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50 J. Church & St. 205 (2008)
Revisiting China's Great Wall of Separation: Religious Liberty in China Today

handle is hein.journals/jchs50 and id is 205 raw text is: Editorial Revisiting China's Great Wall of Separation: Religious Liberty in China Today CHRISTOPHER MARSH In the autumn 1986 issue of the Journal of Church and State, Dr. James E. Wood, Jr., founding editor of the Journal, pronounced that the winter is past, referring to the end of China's most aggressive period of repression of religion. Dr. Wood's positive assessment was ased on the observation that, during the past decade, particularly since 1980, great strides toward religious freedom have been made in China. While arguing that liberal attitudes toward religion on the part of the political leadership are widely evident throughout the country, he also soberly recognized that religion in China remained clearly under government control. Making such a declaration so early in the process of China's liberalization left him open to criticism, especially from those who felt that the wisest course of action in dealing with authoritarian regimes was to limit interaction with them and maintain a tough stance against Communism. Now, more than twenty years later, we can safely say that Dr. Wood was correct in his assessment. Indeed, the period which he identified in his article- 1976-1980-marked a clear turning point in China's religion policy. Since that time, China has gradually but steadily expanded religious liberty to the extent that today, many *CHRISTOPHER MARSH is the incoming editor of the Journal of Church and State, and has served as the director of the J. M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies since 2006. He is also the director of the Keston Center for Religion, Politics, & Society and associate professor of political science and church-state studies at Baylor University. He is the author of several books, including most recently Unparalleled Reforms: China's Rise, Russia s Fall, and the Interdependence of Transition. He is also editor of Burden or Blessing? Russian Orthodoxy and the Construction of Civil Society and Democracy, and co-editor, with Wallace Daniel and Peter Berger, of Perspectives on Church-State Relations in Russia. Additionally, he is the author of numerous articles published in Region, State, & Society, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, and the Journal of Church and State. Dr. Marsh's research interests include religion and nationalism, religious belief in the modem world, and church-state relations in Communist and Post-Communist societies.

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