Religion and the State in Russia and China: Suppression, Survival and Revival by Christopher Marsh (review)

Book Reviews 121 at two different locations in the book—the first one at the end of the Popular Religion section, and the identical bibliography at the end of the Shamanism section. There is no excuse for this oversight. Despite all the flaws mentioned, the volume is still a valuable contribution to the field of Chinese religious studies. Stylistic deficiencies and translation idiosyncrasies notwithstanding, this monograph provides solid information on Chinese popular religion and shamanism in a single convenient volume, with contributions from the leading Chinese experts in the field. RICHARD SHEK, California State University, Sacramento Religion and the State in Russia and China: Suppression, Survival and Revival CHRISTOPHER MARSH. New York and London: Continuum, 2011. x, 273 pages. ISBN 978-1-44111-1247-7. US$29.95, £17.99 paper. This volume offers an appraisal of what Marsh considers the most important and systematic effort in human history to eradicate religious belief. It is written from the perspective of comparative political science and its research design reflects the standard procedure used in that approach to political science. The author furthermore grounds his discussion in the current literature on the relations between religion and state in the sociology of religion. The structure of the book consists of three parts, the first two chapters presenting the theoretical background to the study, followed by sections of equal importance describing both the Russian and Chinese case studies, and concluding with a statement on the impossibility of an atheistic world. The most important part of this monograph provides a concise but useful historiography of the ideas and the policies implemented by the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China. The introduction claims that the secularization of Russia and China has failed, and elaborates on the fact that while both the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China have until recently, or even still today, been ruled by a political party espousing atheism, the policies of both states show remarkable differences. The first chapter elaborates on the theological and philosophical roots of militant atheism, in order to demonstrate that MarxismLeninism and Mao Zedong Thought provided legitimation and a religious symbolization to accompany the “official” exercise of violence by the state. The three chapters on the former 122 Journal of Chinese Religions Soviet Union describe, in turn, the forced secularization undertaken by Lenin and his successors; the resilience of religion under Communist Party rule; and finally the religious resurgence that followed the fall of the Soviet Union. The three chapters that follow mirror for China the discussion of religion and state in the Soviet Union and Russia. Finally, the author concludes that despite the differences in their implementation of a policy of forced secularization, the experience of both societies demonstrates that the effort was an immense waste. This reviewer is ill-placed to comment on the validity of Marsh’s analysis of the Soviet policy, and since this journal’s focus is on Chinese religions, my comments will focus on the policy of the Chinese state in relation to the latter. The book will open the eyes of readers who are convinced that the policy of the Communist Party is simply a matter of repression and teaching atheism. It offers a needed corrective to that view. The author should be commended for providing some important contextual facts. First, the Chinese Communist Party policy on religion was not just a transposition of its Soviet counterpart’s policies adapted to the Chinese situation. An important shortcoming of this study, however, is its focus on Christian religions, whether Protestant churches or the Catholic Church, when discussing the resilience of religion under the Communist Party. This may respond to the questions raised by some of the Western or American readers who care about the fate of their coreligionists, but people of other religious or philosophical persuasion in the West may find this treatment unsatisfactory. To do justice to the book, the author does pay attention to some non-Christians, such as Muslims and adherents of Falungong 法輪功, and discusses in detail their travails. Although Buddhism receives some attention, almost half of its treatment relates to the controversy surrounding the Dalai Lama. This coverage can reach a different...