Ye Xiaowen
China

Some western friends always have doubts on whether the Chinese government can genuinely and consistently respect and protect its citizens' rights to freedom of religious belief. I had served as director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs of the People's Republic of China since May 1995 until September 2009. Here, I would like to offer a straight-out illustration to this question based on my own experience and witnessing.

The respect that the Chinese government pays to its citizens' rights to religious freedom is based on its recognition of the objective reality, of the objective procedure of things' evolution and of the internal law of social development, as we admit that the extinction of religions may come much later than that of classes and states. We never deny the cultural heritages that our human race has accumulated in the forms of religious sutras, doctrines, morals and arts during the process of evolution; we are never repulsive to the experience and philosophy that history has stored up in these forms; and we never neglect the shining points of ethnic cultures and the footprints of the development of human spiritual civilization that are embodied in the forms.

Undoubtedly, we will adhere to the orientation of the advanced socialist culture and shape a core value system of socialism in the course of building a "culture of harmony". Socialism, however, is an ocean, an ocean that demonstrates its greatness by absorbing inflows of all rivers. Splendid ethnic cultural heritages, harmonious ethnic cultural resources and useful fruits of human civilizations are all parts of our socialist culture of harmony.

The respect that the Chinese government pays to its citizens' rights to religious freedom is also rooted in our profound cultural tradition. In Chinese history, there have rarely been major conflicts caused by religious belief, let alone religious wars, between believers and non-believers, and between believers of different religions. There contains a rich expression of thoughts on harmony in Chinese religious and traditional cultures. As ancient Chinese philosophy teaches, "In practicing the rules of propriety, harmony is to be prized. In the ways prescribed by the ancient kings, this is the excellent quality." Harmony is what the Chinese traditional culture distinguishes itself with among others, and it is also where ancient Chinese sages based their beliefs and thinking. The thought of harmony reflects a universal law of things, and thus it can evolve and enrich itself with the progress of time.

What's more, the respect that the Chinese government pays to its citizens' rights to religious freedom is based on the most practical and immediate demands of building a harmonious society. Social harmony cannot be established without ethnic unity and religious concord. Everyone is responsible for and entitled to enjoy social harmony. We thus hope that religion can serve as a factor of socialist social harmony, and believers and non-believers must "politically unite and cooperate, and respect each other in belief."

Under the background of reform and opening-up, China is witnessing transformation of its economic system, changes of its social structure, adjustment of interest distribution and evolution of values and people's mentality. The changes have made it more necessary for us to consider the situation, march with the times, plan all sectors as a whole, coordinate various relations, and seek common points while reserving differences to solve conflicts and motivate initiatives of all circles.