BEIJING: Worried about the rise in people's interest in spiritualism six decades after the early Communists declared it to be evil, China's atheist government is calling for use of religion as a patriotic tool to rejuvenate the nation. It is also persuading religious leaders to condemn self-immolations among Tibetans.

"Among our people, it remains secondary whether they choose to believe or not to believe in religion, or which religion they choose to believe in. The common goal of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is primary," said Yu Zhengsheng, a member of the powerful standing committee of the political bureau of the Communist Party of China .

The CPC is trying to build bridges with religious groups instead of discouraging them. Party leaders are telling religious groups that there are more similarities and few conflicts between socialism and spiritualism.

This is a far cry from the Mao era, when the "great helmsman" had described religion as poison , outdoing Karl Marx , who had called it 'opium of the masses'. During the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, thousands of Red guards destroyed religious symbols like crucifix, statues of the Buddha and even Classical Chinese texts, putting up posters like 'Destroy the old world; Forge the new world'.

A little over 10 years ago, the Chinese leadership had cracked down on the spiritual sect of Falun Gong or the Dharma Wheel practice, calling them people completely "opposed to science and communism", and classifying them as believers in superstition and scientifically incorrect.

But Yu Zhengsheng visited the high-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China, and asked the faculty to deepen research regarding the compatibility of Tibetan Buddhism and socialist society.

The Buddhist Association of China, which is affiliated to the Communist Party, recently held a conference in Chengdu to condemn the anti-government movement by Tibetans, who are attracting international attention by committing self-immolations.

"Buddhism is a religion that respects life and opposes killing or suicide," said Chuan Yin, president of the association. He added that inducing, encouraging or praising suicides were as deplorable as murder.

Yu went round visiting the headquarters of associations run by different religious groups like Buddhists, Taoists, Muslims and Catholics over two days on Monday and Tuesday. He canvassed the idea of using religion's "positive role" for national building.

The party's different units have been asked to "support religious groups and help them solve practical problems", the official media said.

Yu also urged the religious groups to pay attention to organization building and personnel training, and to discover more positive elements in religious doctrines.