Who gets to define religion? Actually, the better question is – who gets to redefine religion? Maybe even who defines “of”. We’re looking at China in this series, but the same issues come up everywhere. It’s all about who sets the rules. One thing we can be sure of – it’s not God. Not in China. And not in my country or yours either.
Can the atheist government in China redefine religion? Read More »
Citizens have freedom of religious belief. That’s the English translation of something from China’s Religious Affairs Regulations. But is it really true?
Remember, China is a Communist country. And an officially atheist one as well. We must be forgiven if we doubt those fine-sounding words. Especially after reading part 1 of this series.
Remember, Article 1 of these regulations included the text, “increase the level of legalification in work on religion” as one of the stated goals for putting them into law. How does that even make sense?
Citizens have freedom of religious belief? Read More »
What is freedom of religion? It depends. Who gets to define freedom? And who defines religion? Maybe even who defines “of”. We’re looking at China in this series, but the same issues come up everywhere. It’s all about who sets the rules. One thing we can be sure of – it’s not God. Not in China. And not in my country or yours either.
Here’s the thing about freedom – of religion or of anything. See that eagle flying around in the sky? That eagle is free. But he’s probably looking for someone to eat. Something alive. And when the eagle finds his target, a little bit of freedom is lost. A life is gone. And the eagle remains free.
With people, freedom of religion is kind of like that. Someone’s “flying around” above us. Someone who either doesn’t like our religion, or likes theirs better. Sometimes they hate our religion so much they want to kill it. If they’re strong enough – they can certainly take out individual people. Even any given church building. But can they destroy an entire religion?
What is freedom of religion? Read More »
