China's religions, as an important part of the social force, may play an active role in helping build a harmonious society if they are properly guided, a top official who is in charge of the country's religious affairs said on Friday in Beijing.

Ye Xiaowen, director of the State Administration of Religious Affairs, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with the Xinhua News Agency, the first since Ye took office a decade ago in a country with more than 100 million people of faith.

"Religions are one of the social forces that are worth much attention in the country's social and economic construction," he said. "They can play an active yet unique role in many aspects."

Ye said the Chinese Government would enhance their supervision to help the religions restrain their negative elements and promote their positive ones in accordance with the law and the established practice of running religious affairs in an independent and self-supportive way.

"This is the fundamental basis on which Chinese religions may exercise their roles," he said.

"Such work will also offer opportunities to the government to undertake religious work in a more creative manner, thus making more achievements," he said.

Ye said all Chinese religions including officially sanctioned Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism can tap the positive elements in their tenets and teachings and combine them with China's current situation.

"But their methods may vary accordingly," Ye said, "so the actual situations of different religions must be adequately taken into consideration."

He said one of the key tasks of the religious departments on various levels of government in the country's ongoing construction of a harmonious society is to help the religions adapt to the general mainstream of the socialist society.

To achieve that end, Ye said, the government may make realistic suggestions from a friendly and constructive point of view and channel them to have a role in the country's construction.

(China Daily 07/22/2006 page2)