Tian Xinming: Advancing the Construction of the Disciplinary, Academic, and Discourse Systems of Contemporary Chinese Atheism
"Remaining true to our original aspiration and keeping our mission firmly in mind" [1] is an eternal theme for the Party building of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and a lifelong task for all Party members and cadres. The original aspiration of Communists is built upon the scientific theory of Marxism. Actively advancing the construction of contemporary Chinese atheism as a discipline guided by Marxism is foundational work for ideological Party building and strengthening the Party through theory.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "To remain true to our original aspiration and keep our mission firmly in mind, we must use the latest achievements in the Sinicization of Marxism to unify our thinking, will, and action." In advancing the disciplinary construction of atheism, we must persist in taking Xi Jinping New Era Total Socialism with Chinese Characteristics as our guide. This issue can be discussed from many different perspectives. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s speech at the Symposium on Philosophy and Social Sciences on May 17, 2016, is a programmatic document guiding our country’s work in philosophy and social sciences in the New Era. In conjunction with a study of this speech, I will share several humble insights on how to advance the construction of the disciplinary system, academic system, and discourse system of atheism under the guidance of Xi Jinping New Era Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, as a contribution to this discussion.
I. The Fundamental Hallmark of Contemporary Chinese Atheism as a Discipline: Persisting in the Guidance of Marxism
General Secretary Xi Jinping stated: "Persisting in the guidance of Marxism is the fundamental hallmark that distinguishes contemporary Chinese philosophy and social sciences from other philosophy and social sciences; it must be persisted in with a clear-cut stand." Here, "contemporary Chinese philosophy and social sciences" are distinguished from other philosophy and social sciences, and the "fundamental hallmark" of this distinction is identified. Every thing has its own qualitative determinacy, and things are distinguished from one another based on these different qualities. What the "fundamental hallmark" reflects is the essential quality that makes a thing what it is and distinguishes it from others. Compared with the philosophy and social sciences of other historical eras or other countries in the world, contemporary Chinese philosophy and social sciences possess different essential characteristics; the fundamental hallmark reflecting these essential characteristics is the persistence in the guidance of Marxism.
The atheism we seek to build is contemporary Chinese atheism as a component of contemporary Chinese philosophy and social sciences. It is distinguished from the atheism of other eras and countries by its fundamental hallmark of persisting in Marxist guidance.
In his Speech, General Secretary Xi Jinping placed contemporary Chinese philosophy and social sciences within the "Big History" of world and Chinese development, reviewing and summarizing the course of its emergence and evolution. He pointed out that every major leap in human society is inseparable from transformations in knowledge and the ideological precursors provided by philosophy and social sciences. The vast corpus [2] left by the long history of Chinese civilization contains rich content pertaining to philosophy and social sciences. The salvoes of the October Revolution brought us Marxism-Leninism. "Contemporary Chinese philosophy and social sciences took the entry of Marxism into our country as their starting point and have gradually developed under the guidance of Marxism." An era of great social transformation is an era of great development for philosophy and social sciences. China is currently undergoing the most extensive and profound social transformation in our nation's history. As we persist in and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, our country's philosophy and social sciences can and should accomplish great things. Therefore, the Speech also refers to "contemporary Chinese philosophy and social sciences" as "philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics," and sets forth the historical task of "accelerating the construction of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics."
The Speech points the way for us to study and determine what kind of atheism discipline we should construct. By placing the atheism we intend to build within the "Big History" of Chinese and world development—and examining it against the background of the history of atheism and contemporary Chinese and global philosophy and social sciences—we can see several things. From the perspective of its historical formation, it took the entry of Marxism into China as its starting point and developed gradually under Marxist guidance. From the perspective of its historical era, it is a discipline of contemporary China. From the perspective of its social formation and social function, it is a part of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and a discipline within the system of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics. From the perspective of its guiding ideology, it is a discipline guided by Marxism. If we were to use one or several names to characterize these features of our discipline, it could be called: "Marxist Atheism," "Contemporary Chinese Atheism," or "Atheism with Chinese Characteristics"; it could also be called "Scientific Atheism" through clear definition. All these names can be used to refer to the atheism discipline we are currently constructing, employed respectively in different contexts according to specific needs.
Human atheistic thought has undergone a long period of historical development. Understanding of social phenomena and social history can only become scientific when built upon the materialist conception of history; thus, the birth of social science in the strict sense began with Marx’s founding of historical materialism. Broadly speaking, however—in terms of research fields and ideological origins—the history of social sciences can also be traced back to remote antiquity. The same is true for the history of atheism. The development of atheism has passed through several stages: ancient naive atheism, modern atheism based on natural science (also called scientific atheism), and Marxist atheism. The contemporary Chinese atheism we seek to build is Marxist atheism—that is, atheism that takes Marxism as its guiding ideology and theoretical foundation, and characterizes itself fundamentally by persisting in Marxist guidance.
Science is divided into natural science and social science. Atheism belongs to the social sciences. When modern atheism was called "scientific" atheism, it was meant in the sense of natural science, marking its fundamental characteristic of being based on natural science. When Marxist atheism is called "scientific" atheism, it is meant in an even stricter sense, indicating that it possesses not only a foundation in natural science but also a foundation in a scientific worldview and historical outlook, thereby becoming a member of the social sciences in the strict sense.
Therefore, persisting in the guidance of Marxism with a clear-cut stand is the fundamental guarantee for contemporary Chinese atheism to advance in the correct direction and to stand tall among the contemporary Chinese philosophy and social sciences. To advance the construction of contemporary Chinese atheism as a discipline, we must study and apply Marxism well in accordance with the requirements set by General Secretary Xi Jinping in his Speech. The Speech puts forward three requirements for this: "first, solve the problem of truly understanding and truly believing"; "at the core, solve the problem of whom we serve"; and "ultimately, implement this in how we apply it."
The Task of Constructing Contemporary Chinese Atheism as a Discipline: The Unity of the Disciplinary System, Academic System, and Discourse System
The Speech makes a comprehensive deployment for accelerating the construction of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics, proposing the task of building "three major systems": "continuously advance the construction and innovation of the disciplinary system, academic system, and discourse system, and strive to construct a philosophy and social sciences system that is all-encompassing, covers all fields, and includes all elements." According to the spirit of the Speech, constructing contemporary Chinese atheism as a discipline consists of the unified construction of these three systems.
(1) Constructing the Disciplinary System of Atheism
Philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics is, first and foremost, a disciplinary system. This is a multi-level system composed of various disciplines connected horizontally and extending vertically. Atheism is one discipline within it. Currently, China’s system of philosophy and social sciences is not yet sufficiently sound; some disciplines are relatively weak, and it is necessary to shore up these weak links and perfect the system. Atheism is precisely such a weak discipline—a "short board" [3] that needs to be filled.
The common object of study for all sciences is the unified material world, including the phenomena of consciousness. Various disciplines are distinguished from one another by the particularity of the contradictions [4] in their research objects, conducting scientific research on different objects from different angles. In reality, there are no gods, but at a certain stage of human social development, theistic concepts and opposing atheistic thoughts emerged. The contradiction—between the non-existence of gods in reality and the presence of "gods" in social consciousness, and between those who believe in gods and those who do not—has influenced historical development and every field of social life. This is the objective subject matter that the discipline of atheism seeks to study. Faced with this objective reality, the task of the contemporary Chinese atheism discipline is to reveal essence and laws through complex phenomena, to understand contradictions, and to explore paths and methods for resolving them.
"Disciplinary system" is a relative concept. Each discipline constituting the system of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics is itself a disciplinary system containing sub-disciplines. To comprehensively study its object and fulfill its tasks, contemporary Chinese atheism needs to be constructed as a disciplinary system. Research in philosophy and social sciences should follow the principles of the unity of theory and practice and the unity of logic and history. Generally speaking, research can unfold across three dimensions: history, theory, and reality. I envision that the basic outline of the atheism disciplinary system we seek to build can mainly include three aspects: historical research, theoretical research, and research into contemporary practice. Historical research involves the study of specific historical processes, including the history of Chinese and foreign atheism, theism, and their mutual relations; its method is primarily the historical method, and its results are systematized historical knowledge and the revelation of the laws of historical development. Theoretical research must rise from the "sensuous concrete" reflecting objective objects to "abstract thought," and then to the "concrete in thought," forming a systematic theory of atheism in the forms of concepts, judgments, and reasoning; its method is primarily the logical method, and its results are presented in "General Introductions" (Gailun). Research into contemporary practice must directly face the major relevant issues in the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics; it should unfold both as a whole and through specific topics, coming from practice and returning to practice to serve the decision-making of the Party and the state.
Marxism, as a complete and rigorous scientific worldview, contains rich atheistic thought. The atheistic thoughts of classical writers such as Marx, Engels, and Lenin, as well as the atheistic thoughts further enriched and developed by Chinese Communists in advancing the Sinicization of Marxism, represent the highest form of the development of atheism, which we call "Marxist Atheism." This body of thought, together with the scientific system of Marxism as a whole, serves as the guiding ideology for our construction of the contemporary Chinese atheistic discipline (which can also be called the "Marxist atheistic discipline"). Simultaneously, it is one of the objects requiring in-depth study within the discipline and the primary resource among the "three major resources" for constructing the discipline (which will be discussed below). Therefore, the disciplinary system of contemporary Chinese atheism should also include a research field that takes Marxist atheistic thought as its object, studying the thoughts and practices of Marxist classical writers and Sinicized Marxist atheism, its historical development, theoretical composition, works, documents, principles, policies, and so forth. This should be another important constituent part of the atheism disciplinary system.
Studies that take Marxist atheist thought as their object and studies that take the questions of atheism and theism in the material world and social life as their object are two closely related yet distinct research tasks. In terms of research scope, the latter encompasses the former, and the former cannot replace the latter. To differentiate them and clarify their relationship, we may temporarily refer to these two aspects of work as "research on Marxist atheist thought" and "disciplinary construction of Marxist atheism," respectively. Marxist atheist thought is the guiding ideology for the disciplinary construction of Marxist atheism (i.e., the disciplinary construction of contemporary Chinese atheism); the relationship between the two is one of guidance, not substitution. Engels once criticized certain friends for using the historical materialism created by Marx as a substitute for the study of history. He said: "The materialist conception of history also has a lot of friends nowadays, to whom it serves as an excuse for not studying history." Addressing such issues, Engels emphasized: "Our conception of history is above all a guide to study, not a lever for construction after the manner of the Hegelians." He proposed: "All history must be studied afresh, the conditions of existence of the different formations of society must be examined individually before the attempt is made to deduce from them the political, civil-law, aesthetic, philosophic, religious, etc., views corresponding to them." These expositions have universal guiding significance for research in the philosophy and social sciences and for disciplinary construction.
General Secretary Xi Jinping stated in his Speech: "The classical Marxist writers possessed a broad vision and rich knowledge; the Marxist theoretical and knowledge systems are vast and profound, covering all fields of nature, human society, and human thought, and involving all aspects of history, economics, politics, culture, society, ecology, science and technology, military affairs, and Party building." Classical Marxist writers and the pioneers of the Sinicization of Marxism put forward rich and profound thoughts in various fields such as history, economics, politics, culture, society, and ecology. In advancing the construction of various disciplines in the philosophy and social sciences, the in-depth study and research of these thoughts should be taken as the primary task. The results can become an important component of a discipline’s system, but they cannot replace the study of the discipline's objective subject matter or the construction of the disciplinary system itself. The General Introduction [5] to the discipline of atheism that we intend to develop and write should take the objective subject matter of the entire discipline of atheism as its object, which includes, but is not limited to, the study of the atheist thought of classical writers and the pioneers of the Sinicization of Marxism.
The disciplinary system is inseparable from the pedagogical system and the textbook system. If the vision of establishing an atheism major in universities and training specialized personnel in atheism is to be realized, then the question of how to construct the pedagogical, curricular, and textbook systems for that major must be explored in connection with the construction of the disciplinary system. The disciplinary construction of atheism and its pedagogical construction, and academic theoretical research and personnel training, are two closely linked and mutually reinforcing aspects of work. Today, when we explore the composition of the disciplinary system, we should consider the requirements that the curriculum setting, teaching arrangements, and textbook compilation for the atheism major place upon disciplinary construction.
(2) Constructing the Academic and Discourse Systems of the Atheism Discipline
Every discipline is a unity composed of its own academic and discourse systems. In his Speech, General Secretary Xi Jinping said: "Different disciplines have their own knowledge systems and research methods." He also said: "Every discipline must construct a systematic body of disciplinary theory and concepts."
In the author's view, the academic system of a discipline is composed of its "own knowledge system" and "systematic disciplinary theory." Within this, theory is knowledge, but knowledge is not merely theory. In addition to theory, the understanding of concrete facts—namely, the understanding of the objective facts that serve as the discipline's research object and the historical facts of the discipline's own development, including historical facts and the historical materials that record them—is also an important content that constitutes the academic system. Theory is the advanced stage of knowledge development; therefore, "systematic disciplinary theory" is the most important component of the academic system. Both knowledge and theory are expressed through terms; the terms a discipline uses to express its knowledge and theory constitute its discourse system. This article discusses the relationship between the academic and discourse systems solely from the perspective of the relationship between theories and concepts.
In the author's view, the relationship between a discipline's systematic theory and its systematic concepts is the relationship between its academic system and discourse system. This is because concepts are the cells of rational thinking, and theory is thought expressed using concepts. Mao Zedong elucidated the status and role of concepts in the development of human cognition in On Practice. He pointed out that the emergence of concepts marks a "sudden change (i.e., a leap) in the process of cognition." Rational knowledge is "the work of using concepts in the brain to make judgments and inferences." A concept is a form of thought that reflects the specific attributes of things; it expresses the content of thought in the form of words. In terms of content, a concept is the expression of theory; in terms of linguistic form, it is discourse. Therefore, the relationship between theory and concepts is the relationship between academic content and the discourse that expresses it. The unity of a discipline's systematic theory and concepts is the unity of its academic system and discourse system.
Whether as a whole or as one of its sub-disciplines, the discipline of atheism is an academic system expressed through a discourse system. To advance disciplinary construction, the first issue that needs to be explored is the construction of the academic and discourse systems of the discipline of atheism as a whole. The results of this construction can be presented as a General Introduction to this discipline. In this General Introduction, the academic system we seek to construct is the systematic atheist theory expressed through concepts; its discourse system is the systematic set of concepts that express this theory. The relationship between its academic system and discourse system is the relationship between theoretical content and the concepts that express the theory. The content and form of a thing are combined; they are both opposites and a unity, each possessing relative independence. They can be distinguished in thought, but in reality, neither can exist in an independent way apart from the other. Such is the relationship between the theory and concepts, and between the academic system and discourse system, of atheism.
The development of atheism research to the present day requires following the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's expositions on "focusing more on 'integration' and 'final assembly,' and more on 'independent innovation' and 'comprehensive innovation.'" We should take the compilation of the General Introduction as a starting point. On the basis of "integrating" existing achievements and through further research, we can achieve comprehensive innovation and draft an academic and discourse system for this discipline. In terms of theoretical content, this academic system can revolve around the basic contradiction of this discipline—atheism versus "theism," and belief versus non-belief in God—unfolding the discussion primarily from three aspects. First is the question of cognition or truth, namely, the question of whether atheism or theism conforms to objective reality and possesses truth. Second is the question of the social function or value of atheism and theism. Third is the question of realistic practice, namely, how to uphold and propagate atheism and how to treat theism and religion. To expound these academic theories, it is necessary to employ a series of interrelated concepts, forming a discourse system with an internal logical structure for this discipline. There are many commonly used terms in existing relevant works, such as: God/deity (神 shen), atheism, theism, religion; the origins, causes, and roots of theism and religion; the conditions for the existence of theism and religion and the pathways to their vanishing; freedom of religious belief; believing in God; not believing in God; the characteristics of religion; the basic policy for religious work; religious policy, and so on. These terms vary in precision and maturity, and some vary in meaning among different authors. They need to be selected, refined, clarified, and defined through research. They must then be integrated with the basic categories of historical materialism and the general philosophy and social sciences—such as nature, society, man, social formation, social system, social existence and social consciousness, the economic base and the superstructure, productive forces and relations of production, class struggle and social revolution, economics, politics, culture, science, morality, ethnicity, and so forth—and "assembled" into the discourse system of this discipline to express its academic system.
III. The Path to Constructing Contemporary Chinese Atheism: Integrating Three Major Resources to Achieve Theoretical Innovation
The Speech not only put forward the task of constructing the three major systems of contemporary Chinese philosophy and social sciences but also proposed the requirements to be met and the paths to realize them. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must follow the approach of being rooted in China, drawing on foreign experience, excavating history, grasping the contemporary, caring for humanity, and facing the future, and strive to construct philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics." He proposed that the construction of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics should grasp three main characteristics: first, "embody inheritance and national character"; second, "embody originality and timeliness"; and third, "embody systematicness and professionalism." Based on my study of the Speech, I will share two points of understanding regarding the basic path for constructing the discipline of atheism.
First, to construct contemporary Chinese atheism, we must integrate "three major resources."
The development of philosophy and social sciences has its own laws; advancing disciplinary construction must follow these laws. Marxism revealed that "it is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness." This achieved a fundamental transformation in the social-historical outlook, while also elucidating the relative independence of social consciousness, pointing out that various departments of ideology have their own historical inheritance and relatively independent development. Engels provided an in-depth exposition from the perspective of the social division of labor. Taking philosophy as an example, he pointed out: "The philosophy of every epoch, since it is a definite sphere in the division of labor, has as its presupposition certain intellectual material handed down to it by its predecessors, from which it takes its start." He also pointed out that in "all those spheres which are social and not merely natural"—such as politics, law, philosophy, and theology—"there is in every field of science a certain amount of material which has been formed independently out of the thoughts of previous generations, and has gone through its own independent course of development in the brains of these successive generations."
All disciplines in the philosophy and social sciences must inherit the achievements passed down within the discipline and reflect new changes in real social life by processing existing intellectual material, thereby forming new thoughts and viewpoints to be passed on to the next generation. Engels summarized: "Every ideology, once it has arisen, develops in connection with the given conceptual material and elaborates on it; otherwise it would not be an ideology." The Speech inherits, enriches, and develops Marxist thought on the laws governing the development of philosophy and social sciences. General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed: "We must be adept at integrating various resources from ancient and modern times, and from China and abroad." He pointed out: "The current form of philosophy and social sciences is the result of the integration and generation of various types of knowledge, concepts, theories, and methods from throughout history." The "resources" mentioned in the Speech include the knowledge, concepts, theories, and methods inherited in various disciplines, which are what Engels called "intellectual material" or "conceptual material." The Speech summarizes these into three aspects: "first, Marxist resources"; "second, resources from excellent traditional Chinese culture"; and "third, resources from foreign philosophy and social sciences."
The Speech both emphasizes that Marxism is the guiding ideology of our country's philosophy and social sciences and proposes that Marxism is a resource for constructing philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics. This has methodological significance for our in-depth reflection on how to uphold Marxism in various branches of the philosophy and social sciences. Upholding Marxism as the guiding ideology does not exclude it from being a resource for research; listing Marxism as a resource for disciplinary construction does not negate or replace its status as the guiding ideology. This is not lowering the guiding ideology to a research resource, but rather establishing a dual positioning of Marxism as both the guiding ideology and the primary resource. The works of classical Marxist writers and the achievements of Sinicized Marxism provide a scientific worldview and methodology for the disciplinary construction of contemporary Chinese atheism, serving as the guiding ideology and theoretical foundation for all research work. At the same time, they contain rich knowledge, concepts, theories, and methods regarding religion and atheism. For example, they clarify that the world is a unified material world, excluding a Creator and all deities; they expound the essence, roots, historical development, social function, and pathways to the vanishing of religion, as well as the position of religious work within the overall situation of the proletarian revolution and socialist cause led by the Party, and how atheism should be upheld and theism opposed. Through diligent study and research, we should reorganize the relevant theories, knowledge, and concepts in these documents and treat them as the most important parts of our disciplinary and discourse systems, using them to form the basic framework of the system. This will ensure that contemporary Chinese atheism becomes a social science in the true sense, with the fundamental hallmark of upholding Marxist guidance.
The dual positioning of Marxism as both a guiding ideology and a research resource dictates that it cannot be treated on par with other resources, but must be placed in the position of the primary resource. However, to construct the discipline of atheism, employing only Marxist resources is insufficient. Lenin pointed out sharply: "It would be the biggest and worst mistake a Marxist could make to think that the millions of the masses of the people (especially the peasants and artisans), who have been condemned by all modern society to darkness, ignorance and superstition, can extricate themselves from this darkness only along the straight line of a purely Marxist education." Engels once said that to propagate atheism in France, "the simplest thing to do is to ensure the wide distribution among the workers of the brilliant French materialist literature of the last century." He highly praised these 18th-century documents as "the highest achievement of the French spirit." Lenin also praised "the keen, vivacious and talented writings of the old eighteenth-century atheists [which] wittily and openly attacked the prevailing clericalism," and demanded that, in accordance with Engels's advice, "the literature of the militant atheists of the end of the eighteenth century should be translated and widely distributed among the people." Lenin further proposed the idea of two "alliances," demanding that militant materialism and militant atheism under the banner of Marxism should "unite with those consistent materialists who do not belong to the Communist Party" and "unite with the representatives of modern natural science."
The idea of "fusing and integrating various resources from ancient and modern times, China and abroad" proposed in the "Speech" [6] inherits the thoughts of Engels and Lenin, further clarifying that we must both make good use of Marxist resources and correctly treat resources from traditional Chinese culture and foreign philosophy and social sciences. The "Speech" particularly emphasizes that Chinese culture, which has stretched for thousands of years, is the profound foundation for the growth and development of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics; it is an extremely precious and rare resource and a unique advantage of our country. We must strengthen our cultural confidence [7], enhance the excavation and elucidation of fine traditional Chinese culture, and promote the creative transformation and innovative development [8] of Chinese civilization. Regarding resources from foreign philosophy and social sciences, the "Speech" requires "conducting research with open doors," absorbing the positive achievements of philosophy and social sciences from all countries in the world to serve as beneficial nourishment for philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics. At the same time, it points out that we must analyze and differentiate foreign theories, concepts, discourses, and methods, adopting what is applicable and avoiding the mechanical copying of what is not.
Second, the construction of contemporary Chinese atheism must persist in being problem-oriented and achieve theoretical innovation.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in the "Speech": "Only by taking our country's reality as the starting point for research, proposing theoretical viewpoints with subjectivity and originality, and constructing a disciplinary system, academic system, and discourse system with its own characteristics, can our country's philosophy and social sciences form their own features and advantages."
Social consciousness possesses only relative independence; in the final analysis, it is determined by social existence. Although the development of philosophy and social sciences is achieved through the processing of traditional ideological materials, how they are processed depends ultimately on real social existence. When discussing the processing of conceptual material, Engels pointed out: "This ideological process which goes on in their heads... is determined in the last resort by the material conditions of life of these persons." He specifically discussed how the processing of traditional materials in the development of religion is caused by actual economic relations: "Once formed, religion always contains traditional material, just as in all ideological domains tradition is a great conservative force. But the transformations which this material undergoes are ascribable to class relations, that is to say, the economic relations of the people who execute these transformations." The construction of the discipline of atheism should also take contemporary Chinese reality as the starting point for research and proceed from this reality. The fundamental driving force for advancing the development of the discipline of atheism exists within actual social practice. Research, propaganda, and education on atheism are part of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. To persist in comprehensively and strictly governing the Party and strengthen the Party's ideological and organizational building, we must educate Communist Party members to be firm Marxist atheists, firmly establish the Marxist worldview and outlook on history, and strictly observe the political discipline [9] that Communist Party members must not believe in religion. To do a good job in work related to religion—comprehensively implementing the policy of freedom of religious belief, managing religious affairs according to law, persisting in the principle of independence and self-management, persisting in the direction of the Sinicization of religions in our country, and actively guiding religions to adapt to socialist society—none of this can be separated from a profound understanding of and conscious adherence to Marxist atheism. To advance the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, we must persist in the major principle of Marxist atheism in all aspects including legislation, administration, and the judiciary, as well as in the economy, politics, culture, society, and ecology. Only by recognizing the status and role of persisting in atheism within the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, consciously taking the construction of the discipline of atheism as part of a Great Cause [10], and carrying out scientific research centered on what we are currently doing, can we obtain strong impetus and maintain the correct direction.
The "Speech" points out: "Theoretical innovation can only begin with problems." Only by persisting in being problem-oriented—facing social reality and actual practice to discover, screen, research, and solve problems—can theoretical innovation be achieved. How to consistently maintain the dominant position of Marxist atheism as the mainstream ideology among the masses, how to mitigate the rate of increase in religious believers, and how to resist the spiritual temptation and ideological infiltration of religion among the masses—these are major topics facing atheist propaganda, education, and ideological work at the current stage, and are also the focal points for advancing the construction of the discipline of atheism. In recent years, many issues heatedly discussed or even fiercely debated in our country's research on atheism and religion have been raised from actual social practice and practical work. For example: Can Communist Party members believe in religion? Can religious believers join the Party? Should atheist propaganda and education be limited only to within the Communist Party, or can it face the broad masses and be conducted in popular media? Does the Constitution grant the citizens of our country the freedom to propagate atheism? Should atheism hold the status of the mainstream ideology in contemporary China? And so on. Discussions focused on actual practice surrounding these issues have effectively promoted the deepening of theoretical research and the development of the discipline. Social practice is the source of theory; the ideological achievements of predecessors are the "stream" rather than the "source." How to select, evaluate, and process the ideological materials inherited from history depends, in the final analysis, on the requirements of actual practice for the development of the discipline. Therefore, only by taking our country's reality as the starting point for research can the discipline of atheism reflect originality and the character of the times.
The process of disciplinary construction is a process of theoretical innovation. The "Speech" provides an explanation of theoretical "innovation," pointing out: "Innovation in philosophy and social sciences can be large or small; revealing a law is innovation, proposing a theory is innovation, elucidating a principle is innovation, and creating a way to solve a problem is also innovation." For many years, scholars in our country who persist in atheism have done a great deal of work in deeply studying and researching the Marxist classical authors and Sinicized Marxist atheist thought, excavating and elucidating the "three major resources" [11], and researching major practical issues, achieving fruitful results. The collection of papers Research on Socialist Religious Theory with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era and Marxist Atheist Thought, a major project undertaken by the China Atheism Society, and Principles of Scientific Atheism, a project undertaken by the China Atheism Society and penned by Professor Li Shen, are the latest representative achievements. If we organize scientific research forces based on the existing foundation to collect existing results, perform "integration" and "final assembly," and create a preliminary disciplinary system of contemporary Chinese atheism that unifies the academic system and the discourse system, this itself is a form of comprehensive innovation. In advancing comprehensive innovation, we will encounter many problems that have not been deeply researched in the past or that have newly emerged; this will be a process of continuously raising, organizing, and solving problems. Through the study and discussion of various academic theories and actual practical problems, we can form new ideological achievements and realize various innovations, large and small, to enrich the disciplinary system and promote the development of this discipline.
(Author: Researcher at the Social Science Development Research Center of the Ministry of Education) Web Editor: Caihong Source: Science and Atheism