Changes

Although Chinese [[literature]] cites homosexual practice since ancient times as one that was fairly tolerated,<ref name="DrescherLingiardi2003">{{cite book|last1=Drescher|first1=Jack|last2=Lingiardi|first2=Vittorio|title=The Mental Health Professions and Homosexuality: International Perspectives|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=DdAs9zZtzxoC&pg=PA117|accessdate=25 April 2014|date=2 June 2003|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9780789020598|page=117|quote=Homosexuality was widespread, recognized and fairly tolerated, although not entirely accepted, in ancient China.}}</ref> after the [[Chinese Communist Party]], which officially espouses [[atheism]], came to power in 1949, homosexuality was deemed a sexual crime and then classified as an abnormal (''buzhengchang'') [[mental illness]].<ref name="KleinmanYan2011">{{cite book|last1=Kleinman|first1=Arthur|last2=Yan|first2=Yunxiang|last3=Jun|first3=Jing|coauthors=Sing Lee, Everett Zhang|title=Deep China: The Moral Life of the Person|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=RUWZUa8ijvEC&pg=PA251|accessdate=25 April 2014|date=27 August 2011|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520950511|page=251|quote=Chinese literature citing homosexuality dates back to ancient times. After the Chinese Communist Party took over the country in 1949, homosexuality was deemed a sexual crime until 1997 and then classified as a mental disorder until 2001.}}</ref><ref name="GrimFinke2010">{{cite book|last1=Grim|first1=Brian J.|last2=Finke|first2=Roger|title=The Price of Freedom Denied: Religious Persecution and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=mofX6zdChgcC&pg=PA132|accessdate=25 April 2014|date=6 December 2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139492416|page=132|quote=Atheism had long been the official doctrine of the Chinese Communist Party, but this new form of militant atheism made every effort to eradicate religion completely.}}</ref> Under the [[Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution]], homosexuals experienced punishment that ranged from "[[forced labor|labor]] under surveillance to imprisonment for years".<ref name="DrescherLingiardi2003">{{cite book|last1=Drescher|first1=Jack|last2=Lingiardi|first2=Vittorio|title=The Mental Health Professions and Homosexuality: International Perspectives|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=DdAs9zZtzxoC&pg=PA117|accessdate=25 April 2014|date=2 June 2003|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9780789020598|page=117|quote=Arguably, this was the most sexually repressive period in the history of China. During this time, homosexual behavior could be grounds for persecution. Punishment ranged from labor under surveillance to imprisonment for years, depending upon the political atmosphere at the time and the mood of specific authorities. After the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s, as the government spent several years "rehabilitating" people who had been persecuted, those persecuted due to same-sex behaviors did not receive the same treatment (Wan, personal communication, 1997, 2001).}}</ref> Moreover, atheistic [[communist]] officials "when queried by foreign visitors, until recently simply denied that homosexuality existed in [[China]]".<ref name="Crompton2006">{{cite book|last=Crompton|first=Louis|title=Homosexuality and Civilization|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=TfBYd9xVaXcC&pg=PA244|accessdate=25 April 2014|year=2006|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674030060|page=244|quote=In Chinese history and literature, until the end of the Imperial age and the triumph of Marxism, men who loved men were depicted as good or bad, sympathetic or self-seeking, honest or dishonest, talented or undistinguished, but not set apart as a race to be humiliated, denounced, or extirpated. Under Communist rule, however, there has been a radical change. Chinese Communist officials, when queried by foreign visitors, until recently simply denied that homosexuality existed in China, the theory being that under a socialist economy social ills such as prostitution and homosexuality would vanish.}}</ref>

Although Chinese [[literature]] cites homosexual practice since ancient times as one that was fairly tolerated,<ref name="DrescherLingiardi2003">{{cite book|last1=Drescher|first1=Jack|last2=Lingiardi|first2=Vittorio|title=The Mental Health Professions and Homosexuality: International Perspectives|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=DdAs9zZtzxoC&pg=PA117|accessdate=25 April 2014|date=2 June 2003|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9780789020598|page=117|quote=Homosexuality was widespread, recognized and fairly tolerated, although not entirely accepted, in ancient China.}}</ref> after the [[Chinese Communist Party]], which officially espouses [[atheism]], came to power in 1949, homosexuality was deemed a sexual crime and then classified as an abnormal (''buzhengchang'') [[mental illness]].<ref name="KleinmanYan2011">{{cite book|last1=Kleinman|first1=Arthur|last2=Yan|first2=Yunxiang|last3=Jun|first3=Jing|coauthors=Sing Lee, Everett Zhang|title=Deep China: The Moral Life of the Person|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=RUWZUa8ijvEC&pg=PA251|accessdate=25 April 2014|date=27 August 2011|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520950511|page=251|quote=Chinese literature citing homosexuality dates back to ancient times. After the Chinese Communist Party took over the country in 1949, homosexuality was deemed a sexual crime until 1997 and then classified as a mental disorder until 2001.}}</ref><ref name="GrimFinke2010">{{cite book|last1=Grim|first1=Brian J.|last2=Finke|first2=Roger|title=The Price of Freedom Denied: Religious Persecution and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=mofX6zdChgcC&pg=PA132|accessdate=25 April 2014|date=6 December 2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139492416|page=132|quote=Atheism had long been the official doctrine of the Chinese Communist Party, but this new form of militant atheism made every effort to eradicate religion completely.}}</ref> Under the [[Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution]], homosexuals experienced punishment that ranged from "[[forced labor|labor]] under surveillance to imprisonment for years".<ref name="DrescherLingiardi2003">{{cite book|last1=Drescher|first1=Jack|last2=Lingiardi|first2=Vittorio|title=The Mental Health Professions and Homosexuality: International Perspectives|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=DdAs9zZtzxoC&pg=PA117|accessdate=25 April 2014|date=2 June 2003|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9780789020598|page=117|quote=Arguably, this was the most sexually repressive period in the history of China. During this time, homosexual behavior could be grounds for persecution. Punishment ranged from labor under surveillance to imprisonment for years, depending upon the political atmosphere at the time and the mood of specific authorities. After the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s, as the government spent several years "rehabilitating" people who had been persecuted, those persecuted due to same-sex behaviors did not receive the same treatment (Wan, personal communication, 1997, 2001).}}</ref> Moreover, atheistic [[communist]] officials "when queried by foreign visitors, until recently simply denied that homosexuality existed in [[China]]".<ref name="Crompton2006">{{cite book|last=Crompton|first=Louis|title=Homosexuality and Civilization|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=TfBYd9xVaXcC&pg=PA244|accessdate=25 April 2014|year=2006|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674030060|page=244|quote=In Chinese history and literature, until the end of the Imperial age and the triumph of Marxism, men who loved men were depicted as good or bad, sympathetic or self-seeking, honest or dishonest, talented or undistinguished, but not set apart as a race to be humiliated, denounced, or extirpated. Under Communist rule, however, there has been a radical change. Chinese Communist officials, when queried by foreign visitors, until recently simply denied that homosexuality existed in China, the theory being that under a socialist economy social ills such as prostitution and homosexuality would vanish.}}</ref>

== Berger's The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics ==

== Berger's The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics ==