Red China wants control of--reincarnation?

From the AFP via Yahoo...

Tibetan living Buddhas are no longer allowed to be reincarnated without permission from the atheist Chinese government, state media reported Friday.

The new rules are "an important move to institutionalise the management of reincarnation of living Buddhas," the Xinhua news agency said.

According to the regulations, which take effect on September 1, all reincarnation applications must be submitted to religious affairs officials for approval, Xinhua said.

China is ruled by the Communist Party, which, despite being officially atheist, maintains strict controls over Tibetan Buddhism and all other religions.

From China Daily...

"It is an important move to institutionalize management on reincarnation of living Buddhas," the SARA [China's State Administration for Religious Affairs] said in a statement issued Friday.

The regulations require that a temple which applies for reincarnation of a living Buddha must be "legally-registered venues for Tibetan Buddhism activities and are capable of fostering and offering proper means of support for the living Buddha."

All the reincarnation applications must be submitted to the religious affairs department of the provincial-level government, the provincial-level government, SARA, and the State Council, respectively, for approval in accordance with the fame and influence of the living Buddhas in the religious circle, the regulations said.

"The selection of reincarnates must preserve national unity and solidarity of all ethnic groups and the selection process cannot be influenced by any group or individual from outside the country, " SARA said.

Communists are insane.

Officially they declare there is no God, no supernatural, but want to control the beliefs and practices of those who do believe in God or even simply the supernatural as Buddhists do. Yet, still, in the US we have people frothing at the mouth out of fear of some imagined "Fundamentalist Christian Theocracy" the likes of which has actually never even existed before. The Left in America fear the myth of a Theocracy more than the reality of what we see Atheists do when they actually do get power.

Posted by Danny Carlton at August 21, 2007 7:14 AM