Of God And Communism

In the face of the overwhelming success of its capitalist economics over the last decade or so, China's communist ideology has begun to lose some of its luster. Make no mistake, the government is as totalitarian as ever, and it still claims to be communist and pretends to worship "Chairman Mao" (as all the Chinese still call him); but, in actually, the Communist Party of China has a political ideology which is simply all over the map. So, with Mao's Little Red Book becoming more politically and economically irrelevant, the Chinese have begun turning, at an exponential rate, to the world's all-time best selling book: The Holy Bible.

Indeed, Amity Printing, China's only government-authorized Bible publisher, has already published some 50 million copies and, after it moves into a larger factory next year, is set to become the world largest publisher of the Christian Bible. And all of this in country where, just 25 years ago, simply bringing a Bible through customs could get you thrown in jail; and where, even today, the book is not sold in bookstores, but only through a Church-managed distribution system.

As far as Christianity is concerned, China is, in some ways, the last frontier for the faith. At various points in history, Christian missionaries have come, usually alongside European armies, and set up shop in coastal Chinese cities, but thier attempts largely failed. Thus, particularly after the institution of atheism as the official State religion in 1949, China was left as a vast, almost entirely untapped market for the message of Christ.

Of course, I've never been much of a religious missionary, so my extent of concern over the religious implications of this news extend no further than the satisfaction which comes with the knowledge that millions of others, having heard the same message as me, came to the same conclusion. However, there are, potentially, far greater and more tangible political implications to this news; and that seems to be what satisfies me most about it.

Indeed, one need look no further than the fall of Soviet Communism in Poland to witness the effect that Christianity can have on Communism. In Poland, where nearly 90% of the population is Catholic, the Catholic Church and then-Pope John Paul II are, rightfully, credited with being one of the primary forces that toppled the Communist regime there. Indeed, Pope John Paul II, himself a Pole, is seen by many as a member of a triumvirate, along with Ronald Reagan and Margret Thatcher, that led the charge against Soviet Communism during the 1980's; ultimately bringing about that ideology's end. Put simply, a strong Christian community does not mix well with Communism; in fact Christianity proves quite degrading to, even openly hostile to, Communist ideology.

The main reason for this stems from Communism's dependency upon atheism. In order to promote communism and make it viable, the concept of the 'great socialist state', or some similar idea, must be promoted. This is because in order to make communism work you must convince everyone within your country that there is nothing greater than social equality. In other words, when the people go out to work, not for money, but to help support the State, the commune, etc., they have to believe that economic equality amongst all really is the greatest of goals; otherwise, they wouldn't be effective workers and would undermine the entire viability of the system. As we know, of course, this kind of steroid-boosted, all-encompassing egalitarianism is quite contrary to human nature - which is why the people of a society must be indoctrinated with it. Consequently, the indoctrination of belief in the 'great socialist cause' becomes crucial to the continuing function of any Communist state.

That is why religion, especially Christianity, poses a serious threat to Communism. It deprives the State of its doctrinal monopoly on what the ultimate goal of a person or a society should be; and it gives them hope for something better than the Communist ideal. Indeed, by its very definition, Christianity transcends anything that Communist propaganda could throw at people. Think about it, how could one be excited about doing one's part for the betterment of socialism if the do-all, end-all of life was not, in fact, the State? Christianity, then, gives people something bigger to believe in - something bigger than, not only themselves, but Communist ideology as well.

In China, this 'great socialist state' ideal is, in some ways, similar to that of Stalinist Russia; mixing a bit of Nationalism with socialist ideals and blending that with a personality cult surrounding the dictator. The only difference is that in China, unlike Stalinist Russia, the 'cult of personality' has been maintained long after the dictator's death. And that's why Mao, even when official government policy contradicts his actual teachings, continues to have god-like status in China - he has to. As long as Mao (or something like him) is maintained, the unifying ideological force of Chinese Communism remains; but without that ideal, the system begins to fall apart, people begin to question why they make the sacrifices they do, and human nature reveals itself.

Thus we can begin to see why the Chinese government has, in the past, been so afraid of the Bible and why an increase in Chinese Christians is a positive sign. Jesus Christ, or rather belief in him, immediately transcends the myth of Mao and anything it may offer; thus relegating that myth, the central and most important tenant of Chinese Communism, to, at best, second place in those believers' lives. Most important, the adoption of this position (or any similar one) by a great percentage of Chinese would be a death kneel for Chinese Communism. Now, at only 4-5% of the country's population, Chinese Christians have a really long way to go before they turn their country into the second coming of the 1989 Polish Revolution; yet nevertheless, it must be admitted that The Bible's newest popularity surge can only mean good things in days to come.