Confucianism and Religion——On Confucian Concepts and Related Issues in Western Countries

China's Confucian, one of the schools before Qin Dynasty, had been the theoretical basis of social and political ethics since Westem Han Dynasty. Religion concept in China was formed after the introduction of Buddhism and the rise of Taoism. Westem scholars interpreted Confucian and theory of Confucian as Confucianism, one of the three main denominations in China. But the Jesuits into China and classical philosophers found it was atheism. Additionally, judging from the worship of supematural forces, the pursuit of the ultimate value of human and special religious rituals, it embodied no religious nature. From perspective of pan-religious, some modern western scholars argue that Confucianism is religion of China. Their confusions and misunderstandings contain some reasonable thoughts and profound insights, which is helpful to explore further the nature of Confucian.