Zuo Peng: Prohibiting CPC Members from Holding Religious Beliefs Is Not Inconsistent with the Party's Policy of Freedom of Religious Belief
The report of the 19th Party Congress proposed that to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era, one must persist in comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, ensure a serious political life within the Party, and strictly enforce Party discipline. Although the "Several Norms Regarding Political Life Within the Party Under New Circumstances," adopted at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee, explicitly require that Party members must not have religious beliefs, in reality—with the increasing number of religious believers in society and the growing diversification of perceptions of religion—it is not uncommon to see a minority of Party members "consulting spirits rather than the people" [1], being keen on fortune-telling and physiognomy, praying to gods and worshipping Buddha, or even holding religious beliefs. At the same time, some scholars have explicitly proposed that "Party members can believe in religion" or "religious believers can join the Party," even accusing the prohibition against Party members holding religious beliefs of contradicting the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief. In fact, the prohibition against Party members believing in religion is an ideological principle, an organizational principle, and a matter of political discipline that our Party has long maintained based on a world-view of dialectical materialism. Re-emphasizing this under the new circumstances of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party is both a necessity for strictly regulating political life within the Party and a necessity for comprehensively implementing the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief.
I. The prohibition against CPC members believing in religion is determined by the foundation of the Party's dialectical materialist world-view
From the day of its founding, the Communist Party of China established Marxism as its guiding ideology, and all Marxist theoretical and practical activities are built upon the foundation of a dialectical materialist world-view. Marx and Engels critically absorbed Hegel’s dialectics and Feuerbach’s materialism, insisting on explaining the world by proceeding from the material world itself, holding that "it is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness." This fundamentally excludes the possibility of the existence of any supernatural subjective power and laid the dialectical materialist world-view foundation of Marxism. Based on this foundation, Marx and Engels examined the laws of development of human social history—especially the laws governing the movement of the basic contradictions of capitalist society—established the lofty ideal of achieving communism for the global proletariat and laboring people, and pointed out the basic path to achieving this ideal: "No saviors from on high deliver; No faith have we in gods or kings. ... To let the world’s true blessings flow, the makers must provide for all!" (The Internationale). All of this, in fact, confirms the atheistic nature of Marxism. It can be said that atheism is the bottom-most cornerstone of the entire theoretical edifice of Marxism. Its relationship with the Communist Party is exactly as Lenin pointed out in "The Attitude of the Workers’ Party to Religion": "The entire world-view of Social-Democracy is based on scientific socialism, i.e., Marxism. ... The philosophical basis of Marxism is dialectical materialism, which has fully embodied the historical traditions of the 18th-century materialism in France and of Feuerbach in Germany in the first half of the 19th century—which is an absolutely atheistic materialism, resolutely hostile to all religion."
Precisely for this reason, the Constitution of the Communist Party of China stipulates: "A member of the Communist Party of China is a vanguard fighter of the Chinese working class who possesses communist consciousness. Members of the Communist Party of China must serve the people wholeheartedly, be prepared to sacrifice everything they have, and strive their whole lives for the realization of communism." This very clearly points out: "The 'roots' [2] of us Communists are faith in Marxism, conviction in socialism with Chinese characteristics and communism, and loyalty to the Party and the people. The roots we must consolidate are precisely this faith, this conviction, and this loyalty." If a Party member follows a religion, they inevitably abandon this faith, conviction, and loyalty they established upon joining the Party, turning instead to entrust their fate and that of humanity to supernatural spirits or a creator, no longer believing in human power or the objective laws of social development, and no longer accepting the dialectical materialist world-view foundation of Marxism. Even if they could still participate in the cause of revolution, construction, and reform led by the Communist Party, this cause would—for them—become "a tree without roots" or "an arrow without a target" [3]. At most, they could accept the Communist Party’s minimum program for the current stage, but absolutely never the Party's maximum program of realizing communism. If Party organizations were to allow members to have religious beliefs, they would essentially be allowing the coexistence of two opposing world-view systems—theism and atheism, idealism and materialism—within the Party, and allowing some members to accept both the leadership of the Party and the leadership of their respective religious organizations. The result would inevitably be the weakening of the Party's advanced nature and purity, the shaking of the Party's dialectical materialist world-view foundation, and the creation of ideological and organizational divisions within the Party.
Therefore, the prohibition against Party members believing in religion has become a consistently maintained ideological principle, organizational principle, and political discipline of the CPC. As early as the period of the Democratic Revolution, Mao Zedong pointed out: "Communists may form a united front against imperialism and feudalism with certain idealists and even religious followers in terms of political action, but they must never approve of their idealism or religious tenets." After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhou Enlai also noted: "We Communists are atheists." "Religious thought is idealism. Idealism and materialism are different; we should not conceal this difference." In 1982, the "Basic Viewpoint and Policy on the Religious Question During Our Country's Socialist Period" issued by the CPC Central Committee explicitly stated: "A Communist Party member is different from an ordinary citizen; they are a member of a Marxist party and undoubtedly should be an atheist, not a theist. Our Party has made explicit regulations many times: Party members must not believe in religion or participate in religious activities. Those who persist and do not change over a long period should be persuaded to leave the Party. This regulation is entirely correct and should continue to be resolutely implemented by the whole Party in the future." In 1991, the "Notice on Properly Resolving the Problem of Party Members Believing in Religion" issued by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee stated: "Party members are vanguard fighters of the working class with communist consciousness; they are atheists and can only believe in Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. They must not follow a religion or participate in religious activities. ... For those who have lost their communist conviction and devoutly believe in religion, or have become religious professionals, and refuse to change after education, they should be persuaded to leave the Party; those who refuse to leave should be expelled." In 2001, Jiang Zemin further pointed out: "We must educate members and cadres to strengthen their communist conviction, correctly understand the Party’s religious policy, and understand that not believing in religion is the minimum requirement for being a qualified Communist Party member. Not only can Party members not believe in religion, they should also actively propagate atheism and propagate correct viewpoints against feudal superstition." In 2006, Hu Jintao also reiterated: "We Chinese Communists are atheists and do not believe in any religion." In 2016, at the National Conference on Religious Work, Xi Jinping specifically emphasized: "Communist Party members must be steadfast Marxist atheists, strictly abide by the provisions of the Party Constitution, strengthen their ideals and convictions, keep the Party’s purpose in mind, and must never seek their own values and beliefs in religion." From this series of important documents, it is evident that the CPC's requirements for its members' world-view are both strict and consistent.
II. CPC members, from the day they join the Party, choose the "freedom not to believe" within the civil right of freedom of religious belief
The prohibition against Party members believing in religion is determined by the foundation of the Party's dialectical materialist world-view, while freedom of religious belief is a basic right granted to citizens by the Constitution. Party members are also citizens; how do citizens who are also Party members enjoy the freedom of religious belief granted by the Constitution? Does the prohibition against Party members believing in religion contradict the Party's policy on freedom of religious belief? We must provide a clear answer to these questions.
Since the day of its founding, the CPC has advocated for the respect and protection of freedom of religious belief, and in the new period of Reform and Opening-up, established this advocacy as the basic policy of the Party and the State for treating and handling religious issues. Regarding this policy, the Party Central Committee’s explanation is: "Freedom of religious belief means that every citizen has the freedom to believe in religion and the freedom not to believe in religion; the freedom to believe in this religion or that religion; within the same religion, the freedom to believe in this sect or that sect; the freedom not to have believed in the past but to believe now, and the freedom to have believed in the past but not to believe now." Not believing in religion, like believing in religion, is a form of exercising a citizen's freedom of religious belief. Most people in society, including Party members, do not believe in any religion; they are precisely exercising the freedom not to believe. In order to maintain its own ideological and organizational unity and defend its dialectical materialist world-view foundation, the CPC requires its members not to believe in religion. This is, in fact, requiring members to exercise the "freedom not to believe" granted to citizens by the Constitution. When a citizen takes the oath before the Party flag, saying "I volunteer to join the Communist Party of China," they should have already accepted the requirement from the Party organization to adhere to a dialectical materialist world-view and not believe in any religion. Of course, after joining the Party, they may still undergo a change in world-view, abandoning atheism for theism, and shifting from not believing in religion to believing in religion—this is a freedom they still enjoy as citizens. However, once they exercise this freedom [to believe], they are no longer a qualified Communist Party member. Should this situation arise, ideological education should be used to urge them to give up their religious belief; if they persist and refuse to change after education, organizational measures must be taken.
Thus, it is clear that "Party regulations and discipline are stricter than national laws. Party organizations at all levels and the vast number of Party members and cadres must not only be role models in abiding by national laws but also hold themselves to higher standards in accordance with Party regulations and discipline." Regarding the freedom of religious belief granted to citizens by the Constitution, ordinary citizens may choose to believe or not to believe, but Party members can only choose not to believe and cannot choose to believe. This is because Party members are not ordinary citizens, but citizens with special political responsibilities. These special political responsibilities require Party members to be steadfast Marxist atheists, be loyal to the Party's cause, fulfill their duties as members, and strictly abide by Party discipline—which includes giving up a portion of the freedoms and rights that ordinary citizens may enjoy. This is not at all surprising: "Modern political parties all have political discipline requirements; a party cannot be a party without political rules. Even in Western countries, major political parties have strict constraints in the political sphere; key members of a party must support the party’s political and policy positions, including the party’s ideology." This should be even more the case for a Communist Party based on the world-view of dialectical materialism.
As for those who advocate "distinguishing political belief from religious belief and allowing certain religious leaders and elites to join the Party," they are actually segregating political belief from religious belief and confusing potential Party members with the targets of the Party's United Front work. This shakes the dialectical materialist world-view foundation of the Party and violates the political discipline prohibiting Party members from believing in religion. This is theoretically erroneous and practically harmful.
Theoretically speaking, while political belief and religious belief both belong to the category of personal faith, they exist in different domains. Political belief primarily refers to people’s trust in, respect for, and obedience to certain political propositions and the resulting political actions and systems. Religious belief primarily refers to people’s belief in, worship of, and total devotion to or reliance upon a supernatural mysterious power. Precisely because there are differences between the two, for the general citizen, if they accept a religious belief and become a religious person, the Communist Party will unite and cooperate with them politically and respect them in terms of belief. The Party will not view them as an alien force because they believe in religion; on the contrary, through education and guidance, the Party will promote the unification of their love for the country with their love for their religion, encouraging them to participate in the cause of revolution, construction, and reform led by the Communist Party, and to play a positive role in promoting national prosperity, ethnic rejuvenation, and the people's happiness. But for Party members, the requirements are different. Party members must not only maintain the correct direction politically but also adhere to dialectical materialism in their world-view, persist in atheism, and not believe in any religion. The so-called "allowing certain religious leaders and elites to join the Party"—though labeled with reasons like "care and tolerance for religion" or "actively promoting the religious community's love for the country and the Party"—will inevitably result in breaking the political rule that Party members must not follow religion, causing ideological and organizational confusion or even division within the Party.
From a practical perspective, Lenin did indeed say at the time: "We must not announce once and for all and in all circumstances that priests [4] cannot become members of the Social-Democratic Party... If a priest comes to us to join in our common political work and conscientiously performs Party duties, without opposing the Party program, we can admit him into the ranks of the Social-Democrats." However, he immediately followed this by stating: "If, for example, a priest joined the Social-Democratic Party and made it his active and main work or even his only work to propagate religious views in the Party, the Party would have to expel him from its ranks." Lenin's stance was clear: religious believers could join the Party on the condition of "conscientiously performing Party duties," but the prerequisite was that after joining, they must not "actively propagate religious views within the Party." Imagine: can a religious believer who does not actively propagate religious views still be considered a qualified religious believer? This is perfectly clear—religious believers may join the Party, but they must renounce their original religious views; if they do not renounce these views, even if they have entered the Party, they should be expelled. In our Party's history, there were indeed some individuals who originally held religious beliefs and joined the Party, but they all did so during the long-term revolutionary struggle and under the Party's education, joining only after gradually completing the transformation from religious believer to communist. For example, Fu Lianzhang [5], who came from a Christian family, participated in the work of treating sick and wounded Red Army soldiers in 1929 and repeatedly suggested renaming the Gospel Hospital to the Central Red Hospital. After the Long March reached Northern Shaanxi, "Bethune’s spirit and deeds [6] directly prompted Fu Lianzhang to write his application for Party membership. On September 7, 1938, introduced by Mao Zedong and Chen Yun, Fu Lianzhang gloriously joined the Communist Party of China." It can be said that from 1929 onward, Fu Lianzhang began to move toward communism. By the time he joined the Party in 1938, he was already a firm communist rather than a Christian. It was precisely because he completed the transformation of his worldview outside the Party that he became qualified for and was admitted into the Party. As for some Party members who carried out revolutionary work in the identity of clergy, one must not ignore the special environment and complex situation they faced, nor conflate their true identity with their public identity. Furthermore, regarding some minority ethnic Party members, one cannot simply assume they are believers in a specific religion just because of their particular ethnic identity. As for Communist Parties in other countries that allow believers to join or members to have religious faith, that is a matter for those countries; we do not necessarily need to align ourselves with them, nor are their handlings of religious issues necessarily better than ours.
Since we cannot allow "leading figures and elites of the religious world to join the Party," how are we to manifest "care and tolerance" toward them and nurture their "patriotic sentiment and affection for the Party"? In fact, as one of our Party's "Three Magic Weapons" [7], the United Front [8] serves precisely this function. Since the period of the Democratic Revolution, our Party has recognized the positive influence of religious personages among the believing masses and has formed a united front with them on the basis of patriotism—uniting and cooperating politically while respecting one another in terms of belief. To better enable them to play their role, after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, appropriate arrangements were made for them in the people’s congresses and political consultative conferences at all levels. Thus, as important subjects of United Front work, religious personages have always consciously taken "loving the country and loving the religion" as their code of conduct, supporting the leadership of the Communist Party of China and carrying out religious activities in accordance with laws and regulations. They participate in discussions on major national affairs and important social issues at People's Congress and CPPCC meetings, offering relevant opinions, suggestions, criticisms, or motions and proposals. Their beliefs are fully respected, and their roles are fully utilized; they have not been discriminated against or suppressed due to being outside the Party. On the contrary, the Communist Party treats them as "bosom friends" and "remonstrating friends" [9]. They have not raised requests to join the Communist Party because they know that the foundation of their worldview is different from that of the Communist Party. Their unity and cooperation with the Communist Party are political rather than world-view-based. If they were to join the Communist Party, which is based on dialectical materialism, how would the believing masses perceive them? Could they still recognize their status as religious clergy?
On this issue, religious personages are clear-headed; those who are not clear-headed are certain religious studies scholars who frequently trot out "relevant discourses by Marxist classical writers." Perhaps deterred by the political rule repeatedly emphasized by our Party that members are not allowed to have religious faith, they adopt a roundabout tactic. On the one hand, they admit that "Party members cannot have religious faith and must draw a clear line against religion ideologically," but on the other hand, they claim that "Party members having religious faith" and "religious believers joining the Party" "are not equivalent, because 'Party members having religious faith' is a move toward a religious worldview, while 'religious believers joining the Party' is a move toward a communist worldview... the two move in different directions toward vastly different ideals, and there is no logical equivalence to speak of." Whether there is logical equivalence requires logical analysis. Those holding this lofty opinion also admit that "religious believers joining the Party" means "moving toward a communist worldview." One might ask: can a religious believer who is "moving toward a communist worldview" still be considered a devout religious believer? When he finally establishes a communist worldview, it should be said that he has completed the transformation from a religious believer to a non-believer. If he meets the qualifications for Party membership, he can naturally join the Party. But this is no longer a "religious believer joining the Party," but a common citizen joining who is willing to struggle for the realization of the Party's line and program. To insist on "religious believers joining the Party" implies that even if the believer is "moving toward" a communist worldview, they are developed into a Party member before they have "arrived" at the destination. At this point, as a Party member, he is still a religious believer—can it be said that this does not violate the political rule that Party members are not allowed to have religious faith? Whether those holding such lofty opinions are suffering from muddled thinking or have other designs remains unknown.
III. Only CPC Members Who Do Not Believe in Religion Can Fully Implement the Party’s Policy of Freedom of Religious Belief
Freedom of religious belief is a long-term basic policy of our Party. Implementing this policy requires a concerted effort to cultivate a contingent of Party cadres for religious work who have a systematic grasp of the theory of religion with Chinese characteristics and possess a strong sense of political awareness and responsibility. This contingent must be able to persist in using the Marxist stance, viewpoint, and method to understand and treat religion. On the basis of clearly recognizing that "all religion is nothing but the fantastic reflection in the minds of those men of those external forces which control their daily life," they must firmly believe that "with the development of social productive forces, the progress of civilization, and the improvement of people's ideological awareness, the basis and conditions for the existence of religion will gradually diminish, and it will eventually wither away." At the same time, they must acknowledge that "religion is an objective existence in human society; it has not only existed for a long time in the past but will also continue to exist for a long time in the future, and it cannot be abolished by force." Only by establishing such an understanding can the Party’s policy of freedom of religious belief be fully and correctly implemented. Specifically, at the state level, the issue of religious belief is viewed as a private matter for individual citizens; it protects both the freedom of every citizen to believe in religion and the freedom of every citizen not to believe in religion, utilizing state power neither to promote nor to abolish any religion. At the Communist Party level, "religion can in no way be regarded as a private matter." While respecting and protecting the citizens’ freedom of religious belief, the Party unswervingly propagates Marxist atheism to ensure it remains the dominant mainstream ideology in the minds of the masses. Those capable of establishing such an understanding and fully implementing the Party’s policy of freedom of religious belief on this basis cannot possibly be religious believers; they can only be Communist Party members who do not believe in any religion.
As for those who say that "only when people who believe in religion are in power can freedom of religious belief truly be realized," this has no historical or practical basis. In medieval Europe, Catholicism held absolute dominance, but freedom of religious belief belonged only to Catholics; for "heretics," there was only persecution and slaughter. In modern Western history, when some countries engaged in colonial plunder abroad, they held a sword in one hand and a Bible in the other—where was the freedom of religious belief for the people in those colonized and plundered regions? In today’s world, in some countries where a state religion is established, religions other than the state religion are heavily discriminated against or even forbidden to exist. Even in some countries that have declared the separation of church and state, religious groups often powerfully influence the government’s domestic and foreign policy decisions—the "Crusade" mentioned by U.S. President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks is a case in point. It can be seen that state power dominated by religious believers is not necessarily able to truly realize freedom of religious belief. Such state powers generally can only guarantee the freedom of people to believe in the dominant religion and cannot guarantee the freedom of people to believe in other religions or not to believe in religion at all. In contrast, looking at China, no single religion has historically held a dominant position in ideology and culture, and therefore no religious persecutions or religious wars like those in Europe have occurred.
Setting "rule by people who believe in religion" as a prerequisite for "realizing freedom of religious belief" is actually an attempt to have religious believers dominate the Party's religious work. According to this logic, to achieve such dominance, one would have to allow Party members to believe in religion and religious followers to join the Party. Little do they know that: First, there are five major religions in contemporary China; from which religion would the believing Party member who dominates religious work come? How would he view his own religion and other religions, and could he treat every religion equally? If, in handling the relations between different religions, he favors his own religion due to special religious feelings and ignores others, then the situation of equality and harmony among China's religions could be destroyed, and the foundation of the Party's religious work could be shaken. Second, whether historically or in reality, because those who truly believe in religion do not constitute the majority of China's total population, the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief emphasizes both the freedom to believe and the freedom not to believe. If a believing Party member is allowed to handle the relations between the Party/government and religion, or between society and religion, can he exclude his own religious feelings? Can he guarantee the freedom not to believe as firmly as the freedom to believe? Any hesitation in this regard would make it difficult to resist the spiritual seduction and ideological penetration of religion among the masses, and difficult to slow the growth rate of religious followers. Third, currently, in some places, Party and government leaders treat religion as a tool for economic gain and local prestige, viewing it as a "work achievement." They compete to build large Buddha statues and temples and are keen on large-scale religious activities, artificially fueling a "religious fever" while neglecting the management of religious affairs according to law and the education and guidance of religious groups, leading to the spread of chaos. The emergence of this phenomenon is inextricably linked to the fact that some Party members and cadres have abandoned the dialectical materialist worldview and have even become de facto religious believers. Given that some cadres already act this way despite the Party's repeated emphasis that members are not allowed to have religious faith, once the ban is lifted, those who previously hid their faith can go public, and religious believers can become cadres. At that point, to what extent will the practices of using administrative means to vigorously develop religion, fueling religious fever, tethering religion to the economy, and pushing religion toward commercialization and social proliferation spread? It is truly hard to imagine. Once these phenomena occur, the ultimate victims will necessarily be the development of religion itself and the legitimate rights and interests of the religious circles and believing masses. Fourth, the Communist Party of China is founded on dialectical materialism; it must not only adhere to Marxist atheism but also actively propagate it. This is an essential component of the Party's religious work. If religious believers were to dominate the Party's religious work, would they be willing or able to "use Marxist philosophy to criticize idealism (including theism), to educate the masses—especially the youth—on the scientific worldview of dialectical and historical materialism (including atheism), and to strengthen the dissemination of scientific and cultural knowledge concerning natural phenomena, social evolution, and human life, death, and fortune"? This is a crucial issue that must be considered in the full implementation of the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief. If the propagation and education of Marxist atheism are abandoned in the Party's religious work, it is equivalent to abandoning the core principles of Marxist atheism in the entire field of ideological work, which will eventually shake the Party's foundation of a dialectical materialist worldview and jeopardize the development of all Party undertakings.
As for ethnic minority areas where the majority of the masses practice a religion, having the Party's religious work led—and the policy of freedom of religious belief implemented—by Party members who do not hold religious beliefs remains an essential principle that cannot be abandoned. Nevertheless, in specific operations, appropriate steps must be taken according to actual conditions; a simplistic or perfunctory approach [10] is unsuitable. Party members and cadres among ethnic minorities may support and participate in certain traditional ethnic wedding and funeral rites or mass festival activities that have evolved from religious rituals, in order to avoid becoming divorced from the masses [11] or isolating themselves. However, throughout the entire process of supporting and participating in these events, they must ideologically draw a clear line of demarcation from religious belief. One cannot unthinkingly conflate ethnic customs and habits with religious activities, nor can one turn a blind eye to those ethnic customs that are detrimental to the production, daily life, or physical and mental health of the masses. Instead, based on the will of the majority of their own ethnic group, they should actively advocate for appropriate reforms and unswervingly guide Chinese religions to follow the path of Sinicization. Regarding the tiny minority of Party members who not only hold religious beliefs but also participate in inciting religious fanaticism—or even utilize religion to oppose the Party's line, principles, and policies, or undermine ethnic unity and national unification—serious action must be taken in accordance with Party regulations and discipline. In ethnic minority areas, as elsewhere, it is only by perpetually maintaining the Party’s advanced nature and purity [12] that the correct direction of the Party's religious work can be maintained, and the policy of freedom of religious belief can be fully implemented.
(Author: Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, School of Marxism, University of Science and Technology Beijing) Web Editor: Cai Hong Source: Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping Theory Studies (Mao Zedong Deng Xiaoping lilun yanjiu), 2018, No. 2.