Comparison between Daoism and Christianity

Reason: religion is the common phenomenon of all peoples. It is a part of philosophy

and the core of human culture. Understanding the differences between Daoism and
Christianity can help us to know the essential of China and Western culture. Western
religion mainly refers to Christianity.
Introduction: there are some similarities between thee two religions. God or
immortals are created by men and served for the government. Sometime, it can help to
increase state revenue. At the same time, there are some differences: 1) Chinese
religion is human-centered while Christianity is God centered 2) Chinese religion
seeks for happiness at present world; Christianity seek for happiness after death. 3)
Chinese religion promotes “feminine softness” but Christian discriminates against
women.
Conclusion: Daoism and Christianity have some similarities but the differences
between them make the Chinese culture different from the western culture. These
maybe one of the origin reasons for the difference between them. That’s why Chinese
live a different way of life from western people and they are different in thoughts.

God and immortals are created by men. They do not exist in the world, there are
reflected by men. Gods are imaginary personify superficial of worship. The image of
God and gods represent the dream and the emotion of early man. Daoism and
Christianity are sorts of superstition. At first, religions are set up to server for the
government. In the feudal society, religion was the tool to govern the people in
ideology to some extent, spiritual control can refrain people’s behavior. What’s more,
the monarch was the head of the church or the temple. Moreover, religion helps to
increase the cohesion of the nation. Sometimes, it can help to increase state revenue.
The church or temple can be a tourism scene. For many of the hot communities in poor
areas like the mountains, it is a chance to make supplementary income. Last, religion is
the common phenomenon of peoples. It is part of philosophy and the essence of human
culture.
There are some differences between Daoism and Christianity.
1) Chinese religion is human-centered while Christianity I God centered.
In the Christian religion, God is regarded as the only god in the universe, and it is
creator and the dominator of people. Man is one of the creatures by God. God decides
people’s life and death, examines the behavior of good and evil, saves people from
suffering. God is a foundation of the world, especially the foundation of human. What
people should do is to pray and to obey. The relation between God and people is higher
than the relation among people. God denies the nature of human, thinking human is
original sin and born evil. When compared to God, human’s status is low. The saving
of people is decided by the favor of God. People cannot go into heaven without his sin
by the efforts of himself. God send Jesus to save the sin people, atoning for people’s
sin by being nailed in the Cross.
Daoism regarded Laozi as the ancestor of Daoism and worship immortals. In Daoism,
God is neither the creator of the world nor the decider. Gods are the mysterious images
of bodies of Taoist. The core of its belief is that by engaging in a process of Cultivation
and Refinement, man can attain to a state of immortality. Daoism cherishes people’s
life. The relation between gods and people is harmonious. The mortals represented as
san qing zhung shen are in charge of success and failure. People can obtain help to live
longivertive and happily by practicing asceticism. It emphasizes on people’s own
efforts, and the help of immortal is supplementary.
2) Chinese religion seeks for happiness at the present world and Christianity seeks for
happiness after death.
In Christianity, God saves human mainly by letting people go into heaven after death
without the constraint of the secular life. The secular life is full of misery and not
worth yearning. People should be ascetic. The reason why people are suffering is to
obtain the forgiveness of God.
In Daoism, the immortals are to meet the people’s present demand. The goal of Daoism
is to live an internal life. When people become immortals, they can live with people in
the secular life.
3) Daoism promote “feminine softness” and Christian discriminates against women.
In Christianity, men are the ruler of women. Christian think God first create men and
then women. God used one rib of Adam’s to create Eve, so that Adam would not feel
lonely. In the bible, you can find explanations used to attribute the imperfections of the
world to human error. It is a consequence of primordial disobedience that the earth
yields its fruits grudgingly (Genesis 3:17-19) and that woman’ social position is
inferior to that of man (3:16). This doctrine has been affecting people’ attitude to
women.
Daoism thinks men and women are the foundation of Yin and Yang. Daoism think if
people don’t respect women, and let women have there social status respectively, it
will influence the social stability and development. If the society wants to develop
harmoniously, it must depend on the sharing efforts of men and women.

Daoism and Christianity have some similarities but the differences between them make
the Chinese culture different from the western culture. These maybe one of the origin
reasons for the difference between them. That’s why Chinese live a different way of
life from western people and they think in different way.

References:
1. Microsoft ® Encarta ® Reference Library 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
2. http://sfs.scnu.edu.cn/hhzhang/chn/Daoism.doc
3. 罗春霞.2001“中国宗教与基督教精神之比较”.湖南轻工业高等专科学校校报.
4. HOLLY BIBLE. AMITY PRINTING CO., LTD

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