Zhu Xiaoming: Strengthening Publicity and Education on Scientific Atheism Among Party Members and Cadres

For a long time, within the realms of ideological theory and practical work, several ideological obstacles have existed. These have caused scientific atheism—which by all rights should naturally and confidently occupy the dominant position and discourse within socialist ideology—to undergo a gradual decline. To change this situation, we must first break through the ideological obstacles affecting the research, publicity, and education of scientific atheism. There are five main aspects to breaking these obstacles.

1. We must comprehensively understand and implement the basic principles and policies of religious work. "Freedom of religious belief" is a basic policy. Its connotation is that citizens have both the freedom to believe in religion and the freedom not to believe in religion. The essence of "freedom of religious belief" is to treat the choice to believe or not believe in religion as a "private matter" for the individual citizen's free choice. One must not one-sidedly interpret "freedom of religious belief" as the citizen having only the "freedom to believe in religion" while ignoring the fact that citizens also have the "freedom not to believe in religion and to propagate atheism."

Implementing the policy of freedom of religious belief must be linked with the comprehensive implementation of the Party's basic principles for religious work. These principles include four important aspects: comprehensively implementing the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief, managing religious affairs according to the law, adhering to the principle of independence and self-management, and actively guiding religion to adapt to socialist society. The core and essence of these basic principles lie in combining freedom of religious belief at the individual level with the education, management, and guidance provided by the Party and government at the social level to maintain direction and the overall situation. As individuals, choice of belief is free; as a society, there is a need for guidance and management. Comprehensively implementing the basic principles of religious work means preventing the relaxation or even abandonment of social-level "education, management, and guidance" when emphasizing individual "freedom of belief"; simultaneously, it means preventing the neglect or disrespect of individual "freedom of belief" when emphasizing social "education, management, and guidance." Religion is a private matter regarding the state, but for a Marxist party, it is not a private matter. Saying religion is a private matter for the state reflects the principle of the separation of church and state. Saying religion is not a private matter for the proletarian party reflects the Party's purity and advanced nature. One cannot confuse the individual’s private freedom of belief with the socio-political orientation of the governing party. Religious and non-religious masses are equal in their political and legal status as citizens; however, to maintain its advanced nature and purity, the governing party must persist in and propagate materialism and atheism to resist the erosion of the Party's body by idealism and theism and their influence on social order. These two aspects cannot be conflated.

Implementing the policy of freedom of religious belief must be linked to the goals and value pursuits of Communists regarding the religious question. Marx pointed out in the Critique of the Gotha Programme that the Gotha Programme ^[1] only mentioned "freedom of belief" without mentioning the propagation of atheism, which was "unwilling to go beyond the 'bourgeois' level." The goal of a working-class party must be to liberate belief from religion, rather than merely the bourgeois allowance of freedom for various religious beliefs. This is a general principle of Marxism, the essence and final destination of the Marxist view of religion, and the touchstone for distinguishing true from false Marxism on religious questions. In the primary stage of socialism ^[2], the starting point and ultimate goal of religious work is to unite both religious and non-religious people, as well as believers in different religions, and to concentrate their will and strength on common interests and goals.

2. General Marxist education cannot replace education in atheism. Atheism is the foundation and prerequisite of Marxism, as well as an important component of it. Some comrades believe that since we teach Marxism every day, there is no need to speak of atheism separately. This is a misunderstanding. Lenin pointed out in The Significance of Militant Materialism that general Marxist publicity and education cannot replace specialized atheist publicity and education. He said that if a Marxist thinks that the millions of the masses (especially peasants and artisans) who have been condemned by all modern society to ignorance and prejudice can only escape this state through the straight line of purely Marxist education, it is the greatest and worst mistake. We should provide them with various atheist propaganda materials and tell them facts from all aspects of real life...

3. The view that atheist thought is simple or superficial is incorrect. Religious theology has a history of thousands of years, has accumulated a vast ocean of texts, and still influences the majority of humanity today. China has over 100 million people who believe in the five major religions ^[3], and even more who believe in ghosts, gods, and fate. Religious theism, believed by so many people, can by no means be simple or superficial; therefore, the atheism that researches, analyzes, and criticizes theism is even less likely to be simple or superficial. Only scholars, thinkers, and theorists who have mastered dialectical materialism, historical materialism, and various modern scientific disciplines, and who also have a comprehensive and thorough understanding of various religious theological theories—both ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign—can provide a well-reasoned scientific analysis of the socio-historical roots and ideological-logical errors of religious theology, thereby becoming conscious atheists and true experts in atheism.

4. Strengthening the publicity and education of atheism is not contradictory to implementing the policy of freedom of religious belief or uniting religious personages and the religious masses. On August 19, 2003, Comrade Hu Jintao wrote an instruction on a proposal by Mr. Ren Jiyu ^[4] and others regarding "further strengthening the research, publicity, and education of scientific atheism." He stated that research and education in atheism is a long-term task that needs to be included in scientific research planning and the overall arrangement of publicity and ideological work, and should be carried out with perseverance. In particular, Communist Party members should firmly establish a materialist worldview. This is not contradictory to implementing the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief. Atheism is a basic component and the ideological foundation of a scientific worldview, outlook on life, and values; it is an inherent part of the Party’s ideological and theoretical publicity and education. Carrying out atheist research and education and implementing the policy of freedom of religious belief are unified in terms of their legal basis, theoretical foundation, and fundamental starting point; they are not mutually exclusive. Criticizing theology and propagating atheism is by no means an opposition to legal religious organizations or normal religious activities. It goes hand-in-hand and is unified with politically respecting the religious freedom of believers, uniting religious and non-religious masses, and safeguarding the legal rights and fundamental interests of every citizen. As long as we pay attention to methods and avoid hurting religious feelings, atheist publicity and education are completely legitimate and absolutely necessary.

5. Forming a patriotic united front with religious circles in terms of political action does not equate to endorsing idealism. Mao Zedong pointed out that Communists can establish a united front in political action against imperialism and feudalism with certain idealists and even religious believers, but can never agree with their idealism or religious doctrines. Central Document No. 19 of 1982 ^[5] regarding religious work also pointed out: in terms of worldview, Marxism and any form of theism are opposed; however, in terms of political action, Marxists and patriotic religious believers can and must form a united front to struggle together for socialist modernization.

We must ideologically undo the "knot" regarding the relationship between the Party's ideological maintenance of its advanced nature and purity and its political alliance with religious believers in a united front. Cadres of the Party and government who do united front and religious work should clarify two points: first, they must do religious work from the standpoint of Marxism and scientific atheism, rather than from a religious standpoint, and certainly not from the standpoint of a specific religion; second, they must do religious work from the perspective of the national situation and the overall situation—including the non-religious masses—rather than facing only religious personages and the religious masses. In this way, we can unite the religious and non-religious masses to strive together to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects and realize the "Chinese Dream" of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed that, within the general goal of comprehensively deepening reform, we must promote the modernization of the state governance system and governance capacity. It emphasized that we must pay more attention to the systematic, holistic, and synergistic nature of reform, accelerate the development of advanced socialist culture, and let all vitality, including knowledge, burst forth. In summarizing the important experiences of the successful practice of reform and opening up, it listed "adhering to the people-oriented approach, respecting the people's principal status, giving play to the masses' pioneering spirit, relying closely on the people to promote reform, and promoting the well-rounded development of the individual" as one of the four basic principles. In deepening the reform of the cultural system and building a strong socialist cultural power, it proposed to build, cultivate, and practice the socialist core value system, enhance the country's cultural soft power, persist in the forward direction of advanced socialist culture, consolidate the dominant position of Marxism in the ideological field, and effectively safeguard national cultural security. In innovating the social governance system, it proposed that we must maximize the increase of harmonious factors and enhance the vitality of social development, and so forth. These discourses are all closely related to the research, publicity, and education of scientific atheism; they have opened new horizons for atheist research and represent new opportunities to promote the development of atheist research under the new situation. Atheism, especially the humanistic and scientific spirit within it, is an inherent part of the socialist core value system and an important aspect of the country's cultural soft power, aligning with the forward direction of advanced socialist culture. We must link and combine our study and implementation of the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee with the work we are currently doing, using that spirit to guide and promote the research, publicity, and education of scientific atheism.