The Multiplicity of Chinese and Indian Religions

A Critical Reappraisal of the Notion of “Eastern Religion”

Abstract

Despite devastating criticism from post-colonial scholars over recent decades, the distinction between “Eastern” and “Western” religion is still used as a generic model for comprehending basic distinctions in the study of religion as well as in relation to debates on religious change in the West. Colin Campbell discussed the Western understanding of “Eastern religions” as marking a watershed in contemporary religious change. But what really are these “Eastern” religions, outside the desk of scholars? This chapter explores Campbell’s basic model and in particular questions the inherent stereotypical assumption of “Eastern” or “Asian” religion still powerfully resonant in the West. Embedded in the rich mixed-methods material, the chapter points to the inherent and neglected diversity in the Asian countries of the People’s Republic of China and India. Our results show that while categories such as “Muslim”, “Buddhist” and “Taoist” are naturally useful in many ways, they tell us little about the types of worldviews that the young university students studied here hold as additional and relevant crossings of the lines of religious affiliation are significant.