| The object of this research was to determine the policy and practice of religious freedom in the People's Republic of China since 1978, when Deng Xiaoping assumed leadership and initiated a massive plan for socialist modernization.; The study was limited to the perspective of Chinese Protestants, including those sympathetic to the State religious organizations (e.g., the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and the China Christian Council (CCC)), and those opposed to such Church-State relations.; The writer discovered that the polarity of opinions that exists within Western Protestant academic and ecclesiastic circles also appears within the Chinese Protestant community. There are those who support the new socialist China and it's related religious organizations, and those who oppose the TSPM and CCC and tolerate the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).; The writer concludes that one must work with the existing government and religious organizations as much as possible, but not to the exclusion of other non-governmental activities. |
