Religion in Post-Mao China

Increased interest in religion in post-Mao China stems from disillusionment with Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and the destructiveness of the Cultural Revolution. Young people, in particular, are searching for a new belief system. Equally important, the Deng Xiaoping leadership is willing to tolerate religious practices and to rebuild religious institutions. Its seemingly benign policy does not stem from a greater appreciation of religion, but from the desire to exert tighter control over religion. The repression of the Cultural Revolution had driven religion underground, outside the Party's control; thus, the Deng leadership's policy of religious tolerance is to lure religious believers from private to public worship, where the Party can reassert its control. Its religious tolerance is also aimed at winning the cooperation of relatively well-educated Christian converts and the assistance of Western nations in its drive for economic modernization.