"Wang Zuoan, head of the State Administration of Religious Affairs, said there had been an explosion of religious belief in China along with the nation's economic boom, which he attributed to a desire for reassurance in an increasingly complex world.
While religion could be a force for good in officially atheist China,
it was important to ensure people were not mislead, he told the Study
Times, a newspaper published by the Central Party School which trains
rising officials.
"For a ruling
party which follows Marxism, we need to help people establish a correct
world view and to scientifically deal with birth, ageing, sickness and
death, as well as fortune and misfortune, via popularizing scientific
knowledge," he said, in rare public comments on the government's
religious policy.
"But we must
realize that this is a long process and we need to be patient and work
hard to achieve it," Wang added in the latest issue of the Study Times,
which reached subscribers on Sunday.
"Religion
has been around for a very long time, and if we rush to try to push for
results and want to immediately 'liberate' people from the influence of
religion, then it will have the opposite effect and push people in the
opposite direction."
About half of
China's religious followers are Christians or Muslims, with the other
half Buddhists or Daoists, he said, admitting the real total number of
believers was probably much higher than the official estimate of 100
million"
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/21/us-china-religion-idUSBRE93K02D20130421
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