Book leads the way in helping to understand religion

What positive roles can religions play in Chinese society? Can they boost social development and help form the common value that the nation needs? In his newly published book A Long Tour Around Religions, Wei Dedong, professor and vice dean of the School of Philosophy at Renmin University, tries to offer some fresh answers to these perennial questions.

A columnist at China Ethnic News and its sister publication Religion Weekly since 2005, Wei has written more 355 articles in the past nine years, covering topics ranging from the superstition of officials to how to avoid misunderstanding terrorism in religious conflicts. He occasionally did news analysis and comment — for example, some business deals involving domestic temples aroused debate about the commercialization of religions, and Wei wrote an article that traced the roots of the problem and proposed some solutions.

Wei Xinsheng, publisher of China Ethnic News, said Wei Dedong's column is one of the earliest of its kind in China.

It was in 2013 that Liu Haitao, an editor from the Ethnic Publishing House, instilled the idea in Wei Dedong of re-editing his column articles to produce a book.

Some of the comments are more meaningful when viewed from today's perspective, Liu said. "We have had plenty of academic books on religious studies," she said, "but few scholars really concentrate on sharing their knowledge with the public. We had been seeking one for a long time, and Wei's columns perfectly match the demands of readers."

Yang Cengwen, a senior researcher at the Institute of World Religions at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Wei Dedong's efforts are especially worth cherishing, considering that the column aims at popularizing knowledge about religions, which is not considered an academic pursuit.

Exploiting academic achievements as a public product is important in the modern age, said Zhang Zhigang, professor and dean of the School of Religious Culture at Peking University.

"People enjoy the freedom of choosing which religion to believe or not, but there is still chaos," Zhang said. "Many people cannot distinguish superstition from true religion, while more tend to worship at every temple without knowing what they are worshipping. The problem stems partly from the lack of religious knowledge in society.

"That's why we need this book and the column articles. The public needs some basic common sense about religions, and this book is leading the way."