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Confucianism During the recent Beijing Olympics the citizens of China, and of Beijing in particular, were urged to treat foreign visitors according to Confucian principles. This takes for granted the fact that all of the Chinese population would comprehend what these principles were. Yet this is in a country where the practice religion is very much a minority activity and in some cases discouraged. My contention is that Confucianism is a philosophy that makes society easier to deal with rather than a faith. It has no god, although there is worship of heaven.
Yet it is listed by Richard Cavendish in his 1980 book The Great Religions (page 7). Confucius was a contemporary of Buddha and Mahavira in India. He lived at a time of great social disorder. He seems not to have been very interested in religion according to Cavendish (page 87), but rather in a type of humanism. He approved of the veneration of ancestors because this led to respect for ones elders, an important factor in a stable society. Another matter he felt was important was education, which is perhaps why his teachings became important to Chinas bureaucrats.
It gained also the approval of several emperors because it emphasized a meritocracy rather than the leaderships by feudal lords whom the emperors found harder to control. The center for Confucian Studies calls it on their web page A Science of God which is rather different from calling it a religion. They prefer this term because they say religion is a term that is abused, but also because the teaching of Confucius, according to them, is above all religions. Cavendish however describes it, (page 100) during the Sung dynasty, as a method of strengthening the civil service and as a means of opposing Buddhism.
There is always going to be some controversy about the point but without god, afterlife or promise of salvation, but instead a means of achieving ones ends this is always going tot be a philosophy rather than a religion. References Cavendish, R. The Great Religions, London, W. H. Smith, 1980 Electronic Sources Is Confucianism a religion? , the Center for Confucian Studies, retrieved 3 rd January 2008 from web
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