I think this is a very crucial question China is dealing with now. Last year the Chinese government invited me to give a consultation on religious freedom. They are really considering this issue, especially the communist members. Can they believe in religion? In the past, if you entered the Communist Party you had to swear that you served atheism. So a communist member basically is not allowed to accept religion. If you are not a communist member but work as a civil servant, you are free to believe in a different religion, but for a communist member, you are not allowed, no matter whether you're a servant or not.
They find there's a big change among the people now, because religion is spreading rapidly in China, and many communist members also become believers. So they have to deal with this question, and they're trying to give a little reform, a theory in the Communist Party, which is to allow the communist member to believe in religions, and the faith of life and the faith of political ideals can be separate. You can believe in communist ideals as a good political system, but at the same time you can be a Christian. It is still in the process of discussion. It has not yet passed the law, but I found it was written in the reform document. They publicized a reform document on the Communist Party that was written by a communist expert. I found they already gave this suggestion to the Communist Party.
When I discussed this with them they told me they are already doing all these things. But they challenged me as a Christian. They said that if the Communist Party opened for people who have faith, with Christians and others, this is a tough question for Christians. Of course it's hard to enter the Communist Party. But they just challenged this. Because of this I know that the party is seriously considering this move within a few years.
I know a very famous Christian who is also a famous economist in China. He has a very high position, a young scholar who is famous in economical theory. He openly said that when he became a very committed Christian, he asked the Communist Party. So he resigned from the party. The party leader said, “Just don't ask this question, then we'll allow you to have your religious belief. If you ask, then we have to manage it, and actually we have no answer there. So don't ask this question. Just keep on with your religious faith.”
As far as I know, the Communist Party has allowed the party member to have faith, but at the same time it is not necessary to resign from the party. As far as I know they have already reached this point.