic than atheistic.

The Buddha also plainly said that he was not a god, but "awakened."

buddhism.about.com/od/basicbuddhistteachings/a/buddhaatheism.htm

[Loopdilou]

No religion (or lack thereof) should be mandated. That was their mistake.

I might be an Atheist, but I wouldn't force anyone to believe like me. That would be against my "religion"

[lakhota]

[workpublic]

they are coming to Christ in large numbers too, Hallelujah!

[ChiTownVenture]

It's debatable whether Buddhism is a religion, since you can practice Buddhism while still maintaining your beliefs in other religions. There are clergyman of different faiths (including Christian) that practice Buddhism.

As an Atheist and a practicing Buddhist I wouldn't say that what I believe and/or practice is in any way a religion, it is more a way of thinking, and acting. A way of living.

There is no dogma with Buddhism, Gautama Buddha said take my teachings, use what works and leave what doesn't. He was an enlightened teacher nothing more, nothing less. There are many comparables that can be applied to the teachings and beliefs of Buddhists and Christians/Jews/Muslims etc.

[reasonfreedom]

Belief in God is fine with me it is religion that I have a problem with.

Religion leads to crusades and terrorism. Religion leads to lunacy and fanatics.

[billisonboard]

“Spirituality is an individual journey. Problems arise when you start to carpool.”

Posted on MSNBC message board by “Frustrated Canadian”

[Tennesseer]

No more than 15 percent of adults in the world's most populous country are "real atheists." 85 percent of the Chinese either hold some religious beliefs or practice some kind of religion, according to the Chinese Spiritual Life Survey.

Those numbers are similar to the number of religious believers in the United States.

[handyman2]

The history of the anti Christian attitude in China goes all the way back to the British and French rule of China. The British and French touted their religious philosophy all the while the Brits were pushing and selling Opium to the Chineese population and creating a huge market for their Opium. More than once there were rebellions against the British over the selling of Opium to the people. Once a whole fleet of British ships were burned in the harbor loaded with Opium. Many Chineese were killed during the rebellions and the Chinesse concluded that if this was what christianity was about they did not need it and actually outlawed it. The French sided with Brition and as a result many priests and Catholic laymenwere slain and their churches burned. China's history is a very interesting read.

[billisonboard]

And, btw, a single survey can not show a "rising" anything. It is simply a snapshot showing no action.

[Tennesseer]

Jan 24, 2011 11:56:48 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

Belief in God is fine with me it is religion that I have a problem with.

Religion leads to crusades and terrorism. Religion leads to lunacy and fanatics.

Not being a believer, I think religion is fine-even organized religion. But when you wield it like a club that is where I have a problem with it. One's religious and spiritual beliefs should be private between the individual and their god.

[ed1066]

As an Atheist, I must say that Buddhism makes much more sense to me than Christianity.

Interesting. On another thread on this board, you said this in response to a post by another member:

I'm so sad that your parents did such a poor job raising you. I will pray for you.

So, as an atheist, who are you "praying" to?

[fairlycrazy23]

Anything that undermines the totalitarianism of the State (such as religous) is probably a good thing for countries like China.

[workpublic]

worked wonders for poland