Communism and state-enforced atheism

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How about state-sponsored NON-theism?

That's how communist governments have manifested themselves.

We don't want either--state-sponsored theism and state-sponsored non-theism.

I disagree with your premise. Its not an "either/or" situation.

I'm an atheist but I don't like the idea of a state enforced atheism. It would just lead to people hiding their beliefs and persecution of religious people who hadn't done anything wrong.

It would also set up a hierarchy and although I'm good with a hierarchy to help people or to punish people who've been hurting others, that isn't always the case when it comes to religious people.

Encouraging people towards religious beliefs which are more socialist and tolerant in nature? Great. Encourage Christians for eg to care more about 'love thy neighbour' than about Leviticus 18.

China isn't really communist anymore, though. It's somewhere between communism and capitalism (some would say it qualifies as capitalist either way). Communism means no free market and no private property (China has both). China has made huge economic progress over the last few decades, coming out of a very dark time. Communism is an ugly word for various reasons, but it doesn't describe the current state of China's economy and government very well. Right now it is an interesting hybrid of capitalist and communist policies which have evolved over time. Many large companies are still state owned. What's probably more important to understand is that they do have very strict laws there, but prison is not nearly as bad (it seems like a cakewalk compared to American prisons). There isn't much crime. Also, things are very expensive. A small to medium sized house costs 1-2 million USD, so you can see why many Chinese people want to come here to earn their living. Their education system sounds efficient, and Chinese have higher test scores than other places by a long shot. They're smarter than we are on paper. Their culture seems strangely puritanical in many ways, despite being unreligious. They have some traditional and conservative values, like no sex before marriage, which are pretty commonplace. Homosexuality is only just starting to be accepted somewhat recently. They have massive censorship and the world's biggest firewall on their internet. You can't just look up or say anything you want. It's pretty "square" compared to liberal America.

Considering China's propensity to lie in order to make themsleves look good, I find it hard to trust their numbers.

State-enforced atheism is what they had in the USSR. It meant persecuting people for following God. Christian priests had to flee to other countries to avoid being murdered for being a Christian. If you want to know what communism and state-enforced atheism is like, go to China. It's not quite fully communist and atheism isn't fully enforced but it's probably the country that is closest to it.

This time soviet music!

One should also keep in mind that China has had very, very, very, very, very, very, very bad experiences with Christianity.

In the middle of the 19th century, Hong Xiuquan - based on teachings from Protestant Christian mercenaries - started the Taiping Rebellion, which was a massive civil war with a total death toll around 20-30 million.