China Regulates Buddhist Reincarnation - Newsweek Beliefs - MSNBC.com

In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission.

This has to be one of the silliest things I've come across recently. I was under the impression that the communist government of China was determinately secular, claiming (with Lenin or Marx, I can't remember which) that "religion is the opium of the people" ... in which case, surely, the belief that certain Budhists will reincarnate as human beings is impossible!
Which just goes to imply that it is all about control, and that really the communism of China is more religion than it wants to admit. Funny how you can tell what things are by the "fruit" of their behaviour. Or is that a bit too cynical, even for me?