Editor,
While religions of this or that stripe slaughter each other across the rest of the world, China is laughing all the way to the bank. This is because China is an old country that has seen what religion can do, and officially forbids its practice. Even the lightweight indigenous path of Falun Gong is prohibited. This leaves China free to stay away from religious entanglements when it goes abroad to buy natural resources and develop infrastructure.
Religions within these other countries do not see China as a threat. China never goes in with a religious agenda; it does not take sides. Despite being communist internally, abroad it adheres silently to what capitalistic Americans espouse: Money is speech. So it makes generous investments, even of its own professionals and laborers, with strict instructions to stay away from religious debate.
The French government, too, has long mistrusted religion. But the socialist fervor during its historic revolution has now subsided, hence the meteoric rise of Christo-fascist Front National after the recent Islamist attacks. China sees this atrocity as yet another example of internal strife when strict secularity is not imposed on the citizenry.
When China sees the United States, it observes that students at all levels of education are being held back by the myths, superstitions and outright delusions induced by religion in our schools in the name of Freedom of Religion. On the other hand, Chinese students are not. They can therefore study science with clearer heads. So it is not surprising that their students getting PhDs in the STEM arena perform well in our country, thereby contributing to China’s quiet success in the global economy — all the better to advance its military expansionism.
Sincerely,
Arun Anand Ahuja
UNM student
