Following President Xi Jinping’s call for adoption of the Global Civilization Initiative, I would like to point to the need for a civilized attitude toward religion, and for public appreciation for the limits of religious freedom.
First of all, a civilized world must not allow anyone to allude to any “holy book” as an excuse to take over land that has been the home to other peoples for centuries. The United States’ ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, in a February interview with the political activist and commentator Tucker Carlson suggested that Israel had a biblical right to much of the Middle East. Huckabee, an evangelical Christian, has been a longtime defender of Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank — land which the Palestinians seek for an independent state. A similar stance is shared by US Senator Ted Cruz and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Nowadays, we are supposed to be civilized. That is why the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which starts with a preamble that states that recognizing “the inherent dignity” and “equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”. In a civilized world we should treat one another as equals and abide by civilized ways to iron out differences. Such a civilized way of life should be a code of behavior that applies to all and especially to people of power and stature. Any reference to a particular group as God’s chosen people goes against the hard-won values of enlightenment and takes us back to the Dark Ages.
Huckabee and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are both self-proclaimed Christians. But Jesus said “blessed are the peacemakers” and taught, “love your neighbor as yourself.” The God that Jesus described to us is a loving God who “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Moreover, by loving your enemies), you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.” As a matter of fact, the God that Jesus describes is not what was described in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, God would send flood and fire to sinners and needed to test the patriarch Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice his son. If God is all-knowing, there should be no need for the test. But the Old Testament was written at a time when people were not well educated and subservience to authority was paramount. Jesus was an enlightened religious revolutionary who focused on spiritual practices. Although Jesus instructed his disciples to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”, Christians are often reminded that “God is life” and “God is love”. As Christians, Huckabee and Rubio should know better.
In general, all religions offer three kinds of teachings. The first is theology — the teachings about God and the origin of the world and of life. The second is rituals. The third is spiritual teachings. Notwithstanding differences in theory and rituals, all the great religions of the world share similar spiritual teachings, which can be summarized as teachings about love, insight, fortitude, and engagement. If we follow these teachings sincerely and wholeheartedly, the world will be peaceful, and a bright future for humanity will be assured.
On the other hand, neither theology nor rituals should have much effect on how we conduct our lives. Under religious freedom, we should respect the different theological narratives and the different rituals of different religions as reflecting the cultural and historical backgrounds of the religions. However, in all religions, there are uncivilized narratives and practices that must not be allowed today. The story about Abraham being instructed by God to sacrifice his son is a case in point, as is the referral to a specific group as God’s chosen people and a specific piece of land as God’s “Promised Land”.
Separation of church and state means a country should never make distinctions between believers in different religions. Moreover, it also means that parents should allow their children to make their own decisions to adopt any religion of their choice after they have grown up.
Under the Global Civilization Initiative, people of different faiths must learn that it is spiritual practice that truly matters, and that fundamentalist religious beliefs that are mutually incompatible need to be considered simply as a cultural heritage that may not have relevance today
A recent Pew Research Center report shows that, from 2010 to 2020, all the major religions except Buddhism have seen an increasing number of adherents. Among them, Muslims show the biggest increase. This is possibly related to the fact that Muslims tend to have more children and that their children adopt their parents’ religion before they reach maturity. Because Western countries typically adopt electoral democracy as their political system, some people in those countries fear that a rising number of Muslim immigrants would marginalize Christians in the host countries. This fear is driving the rise of right-wing parties in many Western countries.
Under the Global Civilization Initiative, people of different faiths must learn that it is spiritual practice that truly matters, and that fundamentalist religious beliefs that are mutually incompatible need to be considered simply as a cultural heritage that may not have relevance today. I am very happy that China practices true separation of church and state. Religion is a personal choice and has no place in political power.
The author is an honorary research fellow at the Pan Sutong Shanghai-Hong Kong Economic Policy Research Institute, Lingnan University, and an adjunct professor at the Academy for Applied Policy Studies and Education Futures, the Education University of Hong Kong.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
