An op-ed column by Zizek.

IN PURSUIT OF SOCIAL 'HARMONY' -- How China got religion

The column covers the attempt by the Chinese government to regulate the reincarnation laws of the Buddhist faith. He does three things here (1) shows how Western states have regulated religion in a similar way, (2) demonstrates how the Chinese government has taken a uniquely 'Western' approach in its control of Tibet, (alongside the more obvious military coercion) and (3) argues that the intellectual sophistication of the Western 'elites' on these matters is just as backward and absurd as the Chinese government's efforts (that is - celebrating ideologies that sustain, mystify and conceal unjust social relations while not believing in them).

"Culture" has commonly become the name for all those things we practice without really taking seriously. And this is why we dismiss fundamentalist believers as "barbarians" with a "medieval mindset": They dare to take their beliefs seriously. Today, we seem to see the ultimate threat to culture as coming from those who live immediately in their culture, who lack the proper distance.

Perhaps we find China's reincarnation laws so outrageous not because they are alien to our sensibility, but because they spill the secret of what we have done for so long: respectfully tolerating what we don't take quite seriously, and trying to contain its political consequences through the law.

Related and bonus ...Video link ... "Why Only Atheists Can Truly Believe" (NB. I haven't watched this yet - but I think may be relevant - will watch later).