“Socially speaking, spirituality/religion is the glue of society and provides norms for a functional society. After many decades of religious suppression until the end of the Cultural Revolution, China is returning to the normal pattern of spirituality/religion in society. Therefore, I as a sociologist of religion anticipate continuous increase of spiritual pursuers and religious believers in China in the coming years,” Yang said.

On China’s “atheism”, he said: “In the last three to four decades, many religions have revived and grown. It is no longer accurate to say ‘atheist China’ even though atheism continues to be the official orthodoxy of the Communist Party of China and indoctrinated in schools and universities.”

He said there are CPC officials who are more “open towards religion and want to follow the constitutional principle of religious freedom. But such individuals are in weaker positions.”

Sarah Cook from the Washington-based Freedom House said the CPC “has been fairly consistent about crackdown on religious or spiritual groups that garner a large following seemingly outside party control.”

“The largest and most severe such example is the eradication campaign launched against Falun Gong in 1999 after it grew to have 100 million followers, which was more than the number of CPC members,” said Cook, whose US government-funded NGO works on democracy and political freedom.

source : Hindustan Times