Tian Xinming: On the Unity of Atheism Research, Publicity, and Education with Freedom of Religious Belief
Our Party has always attached great importance to research, publicity, and education regarding atheism, regarding it as a long-term task that needs to be incorporated into scientific research planning and the overall deployment of publicity and ideological work, to be carried out with perseverance. In particular, Communist Party members should firmly establish a materialist worldview. The Party Central Committee has emphasized that this does not contradict the implementation of the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief.
Why do research, publicity, and education on atheism not contradict the implementation of the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief? How can the two be unified? Researching and answering these questions is an important theoretical issue and an urgent practical task for removing ideological obstacles to atheistic research and publicity and for maintaining the discourse power of atheism. This is because some comrades do not dare to research and publicize atheism with confidence and resolve [1], fearing they might violate the Party's religious policies; others oppose the promotion of atheism, believing it would undermine the policy of freedom of religious belief. Regarding the Party's theories, policies, and propositions, we must not only clarify "what" they are, but even more so "why" they are and "how" to implement them; only in this way can we transform the spirit of the Central Committee into the conscious action of the masses.
I. The Basis of Unity
Marxism, as our Party's guiding ideology, along with the Party's principles and policies and the state's laws and regulations established on this theoretical foundation, constitutes a system rich in content, whether viewed as a whole or through any of its specific aspects. Its various components are interrelated and interconnected, forming an organic system. The various parts within this system are not mutually exclusive but unified. Carrying out atheist research, publicity, and education and implementing the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief, as closely related organic components of the Party's theory and policy and the state's legal and regulatory system, share a common basis and are therefore unified.
First, they both take the Constitution of our country as their fundamental legal basis; their legal basis is unified.
Article 36 of our Constitution stipulates: "Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief." The second paragraph of the same article stipulates: "No state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion." This indicates that "believing in religion" and "not believing in religion" are equally rights enjoyed by citizens under the "freedom of religious belief." Not believing in religion and adhering to atheism is thus an inherent part of "freedom of religious belief." Furthermore, according to the provisions of Article 35 of the Constitution concerning citizens' freedom of speech and the press, and Article 47 concerning citizens' freedom to engage in scientific research, literary and artistic creation, and other cultural activities, it is undoubtedly an exercise of the rights of "non-believing" citizens to conduct research, publicity, and education on atheism in accordance with the law. The provision in Article 24 of the Constitution regarding the state "conducting education in dialectical materialism and historical materialism" further indicates that education in the scientific world outlook of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, including atheism, is advocated and implemented by the state. It can be seen that, from a legal perspective, conducting research and publicity on atheism and respecting and protecting the freedom of religious belief are both rights granted to our citizens by the Constitution.
Second, they both take Marxism as the theoretical basis of their guiding ideology; their theoretical basis is unified.
Marxism is a complete and rigorous scientific worldview. "The philosophical basis of Marxism is dialectical materialism, which fully inherited the materialist historical traditions of 18th-century France and Feuerbach in the first half of 19th-century Germany—that is, the materialist historical tradition of absolute atheism and resolute opposition to all religion." (Lenin's Selected Works on Special Topics: On the Proletarian Party, People's Publishing House, 2009 ed., p. 171.) At the level of philosophical worldview, it adheres to thorough materialism and uncompromisingly opposes religious theology. At the same time, according to the Marxist view of religion, one must fully recognize the long-term, mass-based, and complex nature of religious issues. One cannot use administrative force to artificially eliminate religion. Only under the premise of guaranteeing freedom of religious belief, and through the development of socialist material and spiritual civilization, can we gradually eliminate the social and cognitive roots upon which religion exists, allowing religion to wither away naturally. Therefore, conducting research and publicity on atheism and implementing the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief are both scientific conclusions reached by applying the Marxist worldview to understand the world and human society.
Third, they are both based on the essence and developmental laws of the material world and human society, embodying the scientific spirit of seeking truth from facts; their objective basis is unified.
Proceeding from reality in all things and seeking truth from facts are the basic criteria we must follow in understanding and transforming the world. We publicize atheism because the world is a material world in motion; there were never any gods in the world, and theism is merely an illusory reflection in the human mind of the external forces that dominate people's daily lives—an understanding of the objective world that does not conform to reality. Erroneous understanding fetters people's thoughts, and an inverted worldview should be set right side up. Publicizing atheism is for the pursuit of truth and the liberation of the mind, embodying a scientific attitude of seeking truth from facts. We respect and protect freedom of religious belief because the fact that millions of people believe in religion is an objective reality that still exists and will inevitably persist for a long time under current social and historical conditions; the birth, development, and disappearance of religion have their own objective laws that do not change according to human will. Failing to respect the freedom of religious belief means becoming detached from objective reality and violating objective laws, which will inevitably bring serious consequences. This has already been confirmed by historical experience. Therefore, conducting research and publicity on atheism and implementing the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief are both decisions made based on objective reality and objective laws, and are both the implementation and embodiment of the Party's ideological line of seeking truth from facts.
Fourth, they both take the fundamental interests of the Chinese people as their starting point and ultimate goal; their political stance and values are unified.
Serving the people whole-heartedly and taking the realization, maintenance, and development of the fundamental interests of the broadest possible masses as the starting point and ultimate goal of all work is the most distinct political stance of Chinese Communists and the core of our values. Conducting research into and publicity and education on atheism is for the purpose of helping people establish a correct worldview, outlook on life, and values; to scientifically understand nature, society, and themselves; to break through ignorance and superstition; and to enjoy a healthy and civilized life. It is to consolidate the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological sphere, to lay a solid common ideological foundation for the people of the whole country to unite and struggle, and to promote the comprehensive development of socialist spiritual and material civilization in order to realize the fundamental interests of the people. Our fundamental starting point and ultimate goal in implementing the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief is to vigorously strengthen the unity between the broad masses of religious and non-religious people, promote harmony in religious relations, and concentrate the strength of the masses toward the common goal of building socialism with Chinese characteristics and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Therefore, conducting research and publicity on atheism and implementing the Party’s policy of freedom of religious belief are both decisions made from the fundamental interests of the people, embodying the political stance, fundamental purpose, and values of Communists.
To summarize, whether in terms of legal basis, theoretical foundation, objective basis, or fundamental starting point, research, publicity, and education on atheism and the implementation of the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief are unified and not contradictory. However, in actual life, there indeed exists a tendency to pit these two against each other, viewing them as mutually exclusive relations where adhering to one means denying or opposing the other. In the following sections, we will address these phenomena and discuss how to deeply understand the unity of these two and how to achieve that unity.
II. Understanding Unity Requires Clarifying Several Relationships
To deeply understand the unity of atheistic research/publicity/education and the freedom of religious belief, one must conduct a dialectical analysis of both religion and atheism. Here, several relationships need to be clarified.
All religions are forms of theism, but not all theism is religion; there are other manifestations such as superstition and cults. Furthermore, religion and its own theism are not identical. The connections and differences between religion and its theism can be discussed on two levels.
(1) Religion and Religious Ideology
Religion and religious ideology are two distinct concepts. Religion is an ideology, but it is not just an ideology; it contains many more constituent elements. The difference between the two is the difference between a whole entity and one of its fundamental components.
Within the organic body of human society, religion first manifests in the ideological sphere, appearing in ideological forms such as religious doctrines and theories, religious concepts, religious feelings, and religious psychology. The founders of Marxism also first studied religion as an ideology. Marx said religion is "an inverted consciousness of the world." (Collected Works of Marx and Engels, Vol. 1, People's Publishing House, 2009 ed., p. 3.) Engels, in Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy, provided an in-depth exposition of religion as a type of ideology; he specifically pointed out that "the history of the Middle Ages knew only one form of ideology, namely religion and theology." (Collected Works of Marx and Engels, Vol. 4, People's Publishing House, 2009 ed., p. 289.) The core element that constitutes religion is its ideology. Therefore, it is only natural to emphasize investigating religion as an ideology. But this does not mean that religion is merely an ideology. In the course of long-term historical development, mature religions have formed into social groups and organizations that possess both common ideological beliefs and common interest demands. Religious groups and organizations have their own religious behaviors or practical activities, such as religious rituals. Therefore, religion is not just a form of social consciousness or a cultural phenomenon, but appears as a social force with a quite broad mass character across the economic, political, and cultural fields of society, exerting multifaceted influences on social life. The religious masses have their own ideological beliefs, but they also have their own economic interests and political attitudes. In terms of its own structure, religion contains various factors across economy, politics, thought, and culture.
Precisely because of this, the question of how to treat religion is not merely a question of the ideological sphere. The relationship between religion and society or the state, and the relationship between the religious and non-religious masses, are much broader and richer than the ideological relationship between theism and atheism. Among people's various social relations, economic interests are the foundation, and politics is the concentrated expression of economy. Differences in ideological belief occupy a secondary position compared to a common political stance and economic interests. Therefore, on the question of how to treat religion, one must distinguish its ideological and belief aspects from its political and economic aspects, placing each in its proper position, rather than putting the question of ideological belief in the first place. From the perspective of worldview, Marxism resolutely opposes all religious theism and idealism; at the same time, Marxism resolutely opposes "warring against religion in politics," and opposes raising the religious question to a primary position where it does not belong, thereby distracting the strength of political and economic struggles. It requires that the promotion of atheism must be subordinated to the fundamental tasks of the Party.
Conducting research, publicity, and education in atheism must, of course, oppose religious theism and idealism in various forms. However, as an activity in the ideological and cultural sphere, it possesses full intellectual and theoretical rationality and legitimacy—not only because it seeks truth from facts and adheres to the truth, but also because it is consistent and unified with the political tasks of respecting the religious freedom of believing citizens, uniting believing and non-believing masses, and safeguarding the legal rights and fundamental interests of every citizen. It is by no means an opposition to legal religious organizations or normal religious activities, nor is it an attempt to artificially eliminate religion. If one fails to conduct a comprehensive analysis of religious phenomena and simply equates religion with its ideology, there is a risk of inflating the ideological work of propagating atheism and criticizing theism into the totality of work regarding religion. This would equate it with "waging war on religion" and place it in opposition to the implementation of the policy of freedom of religious belief. This is a major reason why some Party members and leading cadres do not dare to strengthen atheistic research, publicity, and education in accordance with the spirit of the Central Committee's instructions.
(2) Religious Ideology and Theism
Correctly understanding and handling religion and its relationship with atheism requires not only a distinction between religion and its ideology, but a further distinction between religious ideology and its theism. Theism is the core concept of religious ideology; it permeates all religious concepts and embodies the essential characteristics of religion, distinguishing it from other forms of ideology. Without theism or theology, there is no religious ideology and no religion. Nonetheless, as an ideology or social consciousness, religion cannot be reduced to or simply equated with theism. It permeates and contains other forms of social consciousness—intersecting and intertwining with them—and thus, viewed as a whole, contains rich ideological and cultural content.
Religion is a form of ideology that emerged early in social history. As early as primitive society, religious concepts had already appeared in forms such as totem worship. Social ideology was originally an undifferentiated whole and only later differentiated into various independent forms through development. In his Introduction to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, Marx said: "Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopaedic compendium." This phenomenon of religion serving as the "general theory of the world" existed not only in primitive society; even after various ideological forms such as morality, art, philosophy, and political-legal thought differentiated, it remained the case for a long historical period regarding religion's status and influence in the ideological sphere. For example, in Medieval Europe where Christianity held dominance, as Engels pointed out: "The Middle Ages had attached all other forms of ideology—philosophy, politics, jurisprudence—to theology and made them subdivisions of theology." (Collected Works of Marx and Engels, Vol. 4, People's Publishing House, 2009 edition, p. 310).
Therefore, to comprehensively understand religious ideology and evaluate religious classics and related matters, one must not overlook the rich ideological and cultural content contained therein. For instance, the relationship between philosophy and religion is extremely close. Philosophy emerged later than religion, having differentiated from it; conversely, the formation of some religions absorbed intellectual nourishment from philosophy. Engels once noted that Christianity "arose imperceptibly out of a mixture of generalized Oriental, and particularly Jewish, theology, and vulgarized Greek, especially Stoic, philosophy." Medieval Scholasticism in Europe was both religious theology and a form of philosophical thought. China's indigenous religion, Taoism, directly venerated the classic philosophical works Laozi and Zhuangzi as religious scriptures and enshrined the philosopher Laozi as a deity. Religion utilizes various forms of art to manifest deities, create atmosphere, spread doctrine, and win converts. Throughout history, the development of painting, sculpture, architecture, music, poetry, and drama has been influenced by religion. Many classic masterpieces passed down through generations take religious figures and events as their themes, to the point where it is difficult to distinguish whether they are art using religion as a carrier or religion using art as a carrier. Religion influences the moral character of society; moral concepts, which are ultimately determined by socio-economic relations, are also reflected back into religion, causing religious morality to include secular moral content in one form or another. The historical combination of religion and education also prompted religion to continuously incorporate real ideological content during its development. Religion also absorbs and utilizes certain achievements of scientific development to serve itself. Mao Zedong said: "One cannot write a good history of philosophy, nor a good history of literature or world history, without criticizing theology." (Collected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 8, People's Publishing House, 1999 edition, p. 353). This judgment points out the influence of religious theology on philosophy, literature, and world history, while also recognizing that religious theology contains ideological and cultural content that has influenced world history.
Thus, in carrying out Marxist atheistic publicity and education, we do not totally negate or simply discard religious ideology. Rather, while criticizing theism, we critically inherit all valuable ideological and cultural elements within it. Regarding idealistic systems like Hegel's philosophy—which starts from the Absolute Idea and returns to the Absolute Idea—Marx, while criticizing its idealistic viewpoints and discarding its system, rescued the dialectical thought contained within it. Our Party adheres to the Marxist view of religion and adopts this scientific analytical attitude toward religious thought and culture, further maintaining and preserving religious classics, cultural relics, and sites of religious activity. This further demonstrates that conducting atheistic research, publicity, and education is by no means a negation of all aspects of religion; therefore, it can be completely unified with the implementation of the Party's policy on freedom of religious belief within a single organic whole of theory and policy.
(3) Atheism and Marxist Atheism
To comprehensively and correctly understand and handle the relationship between persisting in atheism and adhering to the policy of freedom of religious belief, it is also necessary to analyze atheism itself and distinguish between Marxist and non-Marxist atheism.
Marxism adheres to atheism, but atheism is not always Marxist atheism; therefore, adhering to atheism does not necessarily mean adhering to Marxism. Adhering to atheism always implies opposing theism, but there are significant differences in understanding and behavior regarding what kind of atheism is upheld and how to treat theism. Without distinguishing between Marxist and non-Marxist atheism, one cannot correctly understand the unity between atheistic research, publicity, and education and the policy of freedom of religious belief.
Atheism has undergone different stages of development in history. Naive atheism [2] emerged in antiquity. Nearly two thousand years ago, Wang Chong criticized theism using his naive materialist view of nature and epistemology. Fan Zhen’s treatise on the mortality of the soul [3] left a brilliant page in the history of atheism. Materialist atheism arising on the foundation of modern natural science is usually called scientific atheism. In particular, the 18th-century French materialist atheism was an open and thorough atheism that cast off its religious cloak; Engels praised it as "the highest achievement of the French spirit." Lenin called it "militant atheism" and proposed that, following Engels's exhortation, we should "translate the militant atheistic literature of the late 18th century and distribute it widely among the people." Undoubtedly, both ancient naive atheism and modern scientific atheism are precious intellectual legacies of humanity. Marxists should inherit this legacy and form an alliance with all contemporary atheists. However, it is worth reflecting that Lenin simultaneously called 18th-century French materialist atheism "the old atheism and old materialism," saying that it was necessary to "supplement the old atheism and old materialism with the corrections of Marx and Engels." Lenin emphasized that to achieve complete victory in the ideological struggle, one must "be a conscious adherent of the materialism represented by Marx—that is, one must be a dialectical materialist."
Marxist atheism is built upon the foundation of dialectical materialism and historical materialism. As a part of the Marxist scientific theoretical system, it is inseparable from the whole system and is flesh-and-blood connected with the basic principles of all other aspects of Marxism. Religion is a socio-historical phenomenon; therefore, only on the basis of the materialist conception of history can the essence and laws of development of religion be truly revealed and a scientific understanding of it reached. Marx discovered that the materialist conception of history was a world-historical revolution in the history of human cognition. Prior to this, not to mention idealism, even various forms of materialism fell into the idealist conception of history whenever they entered the realm of social history, becoming "half-way" materialism; thus, they failed to correctly understand the history of society or the essence of social phenomena, including religion. In this regard, only Marxist atheism is scientific atheism in the strict sense, and only it treats religion and theology with a truly scientific attitude. It not only distinguishes between religion and its ideology, and between religious ideology and its theism, but also provides a dialectical and historical analysis of them. First, it views the emergence of theism and religion from a historical and developmental perspective, seeing them as the result of the development of human thinking capacity alongside practice—a manifestation of humanity separating itself from nature and distinguishing itself from animals—and thus a form of historical progress. Second, it opposes the old metaphysical materialism that simply viewed religious theology as the "fabrication of deceivers" or "nonsense cobbled together by frauds." Instead, it "explains the origin and development of religion from the historical conditions under which it arose and attained dominance" (Collected Works of Marx and Engels, Vol. 25, People's Publishing House, 2001 2nd edition, pp. 549, 550), comprehensively analyzing its historical, socio-阶级 (class), and epistemological roots. It views religion's emergence, existence, and development as the inevitable product of social history and human cognition at a certain stage, considering it a "sterile flower" growing on the "living tree of human knowledge." Third, it reveals the path to the withering away of religion and elucidates the scientific attitude we should adopt toward it. Since the roots of religious theology lie within real society, as long as the factual basis it reflects still exists, the religious reflection itself will continue to exist. Only "when society, by taking possession of all means of production and using them in a planned way, frees itself and all its members from the state of servitude," "when man proposes and man also disposes, only then will the last alien force which is still reflected in religion vanish; and with it will also vanish the religious reflection itself." Religion cannot be artificially abolished; it can only vanish naturally when the socio-historical conditions are ripe. Therefore, the struggle against religious theology cannot be reduced merely to abstract ideological publicity, and even less can administrative force be used to eliminate religion. Rather, while striving to do a good job in atheistic ideological publicity and education, we should unite the believing and non-believing masses to devote themselves to the cause of revolution, construction, and reform, promoting social development and progress to create the conditions for the natural vanishing of religion.
This shows that if we do not distinguish between Marxist and non-Marxist atheism, and if we depart from the Marxist standpoint, viewpoint, and method, we cannot correctly understand or handle religious issues. Publicity for atheism and criticism of religious theism may then result in errors, violating the objective laws of religious development and deviating from the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief. As long as we consciously adhere to Marxist atheism, we can unify atheistic research, publicity, and education with the implementation of the policy of freedom of religious belief.
III. Achieving Unity Requires Conscious Effort
The development of human society is the unity of objective regularity and subjective agency. Social development is governed by internal general laws, yet it is simultaneously constituted by the conscious activities of human beings as subjects. Social laws, as the essential and necessary connections within social movement, are not mysterious forces imposed upon society from the outside; they exist within human activity. The realization of social laws is inseparable from conscious human effort. Conducting atheistic research, publicity, and education and implementing the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief share a common foundation; thus, there is no logical contradiction of mutual exclusion. However, this does not mean they are automatically unified regardless of people's understanding and behavior. The realization of unity depends on the conscious recognition and handling of the dialectical relationship between the two. This requires effort in two areas.
(1) To conduct atheistic research, publicity, and education, one must earnestly study and consciously abide by the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief.
The research and dissemination of atheism are two interrelated aspects of a single endeavor. On one hand, research into atheism provides the theoretical support and academic resources for dissemination and education. The strength or weakness of research capabilities, the abundance or scarcity of results, and the correctness or incorrectness of research directions and viewpoints all influence the quality of dissemination and education. On the other hand, it is only by carrying out the dissemination of atheism that research results can be applied to ideological propaganda, national education, and the building of spiritual civilization, thereby transforming them into the thoughts of the masses and raising the ideological and cultural quality of the entire nation. Research and education regarding atheism are inevitably linked to the religious question; it is both a scientific undertaking—possessing strong intellectual, academic, and theoretical qualities—and a task oriented toward the masses, characterized by high political significance, policy sensitivity, and social complexity. If one merely expounds that atheism is a truth conforming to reality while theism is a fallacy deviating from it, one remains at the level of old materialism and old atheism; this is far from sufficient. Deeply studying the Marxist view of religion and mastering the Party's religious policies and national laws and regulations are indispensable conditions for correctly carrying out atheist research and education. For example, specific attention must be paid to the following: one must respect the beliefs and legitimate rights and interests of religious citizens and live in harmony with them; one must not conduct atheist propaganda in religious venues; one must not interfere with the normal religious activities of religious organizations or venues; one must not initiate debates over the existence or non-existence of gods among religious citizens; and one must not wound the religious feelings of the faithful. In response to the Blanquist [4] proposition that "all religious propaganda and religious organizations should be prohibited," Engels once pointed out that "persecution is the best means of strengthening objectionable convictions" and that "the only service that can still be rendered to God today is to declare atheism a compulsory article of faith." Lenin also noted that the Blanquist "war on religion" is "the best way to revive interest in religion and to prevent it from really dying out." If the dissemination of atheism violates the Party’s policy on freedom of religious belief, it will achieve the opposite of what was intended; it will inadvertently help theism and hinder atheism, potentially intensifying contradictions, affecting social harmony, and providing opportunities for hostile foreign forces attempting religious infiltration [5] and for those seeking to create disturbances, thereby endangering social stability.
(II) Overcoming Misinterpretations of the Policy on Freedom of Religious Belief to Strengthen Marxist Atheist Research and Education
As previously stated, freedom of religious belief inherently includes the freedom for citizens not to believe and to uphold atheism. Therefore, the view that atheist research and education would hinder the implementation of policy or affect religious harmony is itself a one-sided and incorrect understanding of the Party’s policy on freedom of religious belief. Marx said: "Bourgeois 'freedom of conscience' is nothing but the toleration of all possible kinds of religious freedom of conscience." The phenomenon of failing to transcend this bourgeois level and interpreting "freedom of belief" solely as the freedom to believe in religion still exists today.
The establishment of our socialist system and the development of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics provide fundamental institutional guarantees and strong economic power for maintaining the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological sphere and expanding the ideological front of Marxism, including atheism. However, we also observe that against the background of the general global decline of religion in the modern era, religion and theist thought have trended toward rapid development in our country in recent years. Surveys show that about 10% of adolescent students in our country hold relatively serious superstitious beliefs in ghosts and spirits. (Scientific Atheist Reader for University Students, People's Publishing House, 2004 edition, p. 27). The proportion of religious believers among university students is also around 10%. The expansion of religion and theism implies the shrinkage of the ideological front of atheism. Regarding the causes, besides factors such as the diversification of economic sectors and distribution methods, the volatility of the market economy making people feel unable to control their own destinies, the influence of corruption and other negative social phenomena, and the setbacks encountered by the world socialist movement, a major reason is the serious weakening of atheist research and education. This has led to the phenomenon where "there are people to speak for theism but none for atheism" and "theism has funding while atheism does not." This weakening is often linked to a misinterpretation of the policy on freedom of religious belief.
This one-sided and incorrect understanding manifests in various ways.
For example, the freedom of citizens to have religious beliefs is mistaken for the freedom of Communist Party members to have religious beliefs. Some Party members have not established a Marxist faith and have blurred the boundaries between materialism and idealism, and between atheism and theism, forgetting that not believing in religion is a minimum requirement for being a Communist Party member. Some believe that as citizens, Party members also enjoy the right to believe in religion as stipulated by the Constitution. Others argue that as long as Party cadre support socialism with Chinese characteristics and implement the Party line, their ideological beliefs are a private matter. They do not understand that from the day they join the Party, they have pledged to the Party that they have chosen the world outlook of dialectical materialist atheism within the scope of the freedom of religious belief prescribed by the Constitution, in accordance with the requirements of the Party Constitution. The Party Central Committee has clearly pointed out: "Our Party's proclamation and implementation of the policy of freedom of religious belief does not, of course, mean that Communist Party members can freely believe in religion." "Party members may not believe in religion or participate in religious activities; those who persist in doing so over the long term must be advised to leave the Party." (Basic Viewpoints and Policies on the Religious Question during China’s Socialist Period, Selected Important Documents since the Third Plenum (Vol. 2), People’s Publishing House, 1982 edition, p. 1233). According to a survey by the "Scientific Literacy of Chinese County and Division Level Civil Servants" research group, more than half of the respondents believe in superstitious phenomena such as "physiognomy" [6], "interpreting dreams per the Duke of Zhou" [7], "astrological forecasting," and "drawing divination lots," reaching a level equal to or higher than that of the general public. (Guangming Daily, November 12, 2010). Some leading Party cadre, seeking promotion, burn incense and worship Buddha, believe in feng shui, and even use their official power to change place names, invest funds to renovate gates, divert roads, or build idols to seek "career luck" or "wealth luck." When Party members, especially leading cadre, believe in gods or religion, the influence is nefarious; it is a significant reason for the abnormal development of religion and theist influence throughout society. Within the sphere of power of such leading Party cadre, atheism inevitably loses its right to speak.
Furthermore, respecting and protecting the freedom of religious belief is mistaken for actively developing religion. "Respect" is not "approval"; "protection" is not "promotion." To respect is to not impose one’s views on others or demand they renounce their religious beliefs; to approve is to change one’s own views to match the religious beliefs of others. If respect for religious belief is mistaken for approval, one loses one’s own Marxist atheist standpoint. While clarifying the policy on religious belief, our Party always solemnly points out: "We Chinese Communists are atheists and do not believe in any religion." The policy to respect and protect freedom of religious belief—while the Party itself does not approve of religious theism—is formulated based on the objective reality that religion is a long-term, mass-based, and complex phenomenon. It follows the objective law that religion can only wither away naturally when the socio-historical conditions are ripe and cannot be eliminated by human force. It is a policy for correctly treating existing religion until its future natural extinction, and it is by no means a policy for promoting or developing religion. To correctly understand and treat religion, one must draw a clear line between respect and approval, and between protection and promotion. However, some leading Party cadre do not understand the truth that taking a step too far can turn a truth into a fallacy. Guided by a one-sided view of professional performance [8] and a metaphysical, extremist way of thinking, they intentionally or unintentionally promote the development of religion to highlight their "achievements." During the "Cultural Revolution," the Party's religious policy, religious work, and the normal religious activities of the masses were sabotaged; therefore, setting things right [9] and implementing religious policies to allow religious organizations and venues a period of restorative development was an achievement of the Party's religious work. However, one cannot detach from specific historical conditions and treat the development of religion as a "performance achievement" at all times. For some time, religious activities in some areas have been chaotic, the number of followers has expanded unchecked, and temples and churches have been built indiscriminately, along with the excessive molding of Buddha statues. Some localities are obsessed with "using religion as the stage to perform the play of the economy" [10], attempting to use the power of religion to develop the economy and the power of the market economy to develop religion. Some places compete to see whose newly built pagoda is taller or whose temple is larger, pursuing "number ones" to flaunt as achievements. These actions have fueled a "religion fever." Some Party cadre have forgotten that "we must combat religion—that is the ABC of all materialism, and consequently of Marxism," failing to understand that just as administrative power cannot be used to eliminate religion, it cannot be used to develop it either. The Party Central Committee has solemnly pointed out: "Our protection of the freedom of religious belief is not to promote belief in religion, nor to artificially expand the influence of religion." The Central Committee also clearly required: "Work hard to solve problems such as chaotic religious activities, abnormal development, the indiscriminate construction of temples and churches, and the excessive molding of outdoor religious statues in some areas, and resolutely curb phenomena where religion interferes with administration, the judiciary, and education." The behavior of some leading Party cadre in "artificially expanding the influence of religion" has acted as a "promotion of belief," eroding and squeezing the ideological front of Marxist atheism. If the boundary between respect and approval, or protection and promotion, is blurred, one will deviate from the Party’s principle of guiding religion to adapt to socialist society. Religion itself has no fixed content; it must adapt to social changes to change itself. In the relationship between religion and society, ultimately society determines religion, not the other way around. The law of religious development under socialist conditions is that religion should adapt to socialist society; it is absolutely not the case that society should adapt to religion. If one mistakes respect for freedom of belief for approval of religious concepts, or the protection of existing religion for the artificial expansion of its influence, the relationship between religion and society is inverted. Instead of actively guiding religion to adapt to socialist society, the situation turns into allowing society to undergo negative changes under the influence of religion. The increase of superstitious beliefs and religious followers among Party cadre and youth is a manifestation of exactly such negative changes.
Furthermore, to understand the "mass nature" [11] of religion one-dimensionally is to forget the responsibility of conducting atheist publicity and education for the vast majority of non-believing masses; to understand the "protracted nature" [12] of religion one-dimensionally is to forget the volatility within the long-term process of religious existence. Religion is a mass social phenomenon, and its existence is predicated on its being embraced by a large number of the masses. In China, the number of people following various religions exceeds 100 million. Therefore, religious work is an important form of "mass work." Correcting our understanding of and approach to religious issues is a matter of correctly understanding and treating the masses. Respecting and protecting the freedom of religious belief means respecting the vast masses who hold such beliefs; it is an important manifestation of safeguarding the interests of the people. At the same time, it must not be forgotten that among China’s population of over 1.3 billion, there is an even larger number of non-believing masses. Atheist publicity and education are directed toward the broad masses, especially the youth; this is likewise important mass work and an important manifestation of respecting citizens' freedom of belief and safeguarding the interests of the people.
Religion is a socio-historical phenomenon; it is a process of constant change. An individual’s belief is even more subject to change. Increases or decreases in the number and proportion of religious believers reflect shifts in the populace: some who previously did not believe now do, while others who once believed now do not. Therefore, acknowledging the protracted nature of religion is not the same as viewing people's religious beliefs as innate and immutable. Human religious concepts are not born but made; children possess no religious consciousness. Religious concepts are the result of various post-natal factors. A child’s religious consciousness comes from the indoctrination of adults. It is no blessing, either for the individual or for society, when non-believing youth are infected by an artificially and deliberately exaggerated religious atmosphere, turning from atheism to theism and falling into the embrace of religion. While we must, of course, respect the choices they have made today, we should also reflect on whether such changes are related to the inadequacy of our work yesterday.
Although it is difficult to completely avoid some youth coming to believe in gods or religion under contemporary China’s socio-historical conditions, the reality where a significant proportion of youth believe in gods is by no means a historical necessity. If Party committees and governments at all levels follow the requirements of the Party Central Committee—treating the research, publicity, and education of atheism as a long-term task, incorporating it into scientific research planning and the overall deployment of publicity and ideological work, and persisting over the long term—then the phenomenon of youth believing in gods and religion can be minimized and avoided as much as possible. Marx demanded that the workers' party "strive to liberate the conscience from the witchery of religion." [13] The Party has an even greater responsibility to help the masses who originaly did not believe, especially the youth, to avoid becoming lost in the mist of religious theism, because religious theism is, in the final analysis, an illusory and erroneous understanding.
Therefore, to fully implement the Party’s policy of freedom of religious belief, we must both respect and protect the right to believe in religion and carry out atheist research, publicity, and education to safeguard the interests of the non-believing masses. We must unify the protection of the rights and interests of the broad masses, including both believers and non-believers. Especially for students, based on the provisions of our country’s Constitution regarding the state’s duty to "conduct education in dialectical materialism and historical materialism," we should make Marxist atheist publicity and education an important component of national education. It should be included in the syllabi of political theory courses, ideological and moral character courses, and relevant professional courses. Publicity and education should be carried out in a targeted manner according to the characteristics of students of different ages, effectively ensuring that teaching content and requirements are implemented. We must adhere to the principle of the separation of education and religion as stipulated in our country’s Education Law, and prohibit any organization or individual from using religion to engage in activities that interfere with the state educational system. We must be vigilant against and prevent the spread of religious theology in schools under the guise of academic research and exchange.
In summary, only by taking the Marxist view of religion as our guide, comprehensively and deeply understanding the Party’s policy of freedom of religious belief, and clarifying various one-sided understandings and distortions, can we profoundly grasp the unity between atheist research, publicity, and education and the implementation of the Party’s policy of freedom of religious belief. Only then can we realize this unity in practice, upholding and developing the ideological and theoretical positions of Marxist atheism while simultaneously performing the religious work of the Party and the state effectively.