According to a report of Chinese newspaper Global Times, the country’s religious affairs regulator said the members of the Communist Party should give up their religious beliefs and be firm Marxist atheists. While the Chinese Communist Party is officially atheist, China’s constitution explicitly allows “freedom of religious belief”. “Party members should not have religious beliefs, which is a red line for all members,” wrote Wang Zuoan, director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, in the latest issue of the Party’s flagship magazine. “Party members should be firm Marxist atheists, obey Party rules and stick to the Party’s faith … they are not allowed to seek value and belief in religion,” Wang stated further. According to the Council on Foreign relations, a US think tank, the Chinese Communist Party though ‘shows a cautious tolerance towards religion but it prohibits its nearly 90 million Party members from holding religious beliefs.’ Communist leaders say the party's recent crack down on faith is due to it's powerful influence. They believe religion is dangerous to the unity of the Communist party. "Some people who claim to be scholars support religious beliefs in the Party, which has undermined the Party's values based on dialectical materialism," said Zhu Weiqun, chairman of the ethnic and religious committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Interestingly, a report published by Washington-based Freedom House earlier this year had said that overall religious controls have intensified across China under Xi’s rule.
The report added Xi had presided over an overall increase in religious persecution and four communities had borne the brunt - Protestant Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, and Hui and Uyghur Muslims. ALSO READ: India and Japan operationalize the landmark civil nuclear cooperation deal
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