Religious education legislation in an atheist state: towards a typology and policy analysis for contemporary China

ABSTRACT

The rule of law presents a new path for understanding and handling religious affairs in contemporary China. The field of religious education is no exception and current legislation has to be improved so that China’s religious education can be further promoted. This research examines the legislation and legislative regulations governing China’s diversified and dynamic religious education, which includes professional religious studies, religious education embedded in ethnic education, missionary religious education, religious education included in general education, and education on religious policies and regulations. It argues that how to understand and implement the principle of separation of education and religion stands out as the core issue, as China requires a more dialectical and pluralistic religious education.

KEYWORDS:

• Religious education
• ethnic education
• legislation
• China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Depending on legislative subjects, the validity and scopes of laws, China’s legislation is divided into central legislation and local legislation. Central legislation mainly includes the laws and administrative regulations formulated by the National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee, the State Council, and ministries and commissions under the State Council. Local legislation mainly includes local laws and regulations formulated by the Provincial/Municipal People’s Congress and its Standing Committee, and the Provincial and Municipal government.

2. For example, Ilham Tohti, a former university lecturer, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the court of first instance of Urumqi City, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on 23 September 2014, for the offence of disseminating ethnic separatist thought, and organising, planning, and implementing a series of criminal activities aimed at splitting the country. In another case, Ma Xiaolong uploaded, stored, and distributed pictures of religious extremism on his mobile phones. On 5 December 2015, the court of first instance of Wusu City, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region sentenced him to imprisonment for four years for incitement to ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a grant (16XZJ023) from The National Social Science Fund of China for the research project. ‘The Rule of Law in Religious Work in the Light of Civic Code Compilation’. The views expressed in this paper, however, do not necessarily represent those of the funding body;The National Social Science Fund of China [grant 16XZJ023].

Notes on contributors

Peng Nai

Peng Nai is a Professor in the School of Law, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, P. R. China. His research interests focus on financial law and dispute resolution mechanisms.

Jianfei Sun is a senior lecturer in the School of Law, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, P. R. China. His current teaching and research areas include jurisprudence, Chinese legal history, and ethnic law of China.

Yinzhu Zhang is an associate professor in the School of Law, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, P. R. China. Her research areas focus on criminal law.

Guang Yang is a research programme manager in Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge, UAE. His research interests include school effectiveness, student engagement, parent involvement, as well as labour market and employment relations.