Religion is a kind of social phenomenon. It does not have any ability to resolve social conflicts by itself. During a modernizing advance, Religion helped the social governing group to have social control right. This is the reason that Marxist critici...
Religion is a kind of social phenomenon. It does not have any ability to resolve social conflicts by itself. During a modernizing advance, Religion helped the social governing group to have social control right. This is the reason that Marxist criticizes religion. In the view of Marxism, religion is based on human beings' ignorance, personification and fear of the supernatural, and remains by consoling socially alienated people or answering the governing group's needs. So, when human beings resolve social alienation and the ignorance for super nature through scientific development and social advance, religion naturally passes away. But in the course of religious existence for a long time, a person can choose what religion, if any, to believe in. Because everyone has a capacity of self consciousness. So, there are religious tolerance for the choice of religious belief between person and person. In the modern age, the social development on the base of economical structure brings the social structure of non-caesaropapism and the social segmentation of religion. Moreover, the reacting process of socialist religious cognition and the individualization of choosing religious belief result in a corporative relationship between socialism and religion. In the view of Chinese socialism, pre-religious tradition and traditional religion were the cord of patriarch maintenance. In the modern age, The Western Christian Mission Strategy of Propagator Culture Centric for the Chinese mainland has brought the independence management movement of religious magisterium, it has become a basic viewpoint of Chinese communism about Western religion.
Since Chinese communism inherited the religious view of Marxism and cognizes the historical experience of traditional religion, the Chinese Government sums up four basic principles about religious policy. For instance, non-caesaropapism, the independent management of religious magisterium, a person believing in religion or not, antitheism education on socialism. From the founding of the Republic of china to the Great Culture Revolution, the government affairs of religion and the five social associations of Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Catholism have been built up by the central committee of the Chinese communist party and the State Council on the base of the May 4th Constitution and the Common Program. This is the basis of Chinese religious policy. But the Great Culture Revolution broke off from this for 10 years.
After Chinas reform and opening-up, setting up a market economy and resetting religious policy brought new challenges and experience to religious policy makers. Since the Chinese government instituted the 1982 19th document and 1991 9th document describing the four principle of Chinese religious policy, all levels of local government and social religious associations basically have rebuilt the foundation of the religious active realm and governing institutions. Especially from 1991 to 1998, the central committee of the communist party of china and the State Council have been building the legal foundation of religious policy management through "the management measure of registering religious association", "the management byelaw of registering religious stage", "the management prescript of foreigner's religious activity in china", "the management measure of Career man engagement in religious academy" and so on. On the foundation of these prescriptions, all levels of local government think over real cases and make the synthesis law or the single law of local government based on the different institutional circumstances, protecting the same basic legal rights of religious stage.
On the basis of these institutions, all levels of local government and religious associations are making efforts to accommodate religion to socialism. In the case of Shang-hai city and the Gan-Nan Tibetan municipality, the local government affairs for religions plays an important role in sponsoring religious association management and averting religious disputes. After China's reform and opening-up, the largest problem regarding religious activity is the financial independence for oneself. In the base of 1980 "Notifying the religious associations' house property policy" the central committee of the communist party of china and the State Council initiated and "attaching religious house property" that local government has initiated, the house property rights of every temple and church very have returned to religious associations and religious activity stage. Through deputizing the governing of rental affairs about religious house management and dismissing the religious house property tax, all levels of local government help religious realms to solve financial problems. And through occasionally sponsoring a fund for the rebuilding of religious stages and academies, helps religious groups to do religious activities. On the base of local government sustain, the religious associations in national area and non-national area have different roles in dissimilar social circumstances. In the case of the Shang-hai city Christian association and Islamic association, non-national religious association for common people organize the religious activity of exceeding denomination and the religious culture build of accommodating to Chinese socialism. Otherwise, Islamic association delegates Islamic people and endocentric Islamic culture. These are the important roles of a non-national religious association and a national religious association in non-national area. Regarding the foci of Gan-Nan Buddhism association and Christian association, the Gan-Nan Buddhist association has an important role of the leading Tibetan cultural inheritance and Tibetan Buddhism activity. The Gan-Nan Christian association have a characteristic behavior of doing christen activity looks like cell point and is depending on the provincial Christian association for it's christen organization activity. In the view of the main actor of socialist religious policy and religious activity, four cases of religious association similarly have a role of dual direction client. There is a symbiotic corporative relationship between all levels of local government and religious associations for building religious culture that accommodates to Chinese socialism and religious organization's financial independence. But as a result of different social circumstances and the degree of social segmentation of religion, there are different corporative relationships between all levels of government religious bureaus and religious associations. For example, we can find a semi social corporative relationship and semi state corporative relationship between local government and religious associations in the case of Shang-hai city and Gan-Nan Tibetan Municipality. In the religious view of Marxist, the degree of social segmentation of religion that social inner conflict brings decides the corporative relationship and the characteristics of actors. In the various corporative relationships and social circumstance, religious organizing activity and institutions have a representative model about non-government social organizations and the institutions.
In this research of Sino-Religious Policy, there are three progenies of the investigation and hints of political theories.
Firstly, the policy makers' cognition for religion decides the institutional context of religious policy. In the process of policy making, the most important explanatory variables are the cognition formation of policy makers and building institutions variables. Compared with other research cases, the theoretical frame for researching religious policy is fit for researching the policy making process for State-Society relationship. Through analyzing the influences of socialist cognition about making institutions, we can find a research case and theoretical frame of relationship between the cognition structure of policymakers and the terms of institutional choices.
Secondly, this research explains the variable of institutional change and the effect that it has on actor's roles or relationships. Actor role and institution circumstance variables are the most important of explanatory variables about state and society relationship. These include the degree of social segmentation of religion, the corporative relationship between actors and the term of actor's institution choice. These provide us with the theory frame of social circumstance variables having an effect on actors' corporative relationship. In a word, the degree of social inner conflict decides the degree of social segmentation of religion and the corporative relationship between actors. These case studies of socialist religious policy research provide us with the theory frame of state religion and society.
Thirdly, the case studies of religious organizations' activity provide us with the theory frame of researching NGO concerned social institutions in the third realm. In the social advance of Communist State, the needs of the state and society relationship creates social organizations' activity in the third realm. In socialism, social organizations, including religious association, have important roles of centralizing social resources in the process of social reproduction. The corporative relation between local governments and religious associations, the research of those institutions' making and variance provide us with the some theory frame for analyzing social voluntary associations' activity in the third sector.