“The Communist Party is like the parent to the Tibetan people, and it is always considerate about what the children need. The Central Party Committee is the real Buddha for Tibetans.”
-- Zhang Qingli, the China-appointed Communist Party chief in Tibet, where Chinese police have suppressed protests by Tibetan monks and lay people clamoring for autonomy. Zhang's remarks, quoted by The Associated Press this month, were uttered last year.If you change "Buddha" to "Jesus", you've got a pretty good recipe for institutionalized idolatry at the national level. You should worship the Politburo, not Jesus! This is probably the closest thing we have in our day to worship of the state as an alternative to worship of a deity.
