Zhu Weiqun: Study Religious Policies and Perform Religious Work Effectively
China has been a unified multi-ethnic and multi-religious country since ancient times; this is one of our fundamental national conditions. The practice of reform and opening up and socialist modernization has demonstrated that our Party’s guiding principles and policies on religious work are correct. At the same time, we face arduous, complex, and long-term tasks regarding religious issues. We must both persist in existing theories, policies, and work, and advance with the times [1] to adapt to new situations, new circumstances, and new challenges.
The Basic Situation and Characteristics of Religion in China
The main religions in China are Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism. Taoism is an indigenous religion of our country; it originally emerged as "Tao-learning" during the Spring and Autumn period [2] as a form of philosophy and political science, and evolved into a religion during the Eastern Han dynasty. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, it has been primarily divided into the Zhengyi and Quanzhen schools, with approximately 25,000 Taoist priests residing in temples (gongguan). Buddhism was introduced during the reign of Emperor Ai of the Western Han and later evolved into three major traditions: Han, Tibetan, and Southern (Theravada). There are currently about 200,000 monastics (monks and nuns). The number of lay believers in Taoism and Buddhism is vast and difficult to calculate. Islam was introduced starting in the Tang dynasty; it currently has about 21 million adherents and approximately 40,000 clerical staff. Primitive Christianity emerged in the Middle East, later spread to the Roman Empire and became the state religion. In 1054, it split into the Western Church centered in Rome and the Orthodox Church centered in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). In the 16th century, along with the formation of European capitalist relations of production and the Reformation, Protestantism—which we refer to as Christianity (Jidujiao) today—split from the Western Church, while the former Western Church came to be known as Catholicism. Currently, China has about 5.5 million Catholic believers and about 23 million Protestant believers. In addition, there are ethnic and regional religions such as Eastern Orthodoxy, as well as folk beliefs such as Mazu and Guan Gong.
In the early period of the founding of New China, Premier Zhou Enlai stated that China had over 100 million believers of various religions. How can we clarify the current number of religious masses? Some have suggested adding a "religious belief" item to the population census, but this is inappropriate. The reasons are: for the state, religious belief is a private matter of the citizen; the religious beliefs of many people in our country change; and it is politically disadvantageous to label our citizens with state-determined "religious" identities. Practice has shown that scientific survey methods can resolve this problem effectively.
Viewed historically, religion in China possesses three characteristics. In my view, these are also traditional advantages for our religious work today. First, regarding the relationship between the state and religion, state power is superior to religion. Overall, there has been no situation of the integration of church and state or conflict between church and state as seen in the West—such as the situation in medieval Europe where the Catholic Church extensively influenced or even dominated the politics of various nations. For a long period in Chinese history, Confucianism served as the ideological mainstream. Confucianism is a political and philosophical discipline centered on the handling of social relations; it is not a religion. Therefore, it could generally maintain an open and inclusive attitude toward various religions (including foreign ones). although there were instances in Chinese history where religion expanded and intervened in politics, overall, religion had to accept the jurisdiction of the state and could not violate state laws; otherwise, the state would deal with it severely. An example is the historical "Three Wu and One Zong" [3] incidents of suppressing Buddhism (Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei, Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, Emperor Wuzong of Tang, and Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou). While there were individual reasons for these rulers to suppress Buddhism, the fundamental reason was that its excessive development affected state fiscal revenue and the source of military conscription. Various Chinese religions never formed a large-scale, highly unified organizational system like Western Catholicism; their internal links were mostly loose, and they were not permitted to form a force capable of opposing the state.
Second, regarding the relationship between different religions, various religious beliefs in China, including foreign religions, have been influenced by traditional Chinese culture and are relatively tolerant. They can tolerate the existence and development of other religions and their own internal branches, coexisting peacefully. This is unlike some countries where religions are highly exclusionary, resorting to "holy wars" or the killing of "heretics" at every turn. Since the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern dynasties, the three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism fiercely competed for the "prime seat" before the imperial court while simultaneously absorbing from and blending into one another. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Chinese Islamic scholars "interpreted Islam through Confucianism" (yi ru quan hui [4])—that is, using the Chinese language to explain Islamic classics and traditional Confucian thought to elucidate Islamic doctrine—achieving success.
Third, the majority of China's population does not hold religious beliefs, and the religious masses also place relatively more weight on the problems of worldly life. Confucianism emphasizes the handling of real-world social relations and does not speak of ghosts and gods, the afterlife, or "Doomsday." Confucius said, "The Master did not speak of wonders, feats of strength, disorders, or spirits," "Respect ghosts and gods but keep them at a distance," "If you cannot serve men, how can you serve spirits?", "While you do not know life, how can you know about death?", and "Sacrifice as if they were present; sacrifice to the spirits as if the spirits were present." At the time, these were considered very scientific and rational attitudes. Influenced by this, although the majority of the Chinese population holds some religious concepts and superstitions, these do not constitute a systemic religious faith. Some in the West have calculated that out of approximately 6.1 billion people worldwide, 4.8 billion are religious believers and 1.3 billion are non-believers—and 1.2 billion of those non-believers are in China. Under the influence of the Confucian cultural spirit, religion has never been able to become the mainstream of Chinese ideology; at the same time, it possesses a strong practical character, with less mysticism, fanaticism, and extremism.
The Party’s Basic Guiding Principles for Religious Work
If the contribution of Marxism to the religious issue was using the dialectical materialist worldview to scientifically explain the origins and essence of religious phenomena; and if the main contribution of Leninism was proposing the basic policy of the working-class party toward the religious issue, especially emphasizing the need to unite the religious masses to struggle alongside the Party for common political goals; then our Party's contribution has been to fully propose the basic guiding principles and various policies for a working-class party to comprehensively and correctly handle religious issues under the conditions of long-term governance, and to codify them into law. The four sentences of the Party's basic guiding principles for religious work are: "Comprehensively and correctly implement the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief, manage religious affairs in accordance with the law, adhere to the principle of independence and self-management, and actively guide religion to adapt to socialist society." Except for the first sentence, these were all pioneered by our Party.
Comprehensively and Correcting Implementing the Policy of Freedom of Religious Belief
Our Party has implemented the policy of freedom of religious belief since its founding. Although this policy was undermined under "Leftist" conditions, the Party has never changed it. As early as 1931, the Outline of the Constitution of the Chinese Soviet Republic [5] stipulated: "The Chinese Soviet power aims to guarantee that the toiling masses of workers and peasants enjoy actual, true freedom of religious belief. It strictly implements the principle of the separation of church and state; no religion shall receive any protection or funding from the Soviet state, and all Soviet citizens have the freedom to engage in anti-religious propaganda. Imperialist churches may exist only when they obey Soviet laws." By the time Comrade Mao Zedong delivered the report On Coalition Government at the Seventh National Congress of the CPC, the Party's basic formulation on the religious issue had formed: "According to the principle of freedom of belief, the Liberated Areas of China allow all religions to exist. Whether it is Protestantism, Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, or other religions, as long as the followers obey the laws of the People's Government, the People's Government will protect them. Both believers and non-believers have their respective freedoms, and no compulsion or discrimination is allowed." After the founding of New China, freedom of religious belief became a basic right granted to citizens by the Constitution.
Communists are materialists and do not believe in religion. Why then can they formulate and implement a policy of freedom of religious belief? In terms of theory, Marxism holds that the emergence and existence of religion have natural, social, and cognitive roots. Only after these external roots upon which religion depends for survival completely disappear will the withering away of religion itself become possible. Reaching such a state requires a quite long historical process. Before then, as Lenin said, attempts to eliminate religion by administrative force can only heighten people's interest in religion and are instead the best means of preventing religion's true disappearance. Based on this scientific understanding, we maintain that we cannot use administrative force to develop religion, nor can we use administrative force to eliminate religion; we can only recognize its existence and politically unite and guide the religious masses. In terms of the Party's tasks and mission, our Party represents the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people, which naturally includes representing the interests of the religious masses. Representing the fundamental interests of the religious masses involves not only representing their political and economic interests but also respecting their right to spiritual freedom in religious belief. The history of the Chinese revolution and construction has fully proved that our consistency with the religious masses on fundamental interests is primary, while our differences on the issue of religious belief are secondary. Therefore, under the guidance of correct principles and policies, it is entirely possible to achieve "political unity and cooperation, and mutual respect in belief," working together toward the great goal of rejuvenating China. Thus, personages in religious circles need not worry about religion "being disappeared." It should be pointed out here that the freedom of religious belief we speak of includes the freedom to believe, the freedom not to believe, and the freedom to change one's religious belief.
Some say that only when people who believe in religion are in power will freedom of religious belief truly be implemented. In fact, the modern concept of freedom of religious belief was a product of the 17th-century wars of religion and the 18th-century bourgeois revolutions; it has no necessary connection with whether the rulers believe in religion. History and reality prove that it is precisely in countries or dynasties where a certain religion holds a dominant position that people's right to freely choose religious belief or non-belief often cannot be realized. Examples include the persecution of "heretics" in medieval Europe where Catholicism was dominant; the "Crusades" from the 11th to the 13th centuries; the Ottoman Empire attacking Europe under the banner of religion and forcing Europeans in certain areas to convert to Islam; and Western countries during the colonization of Africa and Latin America holding a sword in one hand and the Bible in the other, killing countless Black and Indigenous people. Even now, the U.S. military has killed large numbers of innocent Muslim civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq, with repeated incidents of trampling on the Quran and slandering the Islamic Prophet. Where is the freedom of religious belief there?
Managing Religious Affairs in Accordance with the Law
Whether an individual believes in a religion and which religion they believe in is decided by the individual; it is a state of freedom. However, religious affairs—including religious activities, religious sites, and religious organizations—affect the common interests of society. Therefore, they must comply with certain social norms. Personages in religious circles and the religious masses are first and foremost citizens of the People's Republic of China; as citizens, they must fulfill the obligations stipulated by the Constitution and the law. No religion has the privilege to transcend the Constitution or the law. None can interfere with the implementation of state functions such as administration, justice, and education, nor can they obstruct normal social, work, and living orders. Certainly, religion must not be used to engage in activities that undermine social stability, ethnic unity, or national unification.
On the other hand, management is not free, arbitrary, or personal management; it must be in accordance with the law. The essence of managing religious affairs in accordance with the law is "protecting the legal, stopping the illegal, resisting penetration, and striking at crime." The Regulations on Religious Affairs issued by the State Council in 2004 was the most complete comprehensive regulation for managing religious affairs to date. Subsequently, seven supporting regulations were introduced, bringing the management of religious affairs onto a legalized track—a significant manifestation of the strategy of governing the country in accordance with the law.
Management must be categorized. First, for religious affairs involving national interests and social public interests, government religious work departments must perform administrative management duties while strengthening the guidance and supervision of religious groups, activity sites, and clerical staff. Second, for the behaviors of religious personages and organizations that involve other social public fields, they should be incorporated into general social management as much as possible. Competent government departments should manage them according to corresponding laws, forming a work mechanism of divided responsibility, coordinated operation, and joint management, as well as an accountability mechanism. Third, for internal religious affairs, patriotic religious organizations should play the main role in management, involving clerical personnel and believers. Premised on obeying national laws and regulations, they should improve internal democratic management systems according to the doctrines, rules, and traditions of each religion. The Party and the government should treat helping religious groups improve their self-management capabilities as an important task.
Adhering to the Principle of Independence and Self-Management
The principle of independence, autonomy, and self-administration is the manifestation of our country’s independent foreign policy within religious work. Its essence is that our country’s religious organizations and religious affairs must not be dominated by foreign forces. We insist on this principle for three primary reasons.
First, for historical reasons. After the Opium War [6], Western religious forces entered China via the "strong ships and sharp guns" of the great powers and served imperialist aggression. After the founding of New China, the religious community launched anti-imperialist patriotic movements and embarked on the path of independence, autonomy, and self-administration. If we were to abandon this principle today, it would be tantamount to forgetting the lessons of history and leaving a massive gap for foreign interference in China's internal affairs.
Second, for realistic reasons. Currently, the problem of overseas forces using religion to conduct infiltration against our country is becoming increasingly prominent. Their goal is to control our country's religions and transform them into a political force opposed to the Chinese Party and government. Therefore, we must unswervingly uphold this principle to safeguard the Party’s leadership position and the socialist state power, as well as to maintain national unity and the interests of the people.
Third, for reasons intrinsic to religion itself. After Catholicism and Protestantism were introduced to China, they were long controlled by foreign religious organizations and missionaries, and everything was copied from the West. Only by breaking free from this state can Protestantism and Catholicism, which have nearly 30 million adherents, truly become a dignified cause self-administered by Chinese believers. We not only do not oppose, but actually encourage and support equal and friendly exchanges between our religious community and those abroad. However, if anyone attempts to make Chinese religion subordinate to foreign powers or turn it into a tool for political subversion, it is absolutely impermissible.
Actively Guiding Religion to Adapt to Socialist Society
As a form of the superstructure, religion reflects the economy, politics, and culture of a given society in its unique way, while simultaneously changing as those socio-economic, political, and cultural conditions change. When discussing various religious reform movements from the 13th to the 17th centuries, Marx noted that these were "repeated attempts to adapt the old theological worldview to changed economic conditions and the lifestyle of the new class," and that "with every great historical upheaval of social conditions, the outlooks and ideas of men, and consequently their religious ideas, also undergo a revolution."
Regarding China, any foreign religion throughout history has necessarily undergone a process of Sinicization. For example, when Buddhism first entered China, it frequently clashed with Confucianism, maintaining an arrogant attitude and bigoted conduct, and often tending toward excessive expansion. However, after a long period of friction and integration, by the Song Dynasty, Zen Master Zongyi wrote in a poem: "Three Wu emperors [7] were born to bring calamity to our sect / The disciples of Buddha return home, leaving pagodas and temples empty / Surely in the days of former veneration / They failed to conduct themselves with purity and keep the true wind." By that time, it was recognized that there was no future for Buddhism if it remained at odds with the government, society, and Confucianism. Buddhism became more proactive in merging with Chinese culture. To align with the concept of "filial piety" (孝 xiào), Chinese monks even created a number of scriptures not found in Indian Buddhism, such as the Sutra on the Profound Kindness of Parents. The entry of Buddhism into China promoted the development of philosophy, phonology, figurative art, and language; today, people are accustomed to treating Buddhism as China’s own traditional religion.
Conversely, there are negative examples. During the Ming Dynasty, Matteo Ricci preached in China and made every effort to adapt to Chinese culture, and the number of Catholics once grew to several hundred thousand. However, in 1704, the Holy See issued an edict strictly forbidding Chinese believers from practicing ancestral worship or Confucius veneration. Emperor Kangxi [8] initially explained patiently that these rites held no religious significance and were merely for honoring ancestors and former teachers. But the Pope flatly refused. Exhausted of patience, Kangxi ordered a ban on proselytizing, which lasted for over a century. Today’s Chinese society is a socialist society, and the form religion takes within it must necessarily differ from its forms in feudal or semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. That is to say, it is not enough for religion to have adapted to the China of history; it must also adapt to the China of today, shed the political imprints of the old era, and absorb fresh nutrients from contemporary life. If religion adapts well to socialist society, it can play a positive role; otherwise, it will play a negative role.
Adaptation should also be categorized by degree. If religious organizations, venues, and personnel can abide by national laws and regulations and submit to the government’s administration according to the law, they have achieved the basic level of adaptation. A higher level is being able to actively exert the positive role of religion in social development and cultural construction. An even higher level is the ability to excavate and promote those contents within doctrine and canon that are conducive to national unity, ethnic solidarity, and social stability. Currently, personages in our country's major religions are making efforts based on their own realities and have conducted a large amount of beneficial exploration. For instance, Buddhism advocates for "Humanistic Buddhism," Islam carries out "scriptural interpretation" (解经 jiějīng) activities, Protestantism undertakes theological construction, and Catholicism promotes "democratic management" and the "self-election and self-consecration" of bishops. In recent years, the Dalai clique has exerted every effort to fabricate the fallacy that "self-immolation" does not violate Buddhist doctrine, attempting to incite people in Tibetan areas to use self-immolation to pressure the government. In response, the Chinese Buddhist community, including Tibetan Buddhists, condemned this, pointing out that self-immolation and inciting others to do so completely contravene Buddhist teachings, thereby making a special contribution to the struggle against separatism. Today, religious organizations still have much to contribute in terms of moral norms, spiritual solace, social assistance, and cultural protection. We support these efforts while remaining careful to inspire their initiative rather than overstepping our authority to do the work for them [9].
Paying Attention to Resolving the Current Problems of Abnormal Religious Growth and Disordered Activities
Currently, religion in China is showing an upward trend in terms of both the number of believers and social influence. Generally speaking, our implementation of the policy of freedom of religious belief and our affirmation that religious believers are a positive force in building the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics have naturally provided a much more relaxed environment for religion than in the past. Coupled with the uncertainties of the market economy, which lead more people to seek spiritual sustenance in religion, this development can generally be regarded as natural and normal. Our work objective is not simply to suppress this development, but rather to recognize that contemporary religious phenomena have their own internal laws. By strengthening management according to the law, we aim to bring religious activities into the legal track and achieve standardized and orderly management, thereby uniting religious believers to strive together with us.
However, the widespread phenomenon of excessively rapid religious growth and disordered activities cannot be ignored. Domestically, religious "overheating" is primarily driven by some individuals motivated by self-interest. It must be specifically pointed out that Party and government leaders in some localities view religion as a tool for economic gain and for raising local profiles. They compete to recklessly build massive Buddha statues and temples and are keen on large-scale religious events. Some have even bundled temples with scenic areas for "listing" [on stock markets], directly turning religion into a means of seeking economic profit. The sight of some Communists whose "knees go soft" at the sight of religious icons, or who even advocate for creating "Buddha Capitals" or "Buddha Kingdoms," is one of the strangest phenomena in Chinese society in recent years. In some religions, there is also the phenomenon of an increasing number of unauthorized venues being built on an ever-larger scale, as well as old forces taking the opportunity to re-emerge and manipulate religious believers.
In our united front with the religious community, there is also the question of who leads whom: the materialists or the idealists? We implement and persist in the policy of freedom of religious belief because this policy conforms to the laws governing the development of religious phenomena and the fundamental interests of the people and the state. This does not mean we can approve of idealism, maintain a neutral stance between materialism and idealism, abandon education in materialism and atheism among the people—especially the youth—or abdicate our responsibility to manage and guide religious activities and resist overseas infiltration. Article 24 of the Constitution stipulates that the state "conducts education in dialectical materialism and historical materialism" among the people. As the governing party, we should discard the notion of doing nothing and consciously and proactively take up this constitutional responsibility. Governing religious overheating and the chaos of religious activities is a long-term and complex task. At present, things that can be done quickly include, at a minimum: not allowing anyone to use administrative power to promote or encourage a particular religion; not allowing religion to interfere in various government functions; using legal weapons to resolutely rebuff the efforts of overseas forces to fan the flames; implementing effective management over religious affairs to help religious organizations establish and improve internal management systems, especially financial systems; and promoting dialectical materialism and historical materialism in the media and in schools of all types and levels (except religious colleges). These measures are not only completely consistent with the policy of freedom of religious belief but are also conducive to its implementation.
Currently, some experts and scholars like to talk about the relationship between religion and culture. Their main view is that religion is a form of culture, and since it is culture, it should be treated with cultural policies—in other words, incorporated into socialist cultural construction. I believe this understanding is biased. While religion does reflect the cultural characteristics and creations of humanity at certain stages of social development to some extent—or constitutes a social cultural system with close ties to other social cultural forms and its own special contributions—we cannot simply equate religion with culture, especially the socialist culture we advocate today. The core of religion is the worship of supernatural powers or deities; this is the fundamental difference between religious culture and other forms of social culture. Today, we are building an advanced socialist culture that is national, scientific, and for the masses; this is essentially a secular culture. It must adhere to the guidance of Marxism and the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, be rooted in the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation, draw from the reality of the reform and opening up and modernization efforts of hundreds of millions of people, and be supplemented by healthy and beneficial foreign cultures. We must also excavate the positive content in religious culture that aligns with the requirements of the socialist core value system and adapts to modern civilization. In this process, we should strive to make religion adapt at a deeper level to the requirements of our country's social development and the construction of advanced socialist culture. But we must not advocate for or promote religious culture in a generalized way, and even less should we treat religion as the core value, "universal value," or the pillar of socialist culture, artificially expanding the influence and power of religion under the guise of cultural construction.
Resolutely Resisting Infiltration by Overseas Forces Using Religion
Resisting the use of religion by overseas forces for infiltration is a key and difficult task in religious work. Regarding Catholicism, there is the issue of the Vatican attempting to interfere in our internal Catholic affairs; for Islam, there is the problem of overseas extremist and violent forces infiltrating our Northwest region; the Dalai clique also exerts every effort to use Tibetan Buddhism to control domestic temples and monks; and the infiltration using Protestantism by some Western forces is particularly severe.
In some cases, overseas infiltration is for the purpose of proselytizing, while in others, it has both religious and political motives. Some Chinese scholars have pointedly noted that in 1998, the United States passed the International Religious Freedom Act, the core of which is to self-appoint "extraterritorial jurisdiction" in international religious affairs. This is used to support certain individuals in other countries, particularly China, to form a significant or even leading part of anti-government movements in the name of religion—creating a "state within a state"—and to carry out political infiltration or even subversion. This infiltration takes several forms: first, using foreign religious organizations to conduct illegal proselytizing within our borders, identifying "trainable" individuals to go abroad for "advanced studies," and then sending them back to China to spread the "Gospel"; second, using foreign NGOs to penetrate inland China to proselytize under the guise of charity or education; third, encouraging and accepting domestic and overseas "pro-democracy activists," implementing a "three-in-one" strategy of "religion, rights defense, and the democracy movement" to plot the overthrow of the Chinese political system in the name of God; fourth, formulating different infiltration plans for different groups in China. These include: the "Soil Loosening Project" (松土工程), which aims to win over grassroots Chinese cadres to "loosen the bottom soil of the dam defending China against Western ideological infiltration"; the "Pyramid Project" (金字塔工程), which aims to cultivate pro-Western forces among government and religious figures to "cut off the apex of the Chinese social pyramid"; and the "Broken Bridge Project" (断桥工程), which aims to cut the links between the Party/government and patriotic Christian organizations and believers, and so on. Some Chinese "missionary institutions" openly echo "democracy movements" and "rights defense," becoming more proactive in provoking the government and the law; as soon as they are reorganized or disciplined, they cry out to the United States, which always provides timely support and pressures the Chinese government.
In dealing with overseas infiltration, first, the Party and government must attach great importance to it, departments must have a unified understanding, and we must act early, with determination and speed. Policy boundaries must be clear, and the situation must be fully understood. In the handling process, we should fully utilize legal weapons such as our Exit and Entry Administration Law and the Provisions on the Administration of Religious Activities of Foreigners within the Territory of the People's Republic of China. We must resolutely crack down on and rectify the small number of people who use religion for subversive activities and the disruption of social order. For the general believers who are influenced, we should focus on education and winning them over to undergo transformation, bringing them into legal religious organizations and venues. We must consistently and fully exert the role of patriotic religious organizations and personages.
The work of resisting infiltration must prioritize maintaining the correct policy boundaries. Our prohibition of illegal proselytization is not a generalized opposition to religion; rather, it is opposition to the attempts by certain Western forces to transform religion into a political force against our Party and government. Resisting infiltration does not require believers to renounce their religious faith, but rather requires that they do not accept the domination or exploitation of foreign forces. To resist the use of religion by overseas forces to infiltrate institutions of higher education does not mean refusing to employ foreign teachers or recruit international students who hold religious beliefs (in fact, the majority of foreign teachers and international students believe in various religions); rather, it requires that their religious activities must comply with China’s legal regulations regarding the religious activities of foreigners within China as well as the relevant management regulations of the schools. Disallowing the use of the podium to spread religion does not mean that religious issues cannot be addressed in teaching; rather, it means that Marxist atheism [10] must be integrated throughout the development of all disciplines and the cultivation of talent involving the study of religion. By correctly grasping these policy boundaries, we can unite more people with us to resist infiltration and reduce unnecessary resistance.