The Task of Religion in Secular Society: The Challenges Ahead for Christianity in China

Abstract

The Catholic Church has established, developed, and endured in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) despite the great number of challenges recounted in the previous chapters. In what ways will the Church cope with the changes and challenges of contemporary Chinese society? Faced with the future, the Church needs to address its role and to find its path in a secular society. This concluding chapter discusses secularism as an exceptional phenomenon in the West and examines the relationship between Marxism and Christianity. It considers the task of religion in secular society in China, a nation already a superpower with its exhilarating economic growth and at the same time experiencing religious revival. Just as the PRC embraces capitalism in its economic policies and secularism in all aspects of life, religious beliefs and practices are also flourishing in this populous nation. Chinese Christians must learn to work with the Communist authorities to establish a “Christianity with Chinese characteristics” if the gospel message is to be meaningful and relevant in China. One likely successful strategy for ensuring the long-term survival of the Church would be for Chinese Catholics to learn to work together with community authorities, while supporting and serving the spiritual needs of their faithful. The Sacred Heart Cathedral leadership in Guangzhou, described in the previous chapter, seems to have adopted this pragmatic approach.KeywordsFilial PietyChinese CharacteristicSecular SocietyReligious AffairReligious RevivalThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.