Why are communists against religion?
- Called 'the opium of the people' by Marx
- Keeps the people from rising up
- Put up with your life in hope of eternal and perfect afterlife
- When workers in power no longer need religion
How did the CCP start to suppress religion?
- Posters
- Loudspeakers
- From 1950 campaign against religion began
- - No public practice
- - Priest and were banned from wearing distinctive dress
- - Foreign clergy were deported
- - People were encouraged to strip clergy of their clothes if seen in public in their traditional dress
- Holy buildings used for other purposes
On the other hand...
- CCP allowed some religious practice - appearance of tolerance
- 'patriotic church'
- Allowed to stay open if not 'endanger the security of the state'
- CCP had the right to determine practices and doctrines
- Excommunication from the papacy
- - Chinese banned from religion
- - Condemned to hell
Cultural Revolution
- Religion one of 'four olds'
- No public worship or ceremony at all allowed
- Any surviving clergy were imprisoned
- Temples, churches and holy objects were destroyed
- International outcry
Confucius and co
- Became a standard insult during the cultural revolution
- When Lin Biao attacked slogan "criticise Lin Biao and Confucius"
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