Survey: Religious Conversion and Self-Perceived Morality

[Lusankya]

Religion in Asia is actually a far more complex matter than in the West. When talking in a Western (well, Abrahamic) context, people tend to be limited not only to one religion, but one faction of one religion. It's almost impossible for someone to consider themselves both Catholic and Lutheran, for example.

In China, on the other hand, religion is a much more fluid thing. You have people acting Daoist when they're sick, Confucianist when they're about to have an exam, Buddhist at various other times. And once the perceived "need" for religion is gone, there's about a 90% chance that they'll just go back to being non-religious. I suppose one could say that they're not "real" atheists during the times that they're not being religious, since they will turn to religion at those certain times, but at the same time, just because they're going through the motions of the religion, that doesn't actually lead to them believing. It's often just a version of Pascal's wager, albeit one that makes more sense, because according to most Chinese religions, the god doesn't actually care if you believe in them or not, just as long as they receive their incense and money and prayers and fruit.