This is not simply something from below, but it’s being met from above in constructive ways as well … the fact there are centers for religious studies arising at universities around China with public support, the fact that there’s now a discourse about the positive role that religion can play in Chinese society.
—Tom Banchoff, director of Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs
All this week, NPR has been airing Louisa Lim’s reports from Beijing that highlight various aspects of religious growth and change in China, including stories about burgeoning support for Buddhism, women’s mosques and female imams, divided Catholics, and the rebirth of folk religion. “God is rising here…” says one Chinese Christian woman quoted. This series “New Believers: A Religious Revolution in China” helps illustrate how that’s happening.
Colleen Scheck, senior producer
