How Christianity and Confucianism can explain US-China rivalry…

How Christianity and Confucianism can explain US-China rivalry…
Peter T. C. Chang says China’s Confucian heritage means it can tolerate multiple belief systems ‘under heaven’, but the US’ insistence on liberal democracy has echoes of Christian exclusivism

archive.today/2019.02.08-185231/https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2185298/are-confucian-china-and-christian-west

The ongoing trade war is just one front of an expanding all-out US-China tussle for world dominance. And unlike earlier great-power rivalries, this has the trappings of a civilisational showdown, as the pre-eminent Christian West faces off against a resurgent Confucian East, with potentially far-reaching consequences for the existing global order. Anxieties abound over whether these two giants share enough core values to manage a peaceful balancing of power, and can avert the dreaded Thucydides Trap. These fears are not unfounded. While similar in some ways, Christianity and Confucianism are distinct traditions, with theological assumptions that, if unchallenged, could set the US and China on a collision course.

Christianity, like Judaism, believes in the existence of only one true God. But, unlike the latter, the former transcended Judaic ethnocentrism to embrace Christian universalism. The Abrahamic god in Christianity is no longer just for the Jews, but for all peoples. Still, Christianity remains monotheistic, exacting absolute allegiance to the one God. For Christians, to be saved one must embrace the biblical faith. Put differently, humanity’s fate lies with Christianity, the sole gateway to heaven. Imprints of these Christian motifs are unmistakable in Pax Americana. Stepping out of isolation, the US played a central role in stabilising the post-second-world-war order. Hailed as the American century, the 20th century has had its lows, surely. But it was also marked with historic accomplishments. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is one. This and other US-led initiatives set the framework of a new international order, whereupon people everywhere could aspire to a dignified existence free of tyranny. As US president John F. Kennedy eloquently acclaimed, “…not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women, not merely peace for our time but peace in all time”. And Americans embraced this mission as a “manifest destiny” to guide humankind like a “shining city upon a hill”. Reminiscent of Christian exclusivism, the Americans believed in a singular path to realising this free world: the liberal democratic process, exalted as the historic culmination of human political progress.

In Confucianism, the ancient Chinese sages also envisioned a “tianxia”, where all peoples could coexist harmoniously under heaven. But, unlike Christian monotheism, the Chinese are polytheistic, pledging allegiance to Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism all at once. These multiple allegiances underscore the Chinese pluralistic approach to achieving the Dao in this and the afterlife. Certainly, not every tradition is equal. Confucians do assert dominance. But there is no equivalent Christian doctrine of “God’s elect”. Moral pre-eminence is not predestined but merit-based. If proven worthy, anyone can take the lead under heaven. In the nascent Pax Sinica, one can discern the Confucian impressions. Following the epochal Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping, at the 13th National People’s Congress, introduced another grandiose vision: a “community of common destiny”. Emulating the Confucian “tianxia” concept, Xi vowed to “let the sunshine of a community with a shared future for humanity illuminate the world”. The aim is to herald a global “new era” of stability and prosperity.

Attached: bd2826b8-2b3e-11e9-8864-9e8ab15a22ca_image_hires_013034.jpg (980x551, 450.12K)

Other urls found in this thread:

www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/2018/december/early-rain-church-releases-letter-written-by-pastor-arrested-by-chinese-authorities
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

America isn't Christian in the slightest. And I doubt China is any much either.

China needs to stop being a bunch of lying cheaters and thieves, and then everything will be fine.

I'm getting real tired of these people.

Christianity isn't even about liberal democracy. We serve the King of Kings.

The cultural revolution chopped that oak down long ago. all that's left is the nonsense "medicines" they claim to be 1000s of years old and what few ancient texts that made their way out of the country before the book burnings.


There is only one god in Communist China, and that god is the Party

These kinds of articles have been spewed forth in the Trump era because our rootless ((elites)) want to buddy up to China, not have a tactical nuclear war.

Sage

Damn, didn't sage

The reason for US/China rivalry is because the communist party is power hungry. China was never meant to be united at the scale it is today and should be partitioned into smaller regions by the dialects that are spoken. The culture created by the communist party has made it so that the chinese treat each other as subhuman.

The destruction of the communist party and the partitioning of china will reap only benefits for the people.

Be interested to hear more about your experience and why and how you came to the conclusions that you have. Were you a Christian during your time there and if so did you interact with aspects of the church?

The difference being that America has actual Christians, and it’s not illegal to be one.

It's definitely illegal unfortunately, but I haven't seen many Americans treat the Bible like these Chinese.

OK lying kike

Yes. Tell us.

Christians for Israel.

what

www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/2018/december/early-rain-church-releases-letter-written-by-pastor-arrested-by-chinese-authorities

lol, both are marxist abominations

A daring synthesis. Also that description fits the liberal pantheon more than Christianity.

Attached: Kircher_-_Toonneel_van_China_-_Ricci_and_Guangqi.jpg (2521x3773, 3.57M)

Selfishly bumping this thread from the bottom out of interest.

Bumping your Bump

It can't, because America (Jewmerica) is Jewish.

This, tbh.
The USA is the Synagogue of Satan's finest golem that props up the banking system via debt and war.

sometimes I wonder how different history would've been without the Chinese Rites Controversy. that was an underrated historical event.

America isn't Christian, China isn't Confucian..

lol there's also no concept of being a "Good Samaritan" either, that's why China is filled with people accidentally running over children, then backing up and running over them again so they only have to pay for a funeral.

Chinese both literally and figuratively threw Confucianism in the fire of Cultural Revolution. Ironically, the only place where there are still traces and bits of Confucianism left is Japan.

Can confirm
t. burger