China and Religious Freedom

According to an article in Yahoo news, President Bush told the Chinese not to be afraid of religion, but is he right? First, let me just say that the real fundamental freedoms we Americans cherish are the freedom of speech and the freedom of thought. Both necessarily require the freedom to observe whichever religion one wishes in the open without fear of reprisal. However, that still leaves the question, does China have something to fear in religion? The response is certainly "yes." There is no better example than America itself, an allegedly secular state where religion is one of the single most important factors in determining who will be elected President, if not the most important. This fact places great power in the hands of the religious leaders and institutions in our country. I am not going to get into whether or not that is a good thing, however, it shows that at the very least religion poses a threat to the government of China, because it creates powerful institutions who could use their power against the government.

An important concept to address with respect to this issue, is the idea of "memes." This is a concept articulated by Richard Dawkins, which essentially states that ideas can often behave like genes or viruses. Certain memes are more successful than others at replicating, and those ideas are more likely to be expressed in the population. I am not in the least an expert on memes, so I encourage the reader to research the concept on their own. But, to my knowledge, almost any idea can be a meme. Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, communism, capitalism, all are memes. Christianity and Islam are examples of highly contagious memes, while Zoroastrianism clearly has trouble replicating in the modern age, though it was at one point very popular in the Middle East. Communism is obviously a major meme in China. The problem is that many memes, like Christianity and Islam, are mutually exclusive. These memes compete with each other, which is why Muslim countries and communities go to such great lengths to censor non-muslim memes. The Chinese Communism meme is mutually exclusive with religion because it is explicitly Atheistic. Since these memes are competitors, it makes sense for China to want to exclude it.

That being said, there are far wiser ways of dealing with religion than by banning it. The problem with a religion isn't its adherents, but its leaders. Not only that, but the free market approach to religion used in America leads to a kind of survival-of-the-fittest, leaving the most appealing and financially successful religions to flourish. In addition, the tax free status of such organizations gives added incentive to silver-tongued swindlers interested in getting their hands on that donation money. This raises another important point, those donations are tax exempt! That means that religious organizations are basically taking money out of the hands of the government. And the Chinese government shouldn't be afraid? Whether right or wrong, nobody likes money taken out of their pocket.

The key is limiting the amount of money the organizations and leaders make. Keep the incomes modest and the only people you'll see preaching are the truly devoted... which is whom the religious people should want to be preaching to them anyway! Denying the organizations tax free status would be a big first step in the right direction. Step two would be somehow limiting the amount of money people can donate, and denying those donations tax exempt status. Maybe limit the contributions to that amount which is sufficient to allow one church to function, which would include salaries and upkeep. Any surplus could be given to the government for community projects. Step three would be to ban any major organizations from forming. The aim should be to actively promote Atheism, while fostering a community of small, independent Churches, Temples and Mosques, all independent from one another, all strictly financially regulated, but free to express whichever opinion they desire.