religion

RelativeReferences

poraryAmericanCultureandSociety

WrittenbyZhouJingqion

PublishedbytheShanghaiForeignLanguageEducationPress

anSocietyandCulture

WrittenbyNingkangJiang

PublishedbytheSoutheastChinaUniversity

testantEthicandtheSpiritofCapitalism

WrittenbyMaxWeber

PublishedbytheShanghaiForeignLanguageEducationPress

ReligiousDifferences

AccordingtosomestatisticsfromarecentGallopPoll,it’sapparentthat

oll,87%ofAmericansclaimthat

e,however,me

foreignfriendsregardChinaasacountrywithoutreligions.

ThedifferenceissobigthatI’reasonsdo

contributetothedifferencebetweentheUSAandChina?Thefollowingaremy

rearchresultsaboutthisquestion.

First,sbacktoJohnWinthrop’svision,

intheearly17thcentury,ofMassachuttsas“cityuponahill”,withtheeyesofthe

nslikeWinthropenvisagedacommunityinwhichlifewould

beguidedbyGod’enesisandExodusintheBible,thePuritans

prentedthemlvesasGod’sChonPeople,

,think

’sacountrywhichiscalled“ameltingpot”

nhappenifsimilaritiesof

differencesarestress?hiscircumstance,the

emigrants,whohave

experiencedmanyrisks,uncertainty,andhardship,relyonthereligionstopersiston.

Takethe19thcentury,thepatternsofimmigrationchangedthefactofAmerican

religionasGermansandScandinaviansmovedintotheareanorthandwestof

,

thereligiousfreedomisadominantelementintheshapingofAmericanreligious

ouslibertywasgreatlyadvancedbytheAmericanRevolutionandthe

efreedomhasbeenbroadenedduringthe

afewdecadesallofthestatesdroppedthelastremnants

societyitlftoleratesan

tnottheleast,turn

ghtheConstitutiondeclaresthe

parationofChurchandState,religionhasalwayspervadedAmericanpoliticallife.

Duringinauguralceremonies,USApresidentstaketheiroathofofficeontheBible.

AlmostallAmericanpresidentshaveclaimedaffiliationwithanestablishedchurch.

toofthealoftheUSA

carriesthebiblicalwords,“RebelliontotyrantsisobediencetoGod.”The

Americangovernorsaredominatingherpeopleinaspecialway.

Allofthisbeingsaid,IhavelistedtheelementsoftheshapingofAmerican

’shavea

studyonChina.

China,aneastcountrywhichhasahistoryofmorethan5,oooyears,hasa

populationofabout1,r,onlysome8%havefaithfor

,it’sanoldcountry

whichhaxperiencedmanyupsanddowns;meantimeitsmindshavealso

underdonemanytremendouschanges.

Atthepre-Qinperiod,theConfucianism,theLegalism,andtheTaoism

riod,whenallChinehadfaithforacertain

religion,

official,whonameisDong

zhongshu,hesupportoftherulers,he

stime,the

theJinandSouthernand

sthetimefortheBuddhismandtheTaoism.

Rulerssoughtthetheocracy,sotheConfucianism’

again,mostChinehadtofollowtherulers’decisionstochangetheirreligions.

Here,,it’samustoftime.

Then,welookbackontheTangDynastywhichisaprosperousdynastyinChine

ousthinker,Hanyu,putforwardtherevivaloftheConfucianism

’snodoubtthat

eChinecanallhave

strongfaithfortheConfucianism,ifChina’srulerscouldholdtheonlyonereligion.

Unluckily,ndChengbrotherssupportedtheirnew

opinionsattheSonDynastythatweshouldsavenatural-principlesanddestroythe

period,

ngtheMingandQing

Dynasties,zhi,andlizhididn’t

emporarytimes,we

ChinehavegraduallydevelopedamodethatIjustfollowmylf.

It’snottruetoconsiderChinaacountrywithoutreligions,butyoucansay

thatChinadonothaveacompletesystemforreligiousdevelopment.I’mshameful

toadmittheChina’sgovernments’ethereisno

nationalorganization,

manyindividualcitizensandsomegovernmentsofficialsstillChinetraditional

evantgovernmentshavenopositiveadmit

tadmitororganization,howcanChinedevelopasystematic

religionshapingandformastrongreligiouspower.

atare

itsinfluencesonthewholesocietyandpeople’sactions?

Religion,inmyview,isagoodphilosophytoguidethedirectionofthe

,tomyunderstanding,isakindofspiritandperceptual

ebothgoodthingswhichcanbegoodforhumanbeingsin

manyways.

egovernmentsregardhumanrightsasan

ganizetheparty,pray,preachthe

Gospel,dangers,theycancalmthemlves

throughpray;allyafterthe9.11attack,Americanshave

besaidtobeaconsolationoramustwhichcanreallyhelpitsbelieverstobrave.

Butsomebelieversthinkreligioncananswerallormostoftoday’,

justa

r,the

sidentstaketheiroath

ofo

mottoofthealoftheUnitedStatescarriesthebiblewords,“Rebelliontotyrants

isobediencetoGod.”Americancurrencybearstheinscription“InGodWeTrust.”

Asmyforeignteachersaid,“Beingreligiousisgood,butwhenitconnectedwith

politic,itwillchange.”American,ofcour,needssomeimprovements.

Let’leworld

isaccident,wecanethebelief

hadhadareligiousbelief,Ibelieve,theywouldnothavedonethat

o

unscrupulousmerchantsputmelamineintomilk,theymighthesitateiftheythinkof

ly,Japanissufferinganunprecedentedearthquakewhichalsocaud

eighborcountry,ofcour,hasbeenaffectedmoreor

panicaboutthesupplyofsaltishardtounderstand.I’mdeeplyawareof

eneedsomebelievesto

’samust.

Formthisrearch,Ifirmlyrealizethenecessitytoformacompetesystemof

ernmentsshouldplayaesntialroleinthedeveloping.

Meantime,Americangovernmentsshouldparatethechurchfromthestate.