China's Religious Revolution
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| A Chinese "house church." |
Faith abhors a vacuum—or so one might conclude from events in China since 1979, when the government lifted some of the restrictions on organized religion. “Religions have been growing, some of them really fast, especially Protestantism,” says Fenggang Yang, a professor of sociology and the director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society (CRCS) at Purdue University. But it is not only Protestantism. Buddhism, Taoism, and Chinese folk religions have all seen a big boost as well. Now, thanks to a four-year, $2 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation, scholars will be able to explore the causes of this growth and its effects on Chinese society.
In response to a recent request for proposals, Yang and his colleagues at CRCS received 162 applications, the vast majority of them from scholars inside China. Twelve winners will be announced in November and then brought together at Purdue for the next two summers to discuss these issues and to receive training in research methods. Financial support will range from as much as $100,000 for research centers to smaller grants of $10,000 to $30,000 for individuals. The project will culminate with a major conference in 2013 as well as a volume of essays edited by Yang. CRCS will also hold an annual summer institute on the sociology of religion for Chinese scholars.
Though Westerners often think of Christianity as foreign to China, Yang points out that many people in China no longer think that way. "It is considered a global religion, not particularly ethnic or Western, and generally associated with modernity." Under Communism, "Chinese became used to seeing foreign faces like Karl Marx." If Marx is an acceptable foreign face, Yang jokes, "Why not Jesus? That's why many people in rural China converted to Christianity without worrying about its supposed foreignness."
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| VIDEO: Fenggang Yang |
Most of the research under the CRCS program will examine religion as a “causal factor,” says Yang. “We want to know whether religion makes any difference.” Does an increase in religious participation lead to a more vibrant civil society? Does it have an effect on entrepreneurship? As Yang asks, “What motivates individuals in China's new market economy? Are there some spiritual or religious factors?”
In China’s religious landscape, Yang emphasizes, there is not one dominant faith: "The spiritual vacuum and perceived moral decay and social corruption have led to the growth of all kinds of religions. The desire to affirm Chinese identity amid rapid modernization and globalization drives some people consciously to revive traditional Chinese religions." (For a short video interview with Yang, click here.)
Sir John Templeton was very interested in competition among faiths, according to Kimon Sargeant, vice president for human sciences at the Templeton Foundation, and in that regard, China is a crucial “real world experiment." Sir John, he adds, “was investing in China in his later years, and he always encouraged the Foundation to make research investments there and to try to understand Chinese society.”
Announcing . . . Big Questions Online!
Big Questions Online, the Templeton Foundation's newest publishing venture, was launched yesterday with a full slate of columns, blogs, and other features. "BQO will explore the full range of the Foundation's themes in a lively, opinionated, journalistic way—and from various points of view," says Gary Rosen, the Foundation's chief external affairs officer. "Our beat is science, religion, markets, and morals, and we hope to draw readers into a discussion that extends beyond familiar categories and disciplinary boundaries."
The website's regular bloggers will include JTF director of publications Rod Dreher, whose popular blog on Beliefnet will move to BQO under the title Macroculture. Heather Wax will write Science + Religion Today, and David Dylan Thomas will examine the world of TV, movies, and online culture in a blog called In Media Res.
Among the columns and features in the debut issue of BQO are:
Please note that the Templeton Report will not be published during the month of August.
