Sun Qian: A Study of the Anti-Christian Movement in the 1920s
The Anti-Christian Movement, which erupted in 1922, was a mass patriotic movement initiated by the Communist Party of China (CPC) under the historical mandate of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism to oppose the political, economic, and cultural aggression of imperialism. The CPC played a vital role in this historical movement. Early Communists led by Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Yun Daiying, and others actively participated in and led the Anti-Christian Movement, the Anti-Religion Movement, and the Movement to Regain Educational Rights. These efforts not only struck a blow against Christianity and church organizations sheltered by imperialism—sounding an alarm that forced churches to accelerate their exploration of the "indigenization" and Sinicization of Christianity—but also stimulated the masses' consciousness of national independence and anti-imperialist fervor. This strengthened the ranks and power of the revolution, creating positive conditions for eradicating feudal superstition and awakening the masses to break the shackles of feudal theocracy [1]. At the same time, through the Party's leadership over the theory, propaganda, and organization of the Anti-Christian Movement, the CPC prepared itself theoretically and practically for handling religious issues.
I. The Anti-Christian Movement was essentially an anti-imperialist patriotic movement led by the CPC
(1) The Party's organizational leadership over youth revolutionary forces during the Anti-Christian Movement
Before the outbreak of the Anti-Christian Movement, social trends opposing Christianity were already brewing in Chinese society. At the beginning of the 20th century, alongside Western colonialist aggression against China, Christianity participated in the signing of a series of unequal treaties and obtained missionary privileges therefrom, causing widespread social resentment. Since the May Fourth New Culture Movement, Christianity had encountered challenges from the trends of science and democracy, particularly criticism from youth students who supported Marxism. The China Continuation Committee, established in China by Western mission boards, published a comprehensive survey of Christian enterprises in China in 1922 titled The Christian Occupation of China (Zhōnghuá Guī Zhǔ) [2], which revealed the ambitions of Christian expansion in China at every turn. These factors caused deep resentment toward Christianity across society, especially among youth students influenced by New Culture ideology. In early 1922, the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) decided to hold its 11th Conference at the National Tsinghua University in Beijing on April 4 of that year and promoted it in its federation publications. Upon hearing this, patriotic youth in Shanghai took the lead in March 1922 by establishing the "Anti-Christian Student Federation" to oppose the WSCF conference in Beijing and to oppose Christianity and its organizations. On March 9, they issued the "Declaration of the Shanghai Anti-Christian Student Federation," raising the curtain on the Anti-Christian Movement.
Prior to the movement's outbreak, the CPC already attached great importance to the vital role of the youth movement within the tide of the National Revolution.
In the early days of the Party's founding, its organizational strength was relatively weak, and expanding the revolutionary forces was an urgent priority. In addition to "organizing workers, peasants, and soldiers" to launch a social revolution, there was a pressing need to develop youth and women's movements and expand their organizations. After the CPC was founded in 1921, it began establishing and developing the Socialist Youth League (SYL) in various locations. In November 1921, the Central Bureau of the CPC, in a circular on establishing and developing Party, League, and union organizations, required all localities to vigorously develop the SYL, stating that "membership must exceed 2,000 before July next year." In April 1922, the Shanghai local SYL began to fulfill the duties of the Provisional Central Bureau of the Chinese Socialist Youth League, and it joined the Young Communist International in May. The Chinese SYL served as the reserve force and preparatory school for the CPC, carrying out activities under the leadership of the Party Central Committee; its positions and decisions largely represented the attitude of the CPC. Thus, expanding the Party's youth mass organizations and strength was one of its core tasks at the start of its founding.
Following the outbreak of the Anti-Christian Movement, the CPC swiftly seized the opportunity to participate in and lead the movement, causing it to sweep the nation. On March 15, 1922, The Pioneer (Xiānqū), the organ of the Shanghai SYL, published a special issue for the "Anti-Christian Student Federation," carrying the federation's "Declaration" and "Constitution," and sent telegrams to students at National Tsinghua University and schools across the country calling for a response. On March 17, Deng Zhongxia, Secretary of the Beijing SYL Local Committee, along with Li Dazhao and others, responded actively by initiating the Great Anti-Religion Federation; Tianjin, Wuhan, Nanchang, Guangzhou, and many other places followed suit, developing over 50 anti-religion groups. In May of the same year, the First National Congress of the Chinese SYL passed the "Resolution on the Relationship Between the Chinese Socialist Youth League and Various Chinese Organizations," emphasizing the pursuit of leadership within various anti-religion groups. The resolution stated: "Opposing religion serves to free the minds of the youth and guide them toward the path of revolution. Therefore, every effort should be made to assist the progress of such anti-Christian and anti-religion groups. Small groups of League comrades should also be organized within these groups... and should be as active as possible to achieve a position of guidance."
In June 1923, the Third National Congress of the CPC adopted the "Resolution on the Youth Movement," noting that "the youth movement is one of the important tasks of our Party, thus maximal assistance in organization and guidance should be given to the Socialist Youth League," aiming to lead youth students in opposing warlords and imperialism. In January 1925, the Fourth National Congress of the CPC formulated plans for mass movements and issued the "Resolution on the Youth Movement." The resolution pointed out that the youth movement is a significant part of the communist movement, and "the Communist Party is the commander-in-chief of this general communist movement; it is beyond doubt that the youth movement must be under the guidance of the Communist Party." The resolution emphasized the importance of the SYL movement while highlighting that mass movements provided the best opportunity for the League to conduct propaganda among students. It stressed that the SYL "must pay most attention to obeying the guidance of the Communist Party in political activities; otherwise, the movement will be unable to proceed in a unified manner." The SYL was to strive for leadership and guidance over "the general oppressed youth movement," pay attention to the establishment and activities of youth groups, and unite with youth organizations such as the New Student Society and the Anti-Christian Federation to become "a kind of non-partisan national union of youth." Evidentially, the CPC integrated youth revolutionary forces through the Socialist Youth League.
(2) The Anti-Christian Movement served and obeyed the Party's strategic goals of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism
The purpose of the Anti-Christian Movement was by no means simply to oppose Christianity and its churches, but to highly serve and obey the Party's anti-imperialist tasks and goals. In March 1922, the Anti-Christian Student Federation, led by the Shanghai SYL, stated in its "Declaration" that modern Christianity and the church were "devils that 'help King Zhou in his cruelties'" [3] by assisting the propertied class in plundering and oppressing the proletariat. It exposed how Christianity and the church played the role of the "vanguard of economic aggression" in the imperialist political and economic invasion of China. The reason for opposing the WSCF conference planned at Tsinghua University was that the conference discussed nothing more than "tricks for how to maintain world capitalism and how to develop capitalism in China," calling it a "robber's meeting to insult our youth, deceive our people, and plunder our economy." Clearly, the true purpose of the federation's declaration of war on Christianity was to oppose imperialism's use of religion to invade China economically and control China spiritually. In July of the same year, the Second National Congress of the CPC passed a resolution to organize a "Great Democratic Federation" including student unions, planning to build a democratic united front and establishing the phased tasks of striking down warlords and overthrowing the oppression of international imperialism to seek the complete independence of the Chinese nation. Meanwhile, the "Declaration of the Second National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party" denounced the economic plunder and political-military aggression of imperialist countries while exposing how imperialists "dispatched many advisor-pastors, published newspapers, and established schools—all in an attempt to more smoothly achieve their greedy aim of plunder." The declaration exposed imperialist aggression in the spiritual, propaganda, and educational spheres. In June 1923, the Third National Congress of the CPC adopted the "Draft Program of the Communist Party of China," which clearly stated in Article 1 that the Party's current task was to abolish all unequal treaties between imperialist powers and China and to "restrict foreign states or individuals from establishing churches, schools, factories, and banks in China"; Article 12 called for "the implementation of compulsory education and the absolute separation of education and religion." The Second and Third Congresses provided direction for the Anti-Christian Movement in the form of internal Party documents, allowing the movement to carry out various activities against Christianity and the church under the leadership of the Party's program. Furthermore, opposing the spiritual control and paralysis of the Chinese people by the "old dogmas of patriarchal society" and Christian doctrines was an important part of the Party's cultural and propaganda work. In November 1923, the CPC passed the "Resolution on Issues of Educational Propaganda," which explicitly proposed that cultural propaganda work should "oppose the old dogmas of patriarchal society" and "oppose Christian doctrine and its organizations (such as the YMCA)."
Because the Chinese proletariat had blossomed with proletarian consciousness and was participating in the revolution, but was still influenced by the "superstition of theocratic monarchs" and had failed to "sever ties with old concepts like theocracy," revolutionary mobilization was hindered. To ignite a massive wave of mass revolution, it was necessary to spiritually break the control of patriarchal society's old dogmas over the minds of the masses. This required exposing the numbing effect of Christian doctrine on the people's minds, as well as the imperialists' use of Christianity to seek privileges and the church's defense of imperialist aggression. This would lead the people to stop placing hope in religious salvation and protection and instead rise up for revolution. On October 10, 1925, the Party's "Letter to the Peasants" exposed the church's use of privilege to oppress non-Christian peasants: "What is even more detestable is that French capitalists send people to China to spread Catholicism, and British and American capitalists send people to China to spread Protestantism. These priests harbor converts in the villages to oppress the honest and weak—it is truly lawless!" In July 1926, the Party's "Resolution on the Peasant Movement" again exposed the church as the vanguard of imperialist aggression, acting as spies to investigate inland China's political, economic, and social conditions, "using pleasant terms like 'peace' and 'universal love,' and even using money to buy the faith of the masses." These deceptive means were used to guide and numb the exploited masses "to ensure the consolidation and longevity of the foundation of imperialist exploitation." Because the church colluded with warlords and enjoyed treaty protection, the Party deemed it inappropriate at the time to engage in direct frontal conflict. However, "if the church clearly commits evil acts (such as seizing farmland, forcibly buying houses, or monopolizing lawsuits)," the masses must be mobilized and led in resistance. Yun Daiying also exposed the negative impact of Christianity and the church on the revolution. He pointed out that many Christians, due to their faith, "do not participate in the revolution themselves and advise others not to engage in revolutionary affairs, teaching people to worship and pray every day, enticing many to leave the revolutionary front of striking down imperialism and warlords." The Party's mission dictated that it "must strive to publicize and organize the masses and carry out revolutionary movements," especially that "today's Chinese youth must go toward revolution, study revolutionary knowledge and techniques, and learn a revolutionary lifestyle." Thus, the purpose of the Anti-Christian Movement was not simple anti-Christianity, but a means for broad anti-imperialist revolutionary mobilization to unite patriotic youth in completing the historical task of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism. On the road to national independence and liberation, "as long as the privileges of imperialism in China are not overthrown, the life and freedom of the Chinese nation will not be guaranteed."
Following the collapse of the First United Front between the CPC and the Kuomintang (KMT) in 1927, the situation changed. On one hand, the KMT right-wing led by Chiang Kai-shek colluded with imperialism and betrayed the revolution, subsequently showing a friendly and conciliatory attitude toward Christianity and the church. On the other hand, Rightist opportunist errors within the Party led the worker-peasant mass movement into difficulty, and the focus of the Party's work shifted toward conducting armed revolutionary struggle in rural areas, bringing the Anti-Christian Movement to a close. Due to changes in the political situation and the shift in the Party's general revolutionary line, the focus of the Party's religious work turned from leading the Anti-Christian Movement to breaking the oppressive "theocratic" shackles on peasants during the Land Revolution, and handling issues such as religious land held by ancestral halls, temples, and churches.
(3) Marxism is the ideological weapon for the Party's leadership of the Anti-Christian Movement
Around the time of the May Fourth New Culture Movement, various trends of thought—including Darwinism, scientism, nationalism, rationalism, and liberalism—posed questions and challenges to Christianity, forming a wave of critical inquiry. To varying degrees, these ideas influenced early Marxists. It was not until the birth of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the establishment of Marxism as its guiding ideology that Marxism, through the Party's efforts and leadership, became the guiding ideology of the Anti-Christian Movement. Although the early Communists were somewhat green [4] regarding Marxist theory, they fundamentally adhered to Marxist positions, viewpoints, and methods. This allowed the Anti-Christian Movement to transcend the religious critiques of previous intellectual trends, becoming not only a vanguard movement of the proletarian revolution but also accumulating valuable experience for the formation of the CPC’s religious theory and the practice of religious work. At the same time, the CPC's critique of religion based on Marxist theory objectively promoted the further dissemination of Marxism.
The early Communists’ understanding of the basic attributes of religion through the method of the historical materialist conception of history embodied the application of the Marxist view of religion. Early CPC figures such as Yun Daiying, Chen Duxiu, and Li Dazhao held radical, critical, and negative attitudes toward religion. Yun Daiying denied the fundamental dogmas of Christianity and the legends of religion creating the world and humanity. Chen Duxiu argued that "if the existence of ghosts and gods between heaven and earth cannot be certainly proven," then all religions "are useless and deceitful idols and should be destroyed!" He revealed the theocentric characteristics of Christianity—namely, that "the teaching of Jesus holds that man is created by God and returns to God; the good are given life after death while the evil are deprived of it, treating human life as God's enterprise." Despite his critique of religion, Chen Duxiu recognized its cultural nature: "The content of culture includes science, religion, morality..." Religion, he felt, had a place in both old and new cultures.
The historical materialist conception of history holds that the material and economic conditions of life in a given historical period determine the form and content of religion: "It is people's social existence that determines their consciousness." The early Communists’ discourses on religious issues elucidated the natural, social, cognitive, and psychological roots of religious emergence, reflecting a preliminary application of historical materialism. For instance, Yun Daiying advocated understanding religion starting from the objective world, arguing that religion originated in primitive society due to factors such as human terror, "crying out to heaven in times of distress" [5], misconceptions, misunderstandings, aesthetic feelings, and imagination—it was "merely a feeling of exclamation and worship toward places beyond human reach." Li Dazhao believed that "faith in a religion is the quest for a place to find peace and establish one's life [6], arising from the natural requirements of the human spirit, which cannot be interfered with by human force." Chen Duxiu maintained that "all thoughts and actions are rooted in real life," and that the objective existence of religion persists "because if society still needs religion, our opposition is futile." As part of the superstructure, religion changes along with the social economic base. Adhering to the spirit of historical materialism, Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, and others clarified that the development and transformation of religious thought are influenced and constrained by the social economic base. Li Dazhao pointed out, "Religion and philosophy both change along with material changes." Chen Duxiu argued, "The transformation of religious thought is moreover subject to the dictates of the times and social forces," and "even in the same era, as the speed of industrial evolution varies across different nations and societies, religious thought varies accordingly."
At the same time, Chinese Communists possessed a dialectical understanding of the social role of religion. Chen Duxiu acknowledged that religion plays a certain positive role in exhorting people toward goodness, but he also pointed out its negative effects in terms of violating the scientific spirit and maintaining capitalist society. For example: "The merit of religion in overcoming brutality and exhorting goodness is not without benefit to the masses; however, its superstition in divine power and its obscuring of human wisdom are its shortcomings." Resistance to Christianity occurred because it "uses the soul's ascent to heaven to trick laborers into disregarding physical suffering, so they may peacefully spend their lives serving as beasts of burden for capitalists." He advocated for the study of Christianity to avoid "merely negatively causing many political and social disturbances without positively obtaining the full benefits of religion." Zhou Enlai pointed out the negative role of religion in "acting as an apologist for the propertied class, or invisibly hindering people's progress by leading them to fantasize about a future kingdom of heaven." While Communists affirmed the positive aspects of religion's social role, they argued against equating religion with morality and, furthermore, against advocating for the development of religion. Yun Daiying pointed out that the improvement of morality "initially does not require borrowing the power of faith, much less the power of religion," and regarding religion, "while we need not destroy it, we absolutely must not promote it."
The Anti-Christian Movement helped early Communists clarify ideas such as freedom of religious belief, the separation of church and state, and independence and self-governance, laying the foundation for the formation of the CPC's religious theory and the formulation of religious principles and policies. The CPC affirmed that people have the freedom to believe in religion and to believe in different religions or sects, as well as the freedom not to believe, thereby enriching the connotation of freedom of belief. At the time, Zhou Zuoren, Qian Xuantong, and others jointly published the "Declaration Advocating Freedom of Belief" to oppose the Anti-Christian Movement, arguing that it interfered with religious freedom. The Anti-Religion Federation responded directly, stating clearly that they did not interfere with or violate freedom of belief; opposing religion "is not only not a destruction of freedom, but is in fact an upholding of freedom," because the choice not to believe is also a freedom. The spirit of the Anti-Christian Federation was also reflected in the movement to reclaim educational rights. The Federation explicitly proposed that freedom of religious belief should include the freedom of people not to believe in any religion, opposing the practices of mission schools that forced students to read the Bible or pray, and opposing the use of charities, hospitals, and schools by churches to proselytize. Early Communists established the principle of the separation of church and state, and in June 1923, the Third National Congress of the CPC adopted a party program clearly stating the "implementation of compulsory education, with absolute separation between education and religion." The outbreak of the Anti-Christian Movement accelerated the process of the Chinese church seeking independence. Yun Daiying pointed out, "For those who hold Christian faith, it is naturally best to persuade them to leave the religion; if they cannot leave, they can be persuaded to work hard for the independence of the church," so that Chinese Christianity would "not content itself with being a tool of imperialism." This movement laid the foundation for the establishment of our country's principle and policy of independence and self-governance in religious affairs, firmly opposing foreign forces using religion to interfere in our internal affairs.
During the Anti-Christian Movement, the Party formed a united front with religious circles, seeking common ground on "anti-imperialism" while reserving differences on "belief." After the movement broke out, because the early Communists’ Marxist theory was not yet mature and the Party’s local and youth organizations lacked experience in revolutionary struggle, the critique of religion was excessively sharp. Furthermore, they failed to distinguish between a small number of counter-revolutionaries among the clergy and ordinary Christians and the patriotic majority. This expanded the scope of attack, resulting in a wholesale negation of Christianity and general believers, leading to phenomena during the movement such as arbitrarily inciting students of mission schools to drop out and refusing to allow mission school students to join student unions. However, the CPC quickly realized the problem and made distinctions among mission school students, recognizing that the vast majority were revolutionary forces that could be united to oppose imperialist aggression. The Party decided to unify the student movement rather than dissipate revolutionary forces, thereby strengthening the united front.
II. The Enlightenment and Contemporary Value of the Anti-Christian Movement
(1) Strengthening the Party's Leadership over Youth under the Guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era
Youth are the future of the Party and the country, the hope of the nation, and the vanguard force for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Youth are in a critical period for the formation of their worldview, outlook on life, and values; they are active in thinking, diverse in their ideas, and quick to accept and learn new things. However, they also exhibit tendencies toward individualism and liberalism. Some develop a strong interest in Western bourgeois cultural thought and are easily influenced by hostile forces, losing their way in complex ideological struggles. Therefore, we must hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, strengthen patriotic education for adolescents, and bolster the Party's leadership over youth groups. We must guide the youth of the New Era to establish faith in Marxism and enhance their conviction in socialism with Chinese characteristics, so that the broad masses of youth will consciously unite around the Party, listen to the Party, and follow the Party.
We must lead the youth to establish lofty ideals and contribute to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. "Youth are the most active and vital force in the entire social collective." Youth, especially young intellectuals, have historically been an important force driving political, economic, social, and cultural development. Entering the New Era, we must coalesce the strength of the vast youth to jointly commit to the great cause of national rejuvenation, consolidate the common ideological basis for united struggle, and march toward the Second Centenary Goal of fully building a modern socialist powerhouse. General Secretary Xi Jinping has earnestly exhorted: "Chinese youth in the New Era must take the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation as their own responsibility, enhancing their ambition, grit, and confidence to be Chinese, so as not to fail the times, their youth, or the earnest expectations of the Party and the people." Only by establishing the lofty ideal of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation can we stimulate the sense of mission in youth, enabling them to courageously shoulder heavy burdens and overcome difficulties on the path of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, becoming the responsible pillars of the New Era. Therefore, we must cultivate the quality of courageous struggle among Chinese youth in the New Era, strengthen their ideals and convictions, realize the value of life through dedication to the motherland, and sublimate their realm of life through dedication to the people. We should encourage youth to broaden their horizons, improve their professional skills and moral literacy, and build the motherland into a modern socialist powerhouse.
We must arm the minds of youth with Marxism to correctly understand religious issues. We must persist in using Marxist positions, viewpoints, and methods to recognize religious phenomena and issues, guiding the youth to understand religion correctly and treat it scientifically and rationally. Youth is the key period for the formation of a worldview, outlook on life, and values. This is especially true for college students, who are susceptible to the influence of religious culture. Their reasons for believing in religion are diverse: some seek to escape the pressures of study, work, or life, while others recognize the humanistic care, morality, or art within religion; consequently, the number of believers is on the rise. We must arm the minds of youth with Marxism, strengthen the study of Marxist religious theory, and establish public courses such as Marxist Religious Studies and Religious History and Culture, integrating them into the ideological and political curriculum system of universities. This will guide young students to form a correct view of religion and treat religious belief rationally and scientifically. In addition to caring for the lives and studies of young students, we must also focus on psychological counseling and humanistic care. Guided by the socialist core values, we should enrich the spiritual world of the youth with excellent traditional culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture, enhancing their confidence in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
(2) Conducting Religious Work Around the Strategic Goal of the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation
China is currently situated within the overall strategic context of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the world's unprecedented changes unseen in a century; this is the fundamental starting point for the Party's religious work. Our country is in an important strategic period for development but also faces an increasingly complex international situation. The Party's religious work must always revolve around and serve the overall situation.
To realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, we must take socialist core values as the lead and the forging of a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation as the main thread. This will enable religious believers of different faiths and sects to consciously increase their identification with the great motherland, the Chinese nation, Chinese culture, the CPC, and socialism with Chinese characteristics. It will lead them to consciously unite around the Party and the government, coalescing the majestic strength of the broad masses of religious believers. We must deepen the identification of religious believers with the motherland’s traditional culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture, encouraging them to develop a healthy and upward religious culture that benefits humanity and social development. We should lead intellectuals in religious circles to take the improvement of the country’s cultural soft power as their responsibility, using religious culture as a carrier to disseminate contemporary Chinese socialist values. This will promote equal religious exchange, dialogue, and mutual learning between different countries and regions, spreading Chinese religious culture abroad and showcasing the unique charm of Chinese culture.
The grand cause of realizing the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation is inseparable from national security and social stability. Under the principles of upholding the Party’s leadership, freedom of religious belief, and the separation of church and state, we must promote harmony among various religious relations—including those between the Party and government and religion, between society and religion, among different domestic religions, between Chinese religions and foreign religions, and between religious believers and non-believers. We must support the friendly external exchanges of all religions and strengthen the construction of the religious legal system. This entails protecting what is legal, prohibiting what is illegal, containing extremism, resisting infiltration, and cracking down on crime. In particular, it is necessary to prevent the influence of overseas extremist ideologies, and to strictly guard against and resolutely strike at all forms of infiltration, subversion, and sabotage, as well as extremist activities, violent terrorist activities, and ethnic separatist activities carried out under the guise of religion, thereby maintaining national security and stability. In the New Era, maintaining ideological security is a vital dimension of safeguarding national security. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Whether we can do a good job in ideological work is a matter of the Party’s future and destiny, a matter of the country’s long-term peace and stability, and a matter of national cohesion and centripetal force." Therefore, we must attach great importance to and strengthen the Party’s ideological leadership over religious believers. The development of information technology has made the internet the primary battlefield [7] for leading ideological direction. We must leverage the internet's influence in guiding mainstream ideology and resolutely crack down on the use of the web to advocate and incite religious extremism and ethnic separatist thought, turning the internet into the "largest increment" [8] for resisting Western ideological infiltration.
(3) Adhering to the Marxist Standpoint to Develop and Improve the Theory of Socialist Religion with Chinese Characteristics
As a party armed with Marxism, the Communist Party of China (CPC) gained a profound understanding of the pervasive and mass-based nature of religion, as well as the complexity of religious issues, through the Non-Christian Movement. The Party has always treated the handling of religious issues as part of the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle for national independence and liberation, consistently safeguarding the interests of the nation and its people. The perspectives, experiences, and lessons learned regarding religious issues during these struggles left a valuable legacy for the subsequent formation of the Party’s religious theories, principles, and policies. Over the forty years of Reform and Opening-up, the CPC has consistently adhered to the Marxist standpoint of the people when observing, understanding, and handling religious issues. It regards the fundamental interests of both religious and non-religious masses, as well as the specific interests of religious believers, as the foothold of the Party’s religious work. Taking the satisfaction of the fundamental needs and the protection of the fundamental rights of religious believers as the starting point, the Party strives to realize the aspirations of the broad masses of believers for a better life. It unites and leads religious believers in building socialism with Chinese characteristics and in jointly realizing the Chinese Dream of the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation.
The CPC has summarized historical experiences and lessons to create the theory of socialist religion with Chinese characteristics through the exploration of the Sinicization of Marxist religious theory. This theory upholds dialectical materialism and historical materialism, containing the Party’s perspectives on basic attributes such as the essence, development, and social role of religion. It innovatively summarizes and refines the "Five Characteristics" [9] of religious issues—namely, their mass-based, long-term, ethnic, international, and complex nature—which has become the vital basis for the Party’s correct judgment and handling of religious issues. During the practice of revolution, construction, and reform, major principles and policies have gradually formed, such as freedom of religious belief, managing religious affairs according to law, the independence and self-management of our religions, and actively guiding religions to adapt to socialist society. By adhering to the Party's leadership and the separation of church and state, and upholding the principles of mutual respect in belief and political unity and cooperation, the Party consolidates and develops the patriotic united front between the Party and the religious circles. Practice has proven that the theory of socialist religion with Chinese characteristics is a scientific and evolving theoretical system. Only by persisting in and developing this theory, and only by adhering to the basic guidelines of religious work over the long term, can we maintain the correct direction in religious work.