Zhu Weiqun: Maintain the Militancy of Marxist Atheism
To a certain extent, atheism research exists on two levels. The first is the philosophical level, which answers whether supernatural powers such as God, buddhas, saviors, demons, and ghosts exist in the world. When research at this level is integrated with the emergence and development of Marxist philosophy, it enters a higher level—the political level, becoming a sharp ideological tool for the proletariat to understand and transform the world. Therefore, while we generally do not equate the issue of religious belief among the masses with political issues, when religious issues are linked to the political movement for the liberation of the proletariat itself, Marxist atheism cannot but carry the sharp edge of political struggle.
In China, Marxist atheism has from the beginning been more than just a philosophical doctrine. Due to the profound suffering of the people in old China, the Communist Party of China (CPC), since its founding, has closely integrated Marxist atheism with the resolution of practical problems in Chinese religion and the Chinese revolution. This has played an important role in the spiritual liberation of the Chinese people and accumulated rich experience. This is especially true of the seventy years since the founding of New China, during which we have forged a new path for solving religious problems with Chinese characteristics based on the standpoint of Marxist atheism. This has made special contributions to national economic development, the unity of the people, social stability, and the consolidation of the CPC’s leading position.
Under our country's socialist conditions, the religious issue has not disappeared as quickly as some comrades once expected; on the contrary, new topics continue to emerge alongside social development and change. On the one hand, we must continue to deepen our understanding of the laws governing religion under new historical conditions, acknowledge the long-term and mass nature of religion, unswervingly implement the policy of freedom of religious belief, and unite the vast numbers of religious believers and personages in the religious circles [1] more closely around the Party and the government to strive together for the building of a modern socialist country. On the other hand, we must also recognize that theism and atheism, as the manifestations of idealism and materialism in the religious sphere, have not seen their opposition and struggle disappear. Not only will this struggle persist over the long term, but it will at times be sharp and intense. Only Marxist atheism can open the ideological path toward objective truth, and only by upholding Marxist atheism can we align with the common fundamental interests of both religious and non-religious people. To make this truth accepted by more people, arduous work, contests of strength, and even struggle may still be required.
For instance, the first question is: Is it theism or Marxist atheism that can bring happiness to the Chinese people? All religions make promises that as long as one believes in the deities of that specific religion (others do not count), the believer can obtain happiness through resurrection, samsara, reincarnation, and other means. But Marxism pointed out long ago that all of these are merely "imaginary flowers" and the "halo of a vale of tears." [2] In the early period of his leadership of the Chinese revolution, Mao Zedong listed the "power of the gods" in old China alongside political power, clan power, and husband's power as the "four thick ropes" [3] binding the Chinese people, especially the peasantry. In his works, whenever he discussed religion, he studied it as the antithesis of the Marxist worldview, maintaining a clear and resolute critical attitude. He always held high the banner of "replacing idealism with materialism and theism with atheism," while simultaneously paying great attention to guiding and winning over the vast masses of religious believers politically. However, the social reality we see and experience today once again shows how difficult it is to let the masses, and even Party members and cadres, know, identifying with, and apply atheism—and to ensure that Marxist atheism maintains its dominant position as the mainstream ideology in the minds of the people. In some places, the number of believers and religious sites has grown too rapidly and in a disorderly fashion; religion has interfered in secular life and even in government affairs; some forces have used social resources to fuel "religious fever"; overseas forces use religion for political penetration and subversion; and certain fields of religious work and research have abandoned or even excluded the guidance of Marxism...
Our Party, as a Marxist party, was able to grow naturally from the people and receive their long-term and broad support; after the Party took power, its governing position has remained so stable—all of this is inseparable from our nation's tradition of atheism and the national conditions in the religious sphere. I have always had this "Qi worry" [4]: if the propaganda and influence of atheism continue to weaken, if the demographic structure of religious and non-religious populations in China undergoes a major change or even a reversal, or if our religion gradually undergoes "de-Sinicization," "extremism," and "communion" with overseas forces, it will inevitably produce negative effects on our Party's governing status and the future and destiny of our country. If we pride ourselves on being Marxists, we should face reality rather than evade it, regard the persistence, implementation, and promotion of atheism as our responsibility, and bravely shoulder it.
The second question is: Can Party members have religious beliefs? In society and even in the social science community, one often hears the argument that the regulation prohibiting CPC members from believing in religion confuses the political program with the choice of worldview and is a form of despotism and rigidity regarding a member's choice of worldview. Some scholars have openly proposed that "Party members can believe in religion," and after this view was severely criticized by the Central Committee, they then openly proposed that "religious believers can join the Party." In short, they are determined to bring religion into the Party before they can feel at ease. A distinctive feature of the CPC—a secret to its success—is precisely the high degree of consistency between its political program and its worldview. All of the Party’s theories, thoughts, and actions are built on the foundation of the Marxist dialectical materialist worldview. It is precisely because of this scientific atheist worldview that our Party can lead the people to rely on their own long-term, arduous exploration and struggle to seize victory in the revolutionary cause and achieve preliminary prosperity step by step, rather than leading the people to place their hopes in the protection of various deities to pursue a "heavenly kingdom" and "afterlife." It is because of this that we can continuously deepen our understanding of the objective laws of the Chinese revolution, construction, and reform and opening up through the practice of hundreds of millions of people, rather than begging for divine revelation and subjectivist fantasies. It is also because of this that we can lay a solid foundation for the Party’s unified and strict organization and discipline from the height of its worldview, rather than turning the Party into a social organization like Western political parties, where everyone believes in their own gods and gathers or disperses for temporary interests. If we abandon the advantage of high consistency between the Party’s political program and the atheist worldview, and abandon the requirements for the worldview of the vast number of Party members, the edifice of the Party will collapse, and we would no longer be called the Communist Party of China.
The third question is: Is it theism or Marxist atheism that can truly realize the freedom of religious belief? As an ancient social phenomenon, religion has complex class, social, natural, and cognitive roots. Issues such as its emergence, development, extinction, and social functions cannot be clearly explained by religious believers; in many cases, these are simply taboos. It is precisely these roots that lead religion, without exception, to possess varying degrees of exclusivity, monopolistic tendencies, and a one-sided understanding of the freedom of religious belief. Only after the emergence of the historical materialist conception of history—which "explains all historical events and ideas, all politics, philosophy, and religion, by the material, economic conditions of life of a given historical period"—was the essence of religion as a social phenomenon truly revealed. The reason our Party’s policy of freedom of religious belief can bring into play the positive roles of religion while suppressing its negative roles, unite the vast number of religious believers around the Party and the government, and guide religion to gradually adapt to socialist society, is not because we have abandoned atheism or made unprincipled compromises, concessions, or overtures to religion. On the contrary, it is because we have persisted in Marxist atheism, enabling us to provide a scientific theoretical explanation of religious phenomena and formulate correct religious policies accordingly.
The fourth question is: Should we promote Marxist atheism? Whether from the perspective of the Party’s theoretical propaganda or from the perspective of solving practical social problems, the promotion of Marxist atheism should be strengthened. We must not only persist in Marxist atheism but also actively promote it, popularize scientific and cultural knowledge, and help and guide people to clarify the boundaries between materialism and idealism, atheism and theism, science and superstition, and civilization and ignorance, gradually eliminating the ideological and social foundations for the emergence and spread of religion. However, there is another opinion in society based on the grounds that "talking extensively about the prohibition of Party members from believing in religion in front of religious believers will lead to unnecessary ambiguity and doubt," thereby negating the necessity of atheist propaganda. It must be recognized that the Party's persistence in and promotion of its own worldview is precisely the prerequisite for building a positive and healthy relationship between the state and religion. As long as we respect the right to freedom of religious belief of the religious circles and the religious masses and explain this clearly to them, it will only help them enhance their understanding of the religious theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics and better cooperate with the Party’s work. Marxist atheism is open and aboveboard; there is absolutely no need to hide or tuck it away as if we have done something to be ashamed of. On May 2, 1950, when Premier Zhou Enlai spoke with personages from the Christian community, he said: "Religious thought is idealistic. Idealism and materialism are different; we should not hide that difference." We should not underestimate the understanding that the religious circles have gained of the Party's ideological and organizational principles through long-term practice of the united front, and we certainly should not oppose atheist propaganda against united front work ourselves.
Recently, a debate has broken out in the media regarding whether the "freedom to not believe in religion and to promote atheism" conforms to constitutional provisions, which can be considered the fifth question. Some have argued that because our Constitution stipulates that "citizens have freedom of religious belief" but does not contain wording such as the "freedom to not believe in religion and to promote atheism," this proves that the "freedom to not believe in religion and to promote atheism" has been "completely negated" since the reform and opening up, and therefore "the slogan 'freedom to promote atheism' is incorrect." Comrade Tian Xinming effectively refuted this in the 5th issue of the 2019 journal Science and Atheism, pointing out: The Constitution simultaneously stipulates that "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 the "freedom of religious belief" mentioned in the Constitution includes both the freedom to "believe in religion" and the freedom "not to believe in religion." Believing or not believing in religion are both rights granted to citizens by the Constitution; the "freedom not to believe in religion" must not be excluded from the "freedom of religious belief," nor should "freedom of religious belief" be interpreted solely as the freedom to believe. He further pointed out that the Constitution explicitly stipulates that the state "conducts education in dialectical materialism and historical materialism" among the people, and the promotion and education of atheism is undoubtedly an inherent part of "education in dialectical materialism and historical materialism." Here, I would like to add: while our country makes every effort to protect the "freedom of religious belief for citizens," some people are distorting the spirit of the Constitution in an attempt to eradicate the "freedom to not believe in religion and to promote atheism" in our country. The arrogance and overbearing nature revealed in this are already familiar to us from reading religious history and are not uncommon in the world today. If we continue to take this lightly, we cannot rule out the possibility that one day, persisting in and promoting atheism will become an illegal and prohibited act in our country.
In summary, as Marxist atheists, we must continue to strive under the new historical conditions to maintain the sharp edge of struggle based on the dialectical materialist and historical materialist worldview, and strive to gain the initiative in the encounter with all kinds of theistic ideas across a broader ideological field.