Which God Saves? → religious freedom

Religion and the law. Are we protecting laws from religion?

Protecting laws from religion? Management of religious affairs is about protecting what is lawful. That last sentence is the English translation of something from China’s Religious Affairs Regulations. But does that even make sense? China claims their citizens have freedom of religious belief. So shouldn’t laws about religion be concerned with protecting those religions?

What’s this thing about protecting the law from religion? It sounds so backwards. And yet, is it even unusual? We claim to have religious freedom in the U.S. So do many countries. But are we really doing anything different than China? In other words, is the real issue that China isn’t hiding what they’re doing? Let’s find out.

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Chinese citizens have the freedom of religious belief

Citizens have freedom of religious belief?

General religion topics in China

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?

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Christians – are you afraid of politicians?

Politics and religion

Christians – are you afraid of politicians? Donald Trump seems to think you are. Or at least hope you are. But really, the question is deeper than that.

But first, let’s get into why the question even comes up. It’s because of an article from Politico, titled‘Dangerous levels of contempt’: Trump deploys a convention to attack Dems on religion. A short excerpt will shed light on what’s happening.

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Religious freedom in China

General religion topics in China

To some, the idea of religious freedom in China sounds like an oxymoron. You know – a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction. Given that China is an officially atheist country, “religion” in China certainly isn’t what people in the so-called west expect. Further, the concept of freedom of religion in an atheist country like China is, if it’s possible, even more of an oxymoron.

And yet …

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