Outlandish Christendom: The Catholic Church in India and China

Abstract

India and China have much in common. Both look back to ancient civilizational legacies, have in recent years regained respect as pivotal powers and leading economies in rising Asia, and have enormous populations. As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, either has a small percentage of Christians and an even smaller percentage of Catholics. But there are also important differences. China is an autocratic state with an officially atheist society that has mixed feelings towards religion, whereas India is a vibrant democracy with a Hindu-majority population that is deeply suspicious of religions seen as foreign, sometimes to the point of communal violence against religious minorities. India and China always make for an interesting comparison, but they also make for interesting contrasts. Religious freedom is a case in point. China and India both pose severe constraints on religion, but they do so in different ways. China has strong government restrictions but moderate social hostilities. India has high social hostilities but moderate government restrictions. The Pew Research Center defines government restrictions as the ways that national and local governments restrict religion, including through coercion and force. Social hostilities relate to violence and intimidation in societies, which can also limit religious beliefs and practices.1 The figure above presents restrictions on religious freedom in the world’s twenty-five most populous countries. The contrast between China and India is stark. Indeed, hardly any other pair of countries shows such a striking contrast (Figure 1).