Zhu Weiqun: Why We Must Adhere to Atheism
In recent years, a pervasive phenomenon in our society has been the marginalization and mocking of the governing Party's dialectical-materialist worldview. It seems it is no longer "fashionable," becoming a synonym for the obsolete, the stubborn, and the conservative, while the discipline of atheism has nearly become an endangered field of study. Marx once advised the materialists of his time to spend less time flaunting the "label" of atheism and more time propagating the content of philosophy to the people. Yet the situation we face today is whether, amidst the "flaunting" of theism, we can still maintain the voice of atheism.
Why must we uphold atheism?
First, because our Party’s worldview is dialectical materialism and historical materialism. This is written into our Party Constitution and has never changed; atheism is the starting point and cornerstone of this worldview. It is precisely because of this atheistic worldview that our Party has been able to lead the people through long-term, arduous exploration and struggle—changing China step-by-step and realizing the liberation and preliminary prosperity of the Chinese people—rather than leading the people to place their hopes in the protection of deities and the pursuit of an illusory heaven or afterlife. It is also precisely because of this atheistic worldview that we can arm the minds of the entire Party with scientific theory, continuously deepening our understanding of the objective laws of the Chinese revolution and construction over more than ninety years of practice, rather than begging for divine revelation or subjective whims. Pull out the brick of atheism, and the Party’s theoretical edifice will collapse; the very nature of the Party will change.
Second, because Chinese culture possesses a deep and highly distinctive tradition of atheism that needs to be excavated, maintained, and promoted to serve the construction of the Chinese spiritual world under new historical conditions. The coexistence and confrontation between theism and atheism run through the entire history of Chinese thought. Generation after generation of atheistic pioneers, reaching the intellectual heights possible in their respective eras and using their unique discourse systems, led the Chinese people of their time toward rational reflection on fundamental philosophical questions. Our discourse system today is heavily influenced by foreign sources. I am not saying this is bad; for instance, we accepted the theory of Marxism and have applied it quite well. What I am saying is that when we study the lineage of Chinese atheistic thought, in addition to noting its commonalities with Western atheism, we must also focus on the "Chinese spirit" and "Chinese characteristics" that permeate it.
The efforts of China's ancient atheistic sages created a specific situation: although various religions have been active throughout Chinese history, China has never been a "religious state," but rather a secular state. Although Chinese culture contains rich religious content, it is not, on the whole, a "religious culture," but a secular culture. Consequently, Chinese religion itself possesses a strong character of worldliness [1], with less mysticism, less fanaticism, and less extremism; more importantly, it has never experienced a general religious war. Some in Western countries have calculated that of the 6.1 billion people in the world, 4.8 billion are religious believers and 1.3 billion are non-believers—and of those, 1.2 billion are in China. This calculation is based on monotheistic standards. To speak truthfully, these 1.2 billion people are not necessarily all atheists; many of them hold some notions of ghosts and gods, but they have not formed systematic religious beliefs. Through education and guidance in a scientific worldview, they can relatively easily become conscious atheists or a supporting force for atheism. This reflects a characteristic of the Chinese worldview that distinguishes it from some other countries. This characteristic must not be underestimated; it is an important reason why our Party, as an atheistic party, was able to grow so naturally from among the people, gain their long-term support, achieve victory, and govern for the long term.
Currently, some people at home and abroad are striving to create various myths: for instance, that only theism possesses conviction, culture, and morality, while atheism leads to a society awash in materialism; or that the reason for the so-called "decline in moral standards" in China today is that Chinese people lack religious faith, especially Christianity. They claim China’s urgent task is to "make up the missed lessons" of religious belief; even some leading cadres within the Party speak this way. Whether the overall moral level of the Chinese people has risen or fallen since the Reform and Opening-up [2] is another question, but what we see in actual life is that the so-called "decline of public morals" [3] has occurred simultaneously with the rapid growth of the religious population and the overheating of religious activities in recent years. Globally, moral crises within religious groups occur frequently—no less than in secular society. The violence and bloody conflicts associated with religious issues worldwide occur between groups with different religious backgrounds; they have nothing to do with atheism.
The elevation of a society's morality is the result of multiple factors, including the moral constraints of religion under certain conditions. However, if one believes that the stronger religion (especially Christianity) is, the higher the social moral standards will be, then Europe under the rule of the Vatican in the Middle Ages should have been a golden age of human morality, and the Renaissance would have been redundant. At this time, we must point out even more clearly: the tradition of atheism is not only an important cornerstone of ancient Chinese civilization, but also a major advantage for China’s modernization today, including its moral elevation. The more deeply people understand the objective laws of natural and social development, the better they can adapt to these laws and consciously use moral and legal means to constrain their behavior. We must, of course, learn from all the excellent achievements of human civilization, including those contained within religious culture, but we must never belittle ourselves or deny and abandon the traditions and advantages of Chinese culture just because of the ill-intentioned distortions or ignorant, frivolous "hype" of certain individuals.
Third, because in our current domain, various anti-scientific and anti-rational phenomena are intensifying, harming the people and society. These must be cleared away from the root—that is, from the worldview. In recent years, we have seen far too many of these phenomena: some localities use administrative power to artificially fuel chaos in the religious field, building religious statues and venues and indulging in large-scale religious activities that the central authorities have repeatedly banned but failed to stop. Some agencies, when constructing office buildings or decorating offices, insist on inviting feng shui masters for guidance, or erecting "luck-turning stones" and "backing stones" [4], even at the cost of destroying urban planning and the environment. All sorts of "masters," "miracle doctors," and "demi-immortals" are as numerous as crucian carp crossing a river [5], appearing one after another and stirring up waves of foul water. Cult organizations like "Falun Gong," operating under various guises, disappear only to resurface, declaring a "doomsday" every few years, victimizing the masses and damaging the national image.
Some Communist Party members abandon science for superstition; their knees go weak when they see ghosts or gods. They take the lead in worshipping various "monsters and demons" [6], obsessed with burning the "first stick of incense" or striking the "first bell gong." Some, such as Han Guizhi, Cong Fukui, or Liu Zhijun [7], even worship deities while engaging in corruption, using embezzled money to make offerings and seeking spiritual support for their graft from the "protection" of the gods. This has become a bizarre "scenic line" in China today. We cannot say that a theistic worldview (such as normal religion and folk beliefs) necessarily leads to these phenomena, but the worldview-root of these phenomena certainly stems from the worship of supernatural forces. Our society is not without opposition to this chaos, but it is laborious and weak. Thus far, the struggle has been largely limited to exposing specific scams, rarely touching upon their common worldview-root. As long as we do not liquidate this at a philosophical height—making dialectical materialism and atheism the ideological guide for the majority of people (at least for members of the governing Party) to understand the world and guide practice—it will be impossible for us to build a scientifically enlightened modern society in China.
Upholding atheism should first be a requirement for the governing Party’s self-construction [8]. The Party must realize the seriousness and severity of this issue. It must continuously educate members in dialectical and historical materialism, requiring them to draw a clear line between materialism and idealism, and between atheism and theism. We must resolutely resist the erosion and infiltration of the Party’s worldview by various forces and impose disciplinary requirements. For many years, such education has often been absent. We cannot assume that only material erosion counts as erosion, while spiritual erosion does not. Most cases we know of Party cadres engaging in "feudal superstition" only came to light during investigations into their economic crimes; few cadres are criticized or investigated solely for practicing feudal superstition. Atheist education should be included in the Party’s various educational activities. Requirements for members should include not only maintaining purity in politics, organization, and work style, but also maintaining purity in their worldview. This requirement seems simple, but practice shows it is not easy. If the Party cannot uphold its own worldview, it cannot uphold its own cause.
Upholding atheism requires skill in educating and propagating to the masses. We propagate atheism not just to maintain a philosophical doctrine we believe to be correct, but to empower the masses with a scientific weapon of thinking for understanding and transforming the world. Only when this doctrine is truly accepted by the majority of the masses and consciously applied to social practice does this persistence gain its full meaning. Article 24 of the Constitution stipulates that the state "conducts education in dialectical materialism and historical materialism" among the people. We should discard all sorts of passive views and sentiments and consciously take up this constitutional responsibility. According to the Provision of the Education Law that "the state implements the separation of education and religion," and relevant central directives, we must resolutely stop all forms of proselytizing on university campuses and resist the infiltration of young students by religious forces, especially foreign interests utilizing Christianity. Atheist education must also start with the youth, entering classrooms and textbooks early to occupy the minds of young people.
Upholding atheism requires the continuous elevation of the atheist ranks themselves. As a discipline of the social sciences, atheism has rich historical and philosophical connotations; it is not settled by simply saying "no gods exist in the world." Atheism needs to be continuously replenished, perfected, and enriched with the latest scientific achievements alongside social development and change. It needs a realistic analysis of the growth and decline of the respective influences of atheism and theism worldwide today. For example, since the emergence of modern science, a faction of forces has attempted to blur the line between science and theism, creating "scientific theism" or "theistic science," the conclusion of which is merely that science ultimately proves what theism has long stated. Under new historical conditions, we should have a new, more persuasive response. To this end, atheist scholars must possess rich knowledge of the natural and human sciences, including religious studies, and have a broader global vision—and, of course, the courage to uphold the truth.
Finally, upholding atheism must always be closely integrated with maintaining the United Front [9] with the religious community. The history of the Chinese revolution and construction fully demonstrates that our commonality with religious masses regarding fundamental interests is primary, while differences in worldview are secondary. Therefore, under the guidance of correct principles and policies, it is entirely possible to achieve "unity and cooperation in politics, and mutual respect in belief," working together toward the great goal of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must strictly distinguish between religion and illegal activities that use religion to undermine normal social order.
Atheist education and propaganda are by no means intended to create antagonism between religious and non-religious masses, nor are they intended to force religious people to abandon their faith. Rather, they are intended to help more people learn to view religious phenomena correctly, choose their worldviews rationally, and help religious people better align religious beliefs and activities with national law, government management, national education, and the common interests of society. On this basis, they can join us in safeguarding their right to freedom of religious belief and in opposing domestic and foreign forces that use faith issues to carry out political subversion against us. Many of the aforementioned social disorders are carried out by individuals under the guise of religion; these are detrimental to society and to the religious community itself. Therefore, we can also form a united front with the religious community in the struggle against these disorders.
A recent successful example is our cooperation with the Buddhist community to oppose the Dalai group’s [10] use of Tibetan Buddhism to incite and deceive people into self-immolation, which achieved excellent results. Roughly between March 2011 and March of this year, the Dalai group used the Dalai’s religious status and influence to incite self-immolations in an attempt to force us into political concessions. Their "reasoning" was: if you self-immolate, the Dalai will personally pray for you; you can not only be reincarnated immediately but also be reincarnated into a wealthy family or as a Bodhisattva. Since those involved were mostly poor, ignorant young people—many of whom had been lamas in temples since childhood and knew only their guru and nothing else—they lacked any rational understanding of the world. To "change their bodies," they very casually set themselves on fire. In the struggle against self-immolation, besides legal education and education on the struggle against separatism, a very important element was asking Buddhist figures to explain to religious followers the basic Buddhist principle of "loving life and opposing killing," telling them that self-immolation violates the fundamental teachings of Shakyamuni [11] and that after death, one may not achieve a human rebirth, or may not be reincarnated at all. This played an irreplaceable role in neutralizing the Dalai’s use of religion to tempt and deceive them.
By the same logic, our strengthening of atheism as a discipline in universities and research institutions does not mean that religion cannot be discussed in teaching and research. Rather, it means that the dialectical-materialist worldview and methodology should be integrated into all disciplines involving religious issues, providing a scientific and persuasive explanation of human religious phenomena. By closely combining firmness in principle with accurate mastery of policy measures, we can persuade more people to agree with us.
We believe that our choice of atheism is correct and beneficial to the country and the people, and we must persist in it without hesitation.
(Note: Comrade Zhu Weiqun is the Director of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. This article is a transcript of the author's speech at the Fourth Representative Assembly of the Chinese Atheism Society on August 18, 2013, revised by Comrade Zhu Weiqun personally and authorized for public publication.)