Communism And The Cultural Revolution - 1818 Words

Communism is fundamentally incompatible with Christianity or any form of religion because it is both organizationally and ideologically totalitarian. Since Communism is organizationally totalitarian, the government seeks to control the lives of all the nation’s citizens and is against any self-directed attempts to join organizations independent from the Communist Party, such as churches. As an ideologically totalitarian system, Communism aims to form all citizens’ opinions and values around a single doctrine; consequently, any opposing ideologies, such as Christianity, are not allowed. In 1966, Communist leader Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution, which was an attempt to create a purely Communist China by eliminating the â€Å"Four†¦show more content†¦China defaces churches to destroy the physical manifestation of Christianity and undermine Christian faith; however, destruction during the Cultural Revolution was purely in the name of persecution, w hereas today it is justified by a legal pretense in order to evade foreign criticism. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao wanted to eradicate religion and the government seized churches to repurpose them as secular buildings. In Beijing, the North Church was turned into a middle school, the South Church became a processing factory, and the West Church was converted into a warehouse for medicinal herbs. By 1967, no churches in China were being used for Christian services. Mao had hoped to discourage Christians from continuing their faith by eliminating their traditional place of worship, but this tactic proved unsuccessful as communities moved underground and Christians continued to worship in secret. Although Mao was unsuccessful in stamping out the Christian faith, he effectively annihilated churches and any physical objects associated with Christianity. Mao’s merciless Red Guards traveled around China destroying crosses and sacred religious objects as well as burning down c hurches. This destruction was meant to emphasize Mao’s power over China and sometimes banners saying â€Å"Long Live Chairman Mao!† were hung over the ruins. The modern Chinese government has continued