Comment on the Issue of Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief [1]
(14 October 1950)
The Common Programme has already granted all religions the protection of freedom of belief; there is no need to speak further of individual protection.

Mao Zedong
14 October

[1] This comment by Mao Zedong was written on a letter from Venerable Fa Fang to Venerable Ju Zang, dated 9 September 1950. At the time, Venerable Fa Fang had been invited to teach at the University of Ceylon, lecturing on Chinese Buddhist studies. In his letter to Venerable Ju Zang, a renowned eminent monk in Chinese Buddhist circles, he proposed seeking the consent of Chairman Mao Zedong and Vice Chairman Li Jishen of the Central People’s Government to ask them to serve as protectors of Chinese Buddhism.