RELIGION AND THE STATE: Taiwan and the PRC

Speaker: Richard Madsen, Professor of Sociology, University of California, San Diego

Professor Madsen will discuss the reasons for the different patterns of religious development in the PRC and Taiwan. Both the PRC and Taiwan started out in the 1950s and 1960s with very strict state control over religion, but they evolved in different directions. In the PRC today, relations between religion and the state are generally tension filled; in Taiwan, they are generally cooperative. In the PRC the most dynamic forms of religious activity come from evangelical Christianity and informally organized folk Buddhist/Daoist movements. In Taiwan, Christianity is relatively weak, and the most dynamic forms of religion are in well organized Buddhist and Daoist organizations.

Sponsored by the CENTER FOR EAST ASIAN STUDIES