in religion we believe

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    In Religion, We believe!!... so shall our State too ?

    By Osman Nasir

    On the cold night of 10th October 2031, the fast moving magnetic vehicle hurls towardsthe city limits with an astonishing speed of 180mph, which is the speed limit on Chinese

    Ultra Highways system. The figure inside is alone, reading through his prepared speechfor the night on the lenses of his electronic glasses, his nerves are tensed with therealization of the fact that this will not be just any speech, the argument that he and hiscolleagues are going to face tonight is probably the toughest argument anyone in Chinahas wondered ever since the 1979 Economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping.

    Wang Yi Gang is the Vice President of the National Peoples Congress of China a rolethat makes sure that he is one of the most significant 25 men who write the fortunes ofChinese people, being the members of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China.His memory is reminding him that 120 years ago, on this very day the Wuchang Uprisingsucceeded and followed by the official demise of Qing dynasty one year later. Today

    again was a significant beginning for China, especially when he and his 24 others cansense that the political system around them is slowly weakening. Though the economy isin sound shape, and China emerged as the recognized Economic leader ever since theFinancial Crises of 2008, a depression which plummeted the fortunes of the westernhemisphere, but the two currency system of China eventually saved it.

    Unlike their western predecessors of Economic might, the Chinese are well aware of theimportance of change, change is what has shaped the power of the country. Change iswhat Mao demanded from his people some 80 years ago, change is what China wentthrough in 1979 again, change is what became the ultimate blessing during the 1990s andearly 2000 era when manufacturing was king and Oil was plenty, change is what starring

    at them right now.

    Today the Chinese people are enjoying the perks of life as the strongest nation on planet,the per capita GDP has risen from $3000 in 2008 to $22000 today, Wang always likedthis estimation, although the US Dollar is not any more the standard for the GDPmeasurement in 2031, but it was in 2010 when he was just finishing his PhD inDevelopment Economics from Princeton University.

    But this prosperity has indeed brought in a change, a change in attitudes, a change inthinking and a change in demands of the people. Wang smiled on the fact that how manytimes in the debates about social-economic architecture, the theorists have rubbishedMaslows hierarchical model and how a very small contingent of Macro-economists haveever linked it with the countrys development cycle. Wang was a firm believer thatsimilarly to an individual; a country also has the similar progression in MaslowsMotivational Pyramid of Needs.

    Self actualization often redirects a mass of people towards the basic question, Who AreWe? Over the past 80 years the Chinese authority has done well to quell this question, by harnessing the power of nationalism, in a sense successfully replying; We are

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    Chinese People, however in a country as vast and as diverse as China, the thinkingpatterns are pretty loosely bounded and often a voice of descent is raised from one corneror the other.

    That voice of descent is growing stronger lately, but the demand is what most people

    would recognize as the exact opposite of Chinese system of Governance, which gives theleast or no priority to religion, religious teachings and religious sentiments. Early thisyear some 200,000 people in Shanghai took part in the mass prayers during theanniversary Celebrations of Confucius, a similar crowd was reported in Guangzhou andsome other regions. This was an alarming display of defiance to the system, and upperranks of the government were shaken, which decided to remain oblivious towardsintervention in order to prevent a re-run of Tiananmen Square fiasco

    Today the Politburo is convened to discuss the grant of permission to practice religionalong with maintaining the Party membership. Ever since Mao led his successful marchthroughout the Chinese mainland, religion is condemned in China and is seen as an

    obstruction to development and forward thinking. The communist party considers thepractice of Religion and Party membership as purely inconsistent with each other. Todaythey are about to open this difficult discussion.

    The discussion seems straight forward enough, but Wang understands that the variationsof China make it interesting, the problem with allowing the religion in the system ofgovernment, is the questions which follow; Which Religion?, Why his religion andnot mine? and eventually ends with the My God is bigger than your God spat. But inChina its a bit more than just a spat, the demography of the country is deeply dividedamong the Hans, Cantonese, Munchu, Mongols, Tibetans and Uyghurs, most of themhave a history of bloody feuds among each other, resulting in decade long wars leavingthousands dead and millions displaced. Folklores, glorifying the martyrs and cursing theenemy, have made sure that, even after centuries have passed, people may never forgetwhat went on and the grudges remain deep rooted in the inner psychological aspects.

    Wangs auto driver system announced that he has reached his destination, as he lookedout the window, his vehicle is moving towards his designated parking space at the GreatHall of People building in the central districts of Beijing. Some ten minutes later he wasseated in the warm and imposing Great Hall, looking at the huge wall paintings depictingthe Mountains where Mao and his Red Army stood in battles against the Nationalists, buthis mind is racing towards the explosive nature of what is due to come next.

    Tonight, Wang has to play the role of the facilitator in the debate regarding which of thetwo great Chinese philosophies shall be adopted as the core mechanism behind thePolitburos new think. A Taoist Priest and a Confucius philosopher have been invited topresent their case. The ex-president of Peoples Republic of China Hu Jintao is to speakas the senior expert of the inter-faith harmony. Hu was considered an expert because hewas at the helm of China, when the entire world was grappled with acts of fanaticism andwar of ideologies. He is the leader who successfully negotiated with the Tibetans in early2009, and quelled the Uyghurs Muslim uprising in the mid of 2008, with dialogues and

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    an invitation of progress rather than a military resolution. Wang has always admired thissoft spoken but hard worded gentleman, and was noticing how the ex-president is busyreviewing his notes sitting in an elevated corner.

    Wang suddenly noticed the murmurs picking up a little, and shifted his attention to the

    Eastern entrance, a slim-built priest in his silken blue attire was entering the hall, withhim are his two followers holding old manuscripts for reference, he had quite a stern facewith a smile of triumph already. As they settled in their seats, Wan noticed that theConfucian scholar was already present in the hall, he smiled warmly at Wan.

    Wang officially announced the matter to the attendees, and introduced the Taoist priestand the Confucian scholar. First both the parties will be given a chance to introduce andexplain their point of view, un-interrupted, followed by a dialogue among the two tochallenge each others point of view, after which the house will provide the conclusiveremarks.

    The Taoist priest stepped up to the speakers table, and delivered his opening remarks,honorable members, we are a system of natural evolution, wu wie (non action), vitality,peace, flexibility, refinement and spirituality. We are convinced of the fact that man ismost secured when he adheres to nature, and go by its rules. Man has made greatendeavors to subject nature, but has he brought anything else but destruction uponhimself and the balance of the planet? That is because Man has lost the path of co-existing with the nature, rather than harnessing it to profit himself; man has tried to moldthe nature to his desires and has eventually suffered. Taoism is the way which guides manto understand his inner-self and guides him how to live with his fears and advance withhis abilities. This is what has lead to Tai Chi, the symbol representing the opposites inlife, and Taoism teaches to balance these compliments so well that life starts to look likean effortless composite of this balance.

    He paused to look at the audience and continued, We may have some of our roots in theConfucius school of thoughts but we have learned to better the old thinking and haveevolved with time. That is why Tao is defined as a Path or a Road, a structuredevolutionary way forward.

    Wang thanked him and nodded to the Confucius scholar to address the assembly. Thescholar approached the aisle, and started, Dear friends, is there one word to define theway forward for the rest of ones life? he paused and looked to the audience for ananswer, and then continued, yes, there is, that word is Reciprocity, What one does notwish for oneself, one ought not to do to anyone else; what one recognizes as desirable foroneself, one ought to be willing to grant to others. This is the golden rule of Confucius.Gentlemen, we are not a religion, we term ourselves as a system of life, socialadvancements, self-correction, harmony with society rather than just mere ones self andadvancement of spirituality not just to elevate the inner-self but to exemplify for theothers.

    He continued, Confucius was not a mere scholar, he was a shepherd, a clerk, a book-

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    keeper, and later as a state minister. He was a common man but with the power of selfevaluation and humility, he understood the true meanings of life. He never claimed to bea prophet, he was always insistent that he has learned a few lessons in his life and hewishes to transfer these to anyone and everyone who wishes to learn.

    He looked at the crowd, who are slowly being captivated, Confucius values the humansabove property and assets, so the model of business is pretty much towards seeking thebetterment of mankind rather than to gain cold profit. A few eye brows rose among thecrowd.

    The scholar pressed on, Confucius believed in the system of governance throughinvocation of natural morality, rather than strict laws and threat of legal action. Law ofman, may very well refrain a common person from committing a crime, but it makes himvoid of any shame or guilt when the law is not present. Legal system pushes a man tostop short of evil just before he may cross the legal limits, but it does not cultivates anti-evil realizations, and when man realizes that law is not looking, he may be inclined to

    cross all limits of morality and greed. This, gentlemen, is what has drowned the westerncivilization twenty years ago, when accountants and financial engineers learnt to taparound the law and bend it to their liking by exploiting the system to satiate their greed,the eventuality unbalanced the economic system, and its collapse is still a harsh reminderof what takes mankind centuries to build, greed and lust can devastate inside a fewyears.

    Wang suddenly realized the difference between the Priest and the Scholar, the priest has aframe of reference to speak within, the priest has a religion to defend, by definition,religion always considers itself the authority over everything, and that is where it becomes difficult to be defended. On the other hand, the Scholar is free of anycompulsion to defend his way of thinking, because he is advocating a loosely boundedsystem of beliefs, not a defined religion, he knows that someone can disagree to his wayof thinking and is accommodative of the fact. This has surely broadened his spectrum.Wan now understood fully why the chairman Mao insisted upon banishing the religionfor his people and instead asked to adopt a theory of life.

    Wan, moved on to the next phase of the debate, where he will put a set of questions toboth the men, and the house will evaluate their answers. Wangs first question wasstraight forward, How will you define the political inclinations of your respectiveadvocated philosophies?

    The Taoist Priest spoke first, Taoism is convinced of the fact that controlling the societydoesnt work, if the government keeps the life of common man simple enough, it will beeasier to satisfy his needs. A good leader is the one which sticks more to the naturalinclinations of the people, rather than trying to mold their views. Governance is bestwhen its presence is least felt. Taoism believes in governing like a supportive motherrather like a demanding father.

    The Confucius scholar uttered, We do welcome the thought of a society which is

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    advanced enough to govern itself, but the reality is of a stark difference, never a societyin the entire human history has been capable of governing itself by mere self control.Order in the social system is a must, if it is left to the people to define their own laws,very soon a race to the bottom starts and ends at complete annihilation of all sanity.

    My esteemed friend, the priest, believes that all humans are equal, and hence the sense ofmorality for one person will be the same for the other, however, the established fact isthat all humans are different, and so are their individual sense of morality. In order tohave equivalence in the system, a strong imposition of political views is almost alwaysrequired.

    Wang, acknowledged the replies from both the sides and moved on to his next question,How do you view social and economical advancement?

    The Confucius Scholar spoke first, Confucius was himself a working man, who believedin the economic system and understood that the advancement is the only way forward,

    the only guiding principle that he provided to argument was to develop without greed, heemphasized on the fact that Enrichment of the people should come first, followed by theireducation which will inculcate sound morality among the masses.

    The Taoist has a mocking smile on his lips, and he said, What development will comewithout greed? What advancement will occur without conquering the others? The notionof advancement and greed can never be inconsistent, hence the model that my Confuciuscolleague represent, is mostly non-existent. The Taoist model of advancement is onlystriving for the advancement which is offered naturally to any society, and for which noextreme measures are required, we welcome all advancements where exploitation is notrequired.

    Wang could immediately tell that most of the part members have more in agreement withthe Confucius point of view. But he intended to further the discussion before leadingtowards a conclusion, since he could now see the arguments getting deeper and wider. He politely asked Hu Jintao to present his views on the topics discussed thus far.

    Hu, despite his imposing personality, was polite and humble when he spoke. Thetragedy of religion or religious sentiments is that they always tend to term Different asWrong, each religion is entangled in terming itself right and in the process edging everyother religion as wrong. The reason, our great leaders over the past 75 years, have keptreligion out of the affairs of state, is that they believed that there are higher motives for anation to pursue than just the blindly following their religions.

    What we have witnessed today, tells us that both the sides have some pretty strongarguments, but why anyone of them has to be Wrong? Why cant they both co-exist andleave it to the masses to acquire any of the ideology they may like?

    He paused and furthered his argument, My humble suggestion to the Politburo is toallow its members to have the ability to practice any religion that they may like, but make

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    sure that they dont adopt that religion by simply the virtue of being born in a family thatpractices that religion. Any member cannot declare his religious inclinations until andunless they are 30 years of age, so that, by this time they have questioned the merits anddemerits of all the religious systems around them and can freely adopt, whicheverreligion they may like the most. It is then the responsibility of the state to make sure that

    the educational system is powerful enough to carve a mentally strong willed human beingand is transparent enough for helping him to make unbiased choices. Once we areresponsible enough to choose our own religion, we learn to co-exist and also celebrateour differences.

    Wang knew that the ex-presidents experience has very shrewdly summed up a wonderfulsolution for the members to discuss in their future meetings regarding this particularissue. He knew that the road in front of them is long and difficult, but they do clearlyhave a route to follow.