Fenggang Yang, the Director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University, organized a survey involving Chinese. The survey results showed that 85 percent of Chinese people have religious beliefs or have conducted activities similar to religious rituals.
The survey also showed that the same percentage (85 percent) of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members believe in Gods as described by religions, even though the CCP promotes an atheist ideology and denies the existence of any higher level beings.
Fenggang Yang described the reasons: As the society opens up, Chinese people start to get in contact with religions. When people face high risk or cannot control their fates, they tend to turn to a supernatural power for help. “The spiritual belief is not something that any society can stop or prohibit.”
As the ruling party, the CCP members have more resources and opportunities. Therefore people still want to join the Party. “However, joining the CCP does not mean they have completely abandoned their beliefs in supernatural power or Gods.”
Since 2004, over 280 million Chinese have announced that they quit the CCP or its affiliated organizations including the Communist Youth League and Communist Pioneers.
Source: Epoch Times, July 31, 2017
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/17/7/31/n9482586.htm