In one of history’s more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is “an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation.”
From China Regulates Buddhist Reincarnation – Newsweek Beliefs – MSNBC.com
Want an argument for separation of Church and State? You’ve got your argument right here. The very phrase State Administration for Religious Affairs send a chill down every bone in my secular humanist body. I wonder what would be next, a ban on haunted houses? Maybe they could charge a poltergeist tax.
