China's Intervention

China, as we all probably know, is known for sticking its hand into the business of everyone of its citizens, even those that don't fully recognize Chinese authority.   From arresting dissidents to censoring the Internet to having the final say on religion, the Chinese government wants to control everything.  Now, they seem to be pushing for more control over Tibet's religious figures in an effort to gain their support.  The main figure in Tibetan Buddhism is the Dalai Lama and as the Dalai Lama gets older, a Panchen Lama is eventually named, according to Tibetan Buddhists, a child who is thought to be a re-incarnate of an earlier Dalai Lama.  The Dalai Lama already had a Panchen Lama anointed years ago, a young boy who will follow in the Dalai Lama's footsteps when the time comes.  However, China swept the Dalai Lama's anointed successor and his family into "protective custody" 16 years ago and named their own Panchen Lama to be the successor to the famed Dalai Lama.  Although atheist by proclamation, the Chinese government says that only it has the authority to pick top spiritual leaders.  Almost all Tibetans do not recognize this new Panchen Lama, holding firmly to the memory of the original Panchen handpicked by their spiritual leader.  China now wants to send "their" Panchen Lama to a monastery in Tibet to study and hopefully gain recognition by the Tibetan people.  To simply this whole ordeal, this situation would be like the United States government stealing the Pope and naming their own "Pope" as the only legitimate religious leader in Catholicism.   No one would accept that, so why would the Tibetan people accept China's hand picked successor as their spiritual leader?  It just doesn't make sense.  (For more details on this story, follow this link to the NYTimes article.)

There is a reason that the United States decided centuries ago that it was a bad idea to allow religion and politics/government to be tied together.  The ultimate reason is that it is bad business.  A governmental body can not and should not be able to meddle in the affairs of any religion and once they start with one, they invariably discriminate against other's and that leads to feelings of discontent and alienation.  The Chinese government claims that they are atheists (which I believe they are), so how then are they able to legitimately know what constitutes a good spiritual leader for a religion that they do not even recognize?  To me, it is merely a bogus act to try and garner support from the Tibetan people who mainly want freedom from Chinese rule.  China has done everything in their power since the 1950's when they invaded Tibet and took over to garner support from the Tibetan people and incorporate them into the Chinese way of life.  To me, this all says that the Chinese government is out of touch with reality.  How can they possibly think that this ploy of theirs will work?  They think that by making people disappear and putting someone else in their place no one will notice.  Ha.  That's like making the governor of Connecticut disappear and replacing him with someone else.  (OK, bad example because I wouldn't mind that happening, but you get the point).   The Chinese government, if they really want to garner the support of the Tibetan people, would release the original Panchen Lama from "protective custody" and find out what the main concerns of the Tibetan people really are. 

So I know that the Chinese government will do nothing of the sort, but if they did, it would be an enormous step in the right direction.  However, the government over there seems to do what they want, when they want, with no regard whatsoever to the effect it has on the people living in their country.  They are driven by growth and numbers and not by the human factor.  Unfortunately, it seems that the political parties in the United States (especially the Republican party) are becoming increasingly tied to religion, Christianity in particular.  This is bad business and will eventually be the demise of the Republican party.   While it is not an issue to be a Christian and be a Republican, the two must be kept separate for a Republican official is there to represent a variety of people, not just Christians.  What we all must do is keep an eye on our government to ensure that they do not get overly involved in religion the way China has.  To do so will be to alienate all other religions represented in this country and essentially create a fractured society.  Unfortunately, there is not much we can do about Tibet and China.  Especially living in the United States, which owes China over 1.5 trillion dollars, anything we say will be immediately disregarded by anyone in authority in China.  The only thing we can hope for is that the people there see what is going on and fight for change, (as unlikely as that will be).  But in the end, we must focus mainly on keeping religion separate from politics in our country to ensure ultimate religious freedom for all those living here.