Religious
Boom in China after Quake (The regime is wary)
Donga Ilbo ^ | 06/10/08
Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2008
9:04:42 PM
We continue to see by the Spirit of the Lord that
Christians will gain religious freedom in
Religious Boom in
As religious gatherings for the victims of the
▽ Worships and Buddhist service for
earthquake victims
The Buddhist Association of China held a
large-scale service for those who were killed or displaced by the earthquake on
May 14, two days after the disaster occurred, at
Yonghegong Lama, a Tibetan Buddhist temple in
Lianhe Zaobao, a Singaporean newspaper,
reported that all kinds of religious groups, including Buddhists, Catholics,
Christians, Muslims and Taoists, are stepping forward and hold large-scale
gatherings for the spirits of the victims.
▽ Sense of uncertainty increased the number
of believers
The Chinese government has never disclosed
statistics on the country’s religious population. According to data from China`s state news agency Xinhua
and Baidu, China`s most
popular search engine, the State Religious Affairs Bureau estimates that there
are about 100 million believers.
However, a poll of 4,500 Chinese men and women
aged 16 and older conducted by a professor at Huadong
Teachers` University in Shanghai in 2005 revealed that the number of believers
in the country is estimated to be around 300 million, almost triple the
government figure.
Experts say that such an explosive increase in
religious population, which stood at just 20 to 30 million before the 1978
market opening of the country, is caused by the increasing number of people
feeling a sense of uncertainty about their future in the market economy,
different from the planned economy, which had guaranteed basic livelihoods for
them. Another reason is believed to be the increasing gap in income and wealth
among people.
Furthermore, there are circulating rumors that “a
disaster comes on the day that the sum of month and date equals eight, as in
the case with the bloody protest for independence of Tibet on March 14 and the
Sichuan earthquake on May 12” or that “a massive flood will come next.” These
rumors are also prompting people worried about their safety to seek religious
facilities.
▽ Worries about side effects
However, the Chinese government even permitted
missionary work by Taiwanese Buddhists so that those displaced from the
earthquake can find consolation and prevent their discontentment from spiraling
into rage.
But, as those victims increasingly are flocking to
religious facilities in the disaster area and religious groups are holding
prayer events one after another,
However, a leading researcher at