That Guy From China

This is related to my upcoming speech at the American Atheist National Convention in April.

There seems to be a huge debate surrounding teaching religious beliefs.  Of course, every religion feels that they should have the right to teach their beliefs to their children; and many atheists oppose such teaching, some going to the point of comparing it to child abuse.  And in general, those who have a particular religion oppose the teaching of beliefs that contradict their own.

The fact is, pretty much every person is going to face a choice as to what their beliefs are.  Will it be one of the many Christian denominations?  Islam?  Buddhism? Or will they reject supernatural beliefs?

Let’s focus on the key word here — CHOICE.  A choice means understanding the options, and choosing the one that seems best to you.  If you don’t know or understand the different options, then you cannot make a real choice.  My position is that we should not be teaching simply what we want others to believe, but rather that we should be teaching others how to make those choices for themselves.

I’m not opposed to a Christian teaching their beliefs to their children; but I am opposed to a Christian who seeks to keep their child from learning about the other options.  And my feeling is the same regarding atheists — if they would seek to prevent their children from learning about other beliefs, I’d be opposed to that, also.

My proposal is rather on the idealistic side, but is a goal that I personally think we should be working towards.  Create a curriculum that presents all of the major belief systems, be they theistic or atheistic.  Have a section on Christianity, a section on Islam, a section on Humanism, etc.  Each section is divided into three parts.

The first part gives an introduction to that belief system written by people from that belief system.  So have Christians write the intro to Christian beliefs.  Muslims write the intro to Muslim beliefs.  Etc.

The second part gives a general history of the belief system, giving an overall perspective of how that belief system has gotten to where it is today.

The third part gives those who have other beliefs the chance to discuss what they see as flaws, inconsistencies, or problems in that belief system.  So Muslims, Humanists, and Buddhists would have the chance to comment on Christian beliefs…and vice versa.

In my opinion, if someone is a Christian, or Muslim, or Humanist, simply because that’s what they were taught, and they’ve never really learned about or understood anything else…it is wrong.  But if someone, after honestly learning about and understanding the different options, then chooses a particular belief system, I have no problem with that, even if it is different than my own.

In discussing this with others, I’ve generally gotten a lot of support from the atheist/Humanist community.  The Christian community, on the other hand, seems to generally be quite opposed to it.  It seems that “faith” is actually dependent on ignorance…know what you believe, but not much about what others believe (and by this, I don’t mean just what Christians say about other beliefs, which has a very obvious bias).  It seems to me that, if you really have the Truth”, you should welcome the opportunity to put your beliefs up against others, since the superiority of your own beliefs will inevitably come out.  Its the fear of letting people hear about and understand other beliefs that is one of the most telling aspects of religion.

Now, lest I be accused of stereotyping, I’ve met atheists who’ve opposed this idea; and Christians who’ve supported it.  But for the most part, few atheists I’ve met are afraid of having their children exposed to different belief systems, so long as it is done in a balanced manner; whereas the majority of Christians I’ve talked to, even if they say they support this idea in theory, are opposed to it if it involves their own children.

For the past 15 years — from 1993-2008 — I have been living and working in China.  During that time, I’ve established two successful businesses, and a non-profit organization.  Probably 75% of my work in China focused on cross-cultural issues: helping foreign companies/organizations understand how to do business in China; and helping Chinese companies/organizations understand how to do business with the West.  The core of my focus was on cultural differences, and helping both sides understand each other better.

I was, however, rather embarassed at times to be a Canadian.  While American, Australian, and European companies were expanding aggressively into China, Canadian companies were doing almost nothing.  In fact, the vast majority of Canadian professionals in China are working for American or European companies.

Now that I’m back in Canada, I’ve decided to focus my attentions specifically on Canadian businesses, and encourage/push them to be more proactive and aggressive in getting into the Chinese market.  This blog has been set up to comment on some of the issues that are relevant to Canadians doing business in China.

In addition, I’m going to be hosting a monthly seminar called The China Challenge, which will provide very practical and useful advice for those who are interested in China.

Unfortunately, while I personally enjoy debates, and dislike censorship, the practical reality is that I need to be very cautious about my reputation in China.  If this blog were to have a lot of strongly anti-China posts, it not only could cause problems for me to renew my Chinese visa, but could also cause problems for my non-profit organization, and the Chinese who are associated with it.  Therefore, I’ve decided that all posts will require approval before they appear; and if I feel that the post would cause problems, I may either edit the content, or not post it at all.

My apologies in advance to those who I know will be upset or offended by this; but I’d point out that this in no manner, shape, or form stifles your own freedom of speech.  There are tons of places available to you where you can say whatever you like, and let your own sentiments and beliefs be known.  And I’d encourage you to use them.

That being said, I do hope that people will find this blog interesting and useful; and I do look forward to peoples comments and opinions.