China Communist Party Reasserts Absolute Control over Religion
The Communist Party will retain absolute control over religious activities in China, wrote Beijing’s religion czar in a Communist Party journal this week, in the midst of talks with the Vatican to reestablish diplomatic relations.
“There is no affiliate relationship between our country’s religions and foreign religions,” wrote Wang Zuoan, director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), in the latest issue of the bi-monthly journal Qiushi.
“Our country’s religious groups and religious matters do not accept domination by foreign forces,” he said.
Mr. Wang, a hardcore atheist, has insisted on the need to keep the party completely free of religious influence given the incompatibility of Chinese Marxism with religious belief....