An editorial appeared in the international version of the People's Daily carrying the Maoist Communist Party line: "State atheism is an immovable principle, which is important at both an ideological and organizational level, which is the basis of our system." The example of Cuba, Vietnam and Russia "does not concern us, we have other policies in this regard."

Beijing (AsiaNews) - Communist Party members cannot follow any religion - this is the important ideological and organisational principle which has been upheld since the founding of the party. There is no doubt about it": This is the focus of an editorial signed by Zhu Weiqun, chairman of the Committee on Ethnic and Religious Affairs of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which appeared in yesterday's Global Times (the international version of People's Daily, the official Party paper).

The article was published after the party's powerful Central Commission for Discipline Inspection criticised some local party members for following religion and taking part in religious activities in the second round of graft inspections around the country this year. The Commission is the most powerful armed wing of the Communist Party, which on the orders of the President Xi Jinping, is carrying out an extensive investigation on corruption - economic and moral - of members and cadres in the Party.

According to Zhu, "the  high level of consistency" between the party's political platform and its worldview is a political advantage of the party, which contributes to its unity. He noted: "Without the foundation of the worldview, the mansion of the party's ideologies, theories and organisations will all collapse. We could no longer be called the 'Chinese Communist Party'"

The fact that the communist parties of Vietnam, Cuba and Russia today allow their members to follow a religion "should not in any way affect our policies. The Chinese party has to decide their own religious policy in accordance with the conditions of China."

To shore up its position, the senior official engages in historical analysis: "If the stronger the religion is, the higher a society's moral level is, then Middle Ages Europe under the influence of the Vatican should have been the golden age of human morality, and there would have been no need for the Renaissance". In conclusion, Zhu criticizes those Chinese scholars who ask the Party and the government for religious freedom: "These are people who have converted to Christianity a long time ago."

 

• china
• communist
• party
• religious
• freedom
• state
• aetheism
• corruption