Zhu Xiaoming: Comprehensively Implement the Party's Theory on Religious Work in the New Era
An important theoretical achievement of the National Conference on Religious Work convened in December 2021 was the clear and flag-flown proposal of the "Party's theory on religious work in the New Era" in a manner that advances with the times. In his important speech at the conference, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that we must "comprehensively implement the Party's theory on religious work in the New Era." The summary and proposal of this theory clarified the guiding ideology, strategic goals, key tasks, and policy measures for religious work in the New Era. The academic community must earnestly study and comprehensively implement the Party's theory on religious work in the New Era, profoundly understand its core tenets, spiritual essence, rich connotations, and practical requirements, and strengthen the construction of the discipline of Marxist religious studies.
I. Grasping the Positioning of the Party's Theory on Religious Work in the New Era
The Communist Party of China (CPC) is a Marxist party that attaches great importance to summarizing practical experience and places great value on theoretical thinking and innovation. During the period of socialist revolution and construction, the main tasks of the Party’s religious work were anti-imperialist patriotism and the implementation of democratic reforms in the religious system; it established the principle of freedom of religious belief in law and built and developed the patriotic united front between the Party and religious circles. During the new period of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization, the main tasks of the Party’s religious work were to set things right [1], end the destruction caused by the "Cultural Revolution," and gradually form an institutional and legal framework for religious policy. In 1982, the Party Central Committee issued the Basic Viewpoints and Policies on Religious Issues during Our Country's Socialist Period, the famous "Document No. 19 of 1982." In 1990, the National Conference on Religious Work proposed that the government manage religious affairs according to the law. In 1993, the National United Front Work Conference proposed actively guiding religion to adapt to socialist society, forming the famous "three sentences" of the Party's basic policy on religious work: namely, comprehensively implementing the Party's policy on freedom of religious belief, managing religious affairs according to the law, and actively guiding religion to adapt to socialist society. This basic policy received unanimous approval and support from both within and outside the Party, including from religious circles. Entering the 21st century, as opening up to the outside world further expanded, China’s religious circles faced complex struggles with overseas hostile forces that utilized religion for infiltration and sabotage. In 2001, the National Conference on Religious Work developed the "three sentences" of the Party's basic policy into "four sentences," adding the content "upholding the principle of independence and self-management," thereby forming a relatively complete and internally unified basic policy for religious work. In 2007, the 17th Party Congress wrote the basic policy for religious work into the Party Constitution. In 2016, the National Conference on Religious Work proposed adhering to and developing the theory of religion with Chinese characteristics and continuously pushing forward the Sinicization of Marxist religious theory.
Reviewing the historical process of the development and refinement of the Party's religious work theory and policies in practice helps us grasp the historical, epochal, and scientific positioning of the Party’s theory on religious work in the New Era, and correctly recognize and understand the following three relationships:
First is the relationship between the Party's theory on religious work in the New Era and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee elucidated the three major theoretical achievements of the Sinicization of Marxism created by the Party during the four historical stages of its century-long struggle. The Party’s religious work and related theories and policies have always been part of the Party’s overall work and theoretical achievements. The Party's theory on religious work in the New Era is an important component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era; it is the "Chapter on Religious Work Theory in the New Era" within that body of thought.
Second is the relationship between the Party's theory on religious work in the New Era and the theory of religion with Chinese characteristics. Since the 18th Party Congress, the Party Central Committee has proposed a series of new concepts and measures regarding religious work, answering major theoretical and practical questions such as how to understand religion, how to handle religious issues, and how to perform the Party's religious work in the New Era. It has put forward the "Party's theory on religious work in the New Era" with the "nine musts" [2] as its primary content. This theory is both a direct continuation of the theory of religion with Chinese characteristics and an advancement with the times. It demonstrates the political will to effectively strengthen the Party’s leadership over religious work in the New Era and shows that the historical changes since the 18th Party Congress have endowed religious work with profound theoretical connotations and a clear orientation for action.
Third is the relationship between the Party's theory on religious work in the New Era and the Marxist view of religion and Marxist religious studies. The Marxist view of religion includes not only basic views and attitudes toward religious phenomena, issues, and the laws of religious emergence, development, and disappearance—guided by the worldview and methodology of dialectical materialism and historical materialism—but also the principles and policies of proletarian (working-class) parties for understanding and handling religious issues under such guidance. Marxist religious studies, as Mr. Ren Jiyu [3] pointed out, "must study the history, current situation, sects, doctrines, and scriptures of various religions as well as the role of religion in social history, while also studying scientific atheism, the principles of Marxist religious studies, and proletarian policies toward religion."
Regarding both basic principles and religious work, the Party's theory on religious work in the New Era focuses on the theoretical summation and elaboration of the Party’s practice and policies. It is the latest achievement of combining the Marxist view of religion with the concrete reality of China's religious work in the New Era and with fine traditional Chinese culture; it is the latest development of the theory of religion with Chinese characteristics and the general program for doing religious work well in the New Era. Compared to previous theoretical summaries, the formulation of the Party's theory on religious work in the New Era is clearer, more precise, and more accurate. It embodies epochal character, dominance, practicality, and guidance, reflecting the characteristics, connotations, and momentum of the New Era.
II. Comprehensively Understanding the Core Tenets, Spiritual Essence, and Practical Requirements of the Party's Theory on Religious Work in the New Era
The Party's theory on religious work in the New Era focuses on researching and solving problems; it "profoundly answers a series of major theoretical and practical questions about religious work in the New Era and is the latest summary of the Party’s religious work practice." Its main content is concentrated in the "nine musts" summarized by General Secretary Xi Jinping in his speech at the National Conference on Religious Work: namely, we must profoundly recognize the importance of doing religious work well within the overall work of the Party and the state; we must establish and improve a strong leadership mechanism; we must adhere to and develop the theory of religion with Chinese characteristics; we must adhere to the Party's basic policy on religious work; we must adhere to the direction of the Sinicization of religion in our country; we must persist in uniting the vast numbers of religious believers around the Party and the government; we must construct active and healthy religious relations; we must support religious groups in strengthening their self-construction; and we must improve the level of the rule of law in religious work. The "nine musts" constitute an internally linked, unified whole with a broad scope. From importance and leadership mechanisms to basic theories, policies, key tasks, and basic requirements, every aspect contains rich content and can be developed into major discourses; they must be studied deeply and understood in an integrated manner.
From the "three sentences" and "four sentences" of the basic policy on religious work to the "nine musts" of the Party's theory in the New Era, the Party's religious policy has maintained continuity while being continuously enriched and perfected in practice. What are the core tenets of the "nine musts"? Our socialist market economy involves letting the market play a decisive role in resource allocation while better exerting the role of the government; our socialist democratic politics combines micro-level freedom, democracy, and individual peace of mind with macro-level discipline, centralization, and unified will. The core tenets and spiritual essence of the Party's theory on religious work in the New Era are the combination of freedom of religious belief at the individual level—respecting and protecting the freedom of every citizen to believe or not believe in religion and to propagate atheism—with the education, management, and guidance provided by the Party and government at the social level to grasp the direction and maintain the overall situation. If we abstract the relationship between the individual and society, the micro and the macro, and the freedom of belief versus education, guidance, and management, our understanding of the core tenets and spiritual essence of the theory will become deeper and more conscious. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must comprehensively implement the Party's theory on religious work in the New Era, comprehensively implement the Party's basic policy on religious work, and comprehensively implement the Party's policy on freedom of religious belief." The emphasis on "comprehensiveness" is because religious work is a complex affair that is multi-dimensional, multi-subject, multi-functional, multi-layered, and constantly changing. In the practice of religious work since the founding of the People’s Republic, different forms of one-sidedness have appeared at different times. To comprehensively implement the theory, we must prevent the relaxation or even abandonment of social and macro-level "education, management, and guidance" when emphasizing individual and micro-level "freedom of belief"; at the same time, we must prevent the neglect or even disrespect of individual and micro-level "freedom of belief" when emphasizing social and macro-level "education, management, and guidance." "Comprehensive" does not mean being without a mainstream or a dominant force. To achieve "comprehensiveness," we must apply both the "theory of two points" [4] and the "theory of the priority point" [5]. Whether something is "comprehensive" must be tested by practice, with the emphasis on practical effects.
To comprehensively implement the Party's theory on religious work in the New Era and do a good job in religious work, we must pay attention to correctly recognizing and handling the following issues:
First, fully recognize and grasp the "duality" of religion's social role. Because religion is characterized by long-term duration, mass appeal, ethnicity, internationality, and complexity, as well as the duality of its social role, we must recognize and view religion’s social role objectively and dialectically. We must "guide religion to strive to serve economic development, social harmony, cultural prosperity, ethnic unity, and the reunification of the motherland." We must "respect the laws of religion and religious work, incorporate religious affairs management into the national governance system, grasp the proper scale of work, adjust specific policies and work strategies according to the continuous development and changes in practice, and always adhere to the correct direction of work." That kind of "looking at flowers through a fog" or "blind men touching an elephant" [6] style of superficial and one-sided understanding was an important cognitive and ideological root cause of the previous "tight-one-moment, loose-the-next" policy fluctuations.
Second, fully recognize and grasp the "essence" of religion and religious work. Regarding the religious issue, there are two summaries concerning "essence": the first is that the essence of religion is illusory; the second is that religious work is, in essence, mass work. Engels profoundly pointed out in Anti-Dühring that "all religion, however, is nothing but the fantastic reflection in men’s minds of those external forces which control their daily life." Mr. Ren Jiyu, the famous Chinese philosopher and scholar of religion, pointed out: "As an ideology, religion also possesses illusory, intuitive, exclusive, and pervasive qualities; these four qualities have their own laws of ideological movement... with illusory quality at the core; only with illusory quality can it be religion." What is the relationship between these "four qualities" mentioned by Ren Jiyu and the "five characteristics" we frequently mention—long-term duration, mass appeal, ethnicity, internationality, and complexity? The author believes these two are summaries of religious features from different perspectives. The "four qualities" summarize the ideological attributes of religion, with the core being illusory quality; the "five characteristics" summarize the social attributes of religion, with the core being mass appeal.
These "two summaries" of the essence of religion and the essence of religious work cannot replace or negate each other. We cannot deny that the essence of religion is illusory just because religious work is essentially mass work; nor can we deny that religious work is essentially mass work just because the essence of religion is illusory. An important distinction between religion and other social ideologies lies in its mass appeal. Xi Jinping pointed out: "The fundamental political and economic interests of religious and non-religious people are identical; both are the mass foundation for the Party’s governance. We must both protect the right to freedom of religious belief of religious people to maximize their unity, and patiently and meticulously do work among religious believers." Religious work must focus on the religious masses, strengthen propaganda, education, comprehensive governance, and united front work, and take whether the vast numbers of religious believers can be united around the Party and the government as the fundamental criterion for evaluating the effectiveness of religious work.
Third, fully understanding and grasping the long-term nature of religion and the tasks and requirements of the New Era. In 2021, the National Conference on Work Religious Affairs added a new requirement: religion must not only "actively be guided to adapt to socialist society," but also "adapt to the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics." This was a highlight of the conference. The long-term nature of religion refers to religion as a holistic socio-historical phenomenon; meanwhile, religion is not a static or isolated phenomenon but is determined by and adapts to society. Actively guiding religion to adapt to the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics requires starting from the "two overarching situations" [7]—the strategic overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the world’s profound changes unseen in a century. Currently, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered a critical period. As the Chinese nation grows stronger, the resistance and pressure it encounters will increase. The United States and other Western countries have employed every possible means to suppress and contain China. Playing the "ethnic card" and the "religious card" are among their habitual tactics. When they play economic, trade, technological, or diplomatic cards, they often bear corresponding consequences and costs themselves. However, playing the "ethnic" and "religious" cards—by setting agendas, provoking incidents, and spreading "lies of the century"—to sow discord between China's domestic ethnic groups and religions and to restrain and delay China's development and rise, carries an extremely low cost for them and has little impact on themselves. Furthermore, they can use their controlled Western media apparatus to stigmatize China, occupy the so-called "moral high ground," and form cliques to confront China. These "two overarching situations" are interconnected; national rejuvenation is a vital characteristic, component, and driving force of the "profound changes unseen in a century." This provides the historical background, practical significance, guiding role, and innovative value of the requirement to guide religion to "adapt to the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics." Externally, this new requirement highlights the strategic measures taken to counter the "ethnic" and "religious" cards played by the U.S. and the West, fundamentally preventing and resolving major risks in the ethnic and religious spheres. Internally, it highlights the political wisdom of maintaining high pressure on and striking out against ethnic separatist forces, religious extremist forces, and violent terrorist forces [8] the moment they appear, thereby winning hearts and minds and dispelling evil with righteousness [9]. This facilitates the better organization and guidance of religious believers to struggle in unity with the masses for the comprehensive building of a great modern socialist country and the realization of the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Fourth, fully understanding and grasping the individual and social attributes of religion. There are two conceptual levels regarding religious belief: one is the individual attribute as a matter of personal faith, and the other is the social attribute as a collective group of believers. Regarding the individual attribute, the essence of "freedom of religious belief" is that believing or not believing in a religion is a "private matter" for the individual citizen to choose freely. In 1844, Marx and Engels pointed out in The Holy Family that: "Man emancipates himself politically from religion by expelling it from the sphere of public law to that of private law." Regarding the social attribute, religion is not merely an ideology; it is also composed of religious organizations maintained by common beliefs, taboo systems, and shared interests among believers. It thus congregates into an organized social group, becoming a social force capable of influencing other aspects of society rather than remaining purely a personal conviction. When it exceeds the scope of personal belief and involves the public sphere, religious affairs—like any other social affairs—must comply with laws and regulations. This is the basic rationale for managing religious affairs in accordance with the law.
The root of the "laissez-faire" attitude toward religion lies in emphasizing only the individual attribute of faith while ignoring its social attribute, seeing only the surface without grasping the essence. This ignores the complex socio-political factors of religion and the social functions it has been endowed with—functions it did not originally have and should not possess. Such an attitude is incomplete and incorrect. As a complex social phenomenon, religion has possessed distinct group characteristics and broad social influence since ancient times. Whether one believes, how many believe, and how they believe has never been merely a personal private matter; it is a significant social affair. In contemporary China, where the separation of church and state has long been realized and the individual's choice of faith is respected and protected, our Party, as the governing party, should place the focus of its understanding and efforts on the social attributes of religion and integrate the management of religious affairs into the national governance system.
Fifth, fully understanding and grasping the "Sinicization" and "rule of law" of religion. Persisting in the direction of Sinicization for all religions in China is an innovative concept for achieving "effective guidance" by engaging with the ideological attributes of religion. Improving the level of the rule of law in religious work is an innovative measure for achieving "effective guidance" by engaging with religion's attributes as a social entity. We cannot separate "Sinicization" and "rule of law" or view them as unrelated matters; we must recognize their internal connection. "Sinicization" is the internal ideological construction of the religious community itself, led by core socialist values; "rule of law" refers to the legal norms and behavioral standards within the broader society. Using "Sinicization" to promote progress on one hand and the "rule of law" to regulate behavior on the other provides two coordinated points of leverage to achieve the goal of "guidance" being the key and "managing well and effectively."
Sixth, fully understanding and grasping the principle of independence and self-management and the resistance against foreign religious infiltration. Persisting in the principle of independence and self-management does not mean severing normal ties with foreign religious circles; rather, it means supporting and encouraging the religious community to conduct international exchanges on the basis of mutual respect, equality, and friendship. China's religions are not subordinate to foreign religions, and China's religious groups and religious affairs are not subject to the control of foreign powers. This is a constitutional principle that must always be upheld. The practice of religious work since the founding of the People's Republic, and especially since the Reform and Opening-up, tells us that major risks in the religious field are often backed by international anti-China forces using religion to conduct infiltration and sabotage. Under the conditions of Reform and Opening-up, we must adhere to the Holistic Approach to National Security, persist in the principle of independence and self-management, resist foreign religious infiltration, strengthen the management of internet religious affairs, build positive and healthy religious relations, and prevent and resolve potential major risks in the religious field.
Seventh, fully understanding and promoting the construction of a religious affairs governance pattern led by Party committees, managed by the government, with social coordination and religious self-discipline. Integrating the management of religious affairs into the national governance system is a strategic goal and requirement. A prominent highlight of the 2021 National Conference on Religious Work was the clarification of governance: on one hand, it clarified the responsibilities and requirements for the religious community itself, requiring them to improve their level of self-management, carry forward the patriotic spirit, and focus on the "big picture," the rule of law, science, and love. It called for continuously increasing their identification with the great motherland, the Chinese nation, Chinese culture, the Communist Party of China, and socialism with Chinese characteristics. On the other hand, it clarified that Party and government departments must support and guide the religious community in strengthening self-education, self-management, and self-restraint, comprehensively and strictly governing religion, and taking the lead in obeying the law and improving religious conduct. We must respect and give play to the role of religious groups in internal religious affairs and promote the healthy inheritance of China's religions. Terms such as "comprehensively and strictly governing religion," "religious self-discipline," and "healthy inheritance of religion" are both a reflection on problems exposed within the religious community under new circumstances and a requirement linking the rights and obligations of the religious community. The religious community enjoys the right and freedom of belief according to law, while simultaneously bearing the responsibility and obligation to be patriotic, law-abiding, to build positive and healthy religious relations, and to promote the healthy inheritance of religion.
Eighth, fully understanding and grasping the struggle between atheism and theism in the ideological sphere. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourses on persisting in and publicizing Marxist atheism at the 2016 and 2021 National Conferences on Religious Work are rich in content, with two key points. First, he profoundly pointed out that the shift in some people's purpose for believing in religion—from utilitarianism and pragmatism to spiritual pursuit and sustenance—has brought new problems and challenges to our Party’s ideological work, socio-political education, and the publicity and education of core socialist values. There is also an ideological struggle between atheism and theism; it is a form of "contesting for the hearts of the people." If theism is allowed to spread in our country and more and more people believe in various religions, it will ultimately impact the Party’s guiding ideology and its foundation for governance. This is a matter of political consciousness, political security, and political responsibility raised from the height of maintaining ideological security. Second, he unequivocally proposed that Communist Party members must persist in and publicize Marxist atheism. He specifically emphasized the political discipline that Communist Party members must not believe in religion, requiring them to be firm Marxist atheists, strictly abide by the Party Constitution and regulations, and remain firm in their ideals and convictions. He further proposed that as believers in Marxism, Communist Party members must naturally persist in atheism; anyone who does not is not a Marxist, nor a thorough materialist. We must not only persist in Marxist atheism but also actively publicize it. He insightfully proposed that persisting in Marxist atheism is a major principle; our legislation, administration, judiciary, as well as economic, political, social, cultural, and ecological aspects must all adhere to this principle and must not violate it, intentionally or otherwise. This emphasizes the Party's political discipline, responsibility, and principles from the perspective of Party building.
The above two points can be summarized in two sentences: maintain ideological security and shoulder the responsibilities of a Communist Party member. The former is a matter of political consciousness and political standing; the latter is a political responsibility and a practical requirement. We must not only persist in Marxist atheism but also actively publicize it, popularize scientific and cultural knowledge, and help the people draw clear boundaries between materialism and idealism, atheism and theism, science and superstition, and civilization and ignorance. We must ensure that Marxist atheism maintains its dominant position as the mainstream ideology in the minds of the people. A review of research in recent years shows three main ideological and theoretical obstacles to strengthening atheism publicity and education among the masses.
First is the lack of importance placed on atheism publicity and education. Some comrades engaged in ideological and political education and theoretical publicity often believe that because we conduct Marxist publicity and education every day, publicizing materialism is equivalent to publicizing atheism, so there is no need to emphasize atheism separately. Theoretically speaking, the Marxist worldview is dialectical materialism and historical materialism, and thorough materialism is also thorough atheism. Therefore, Marxist dialectical and historical materialism do indeed inherently contain the premises and conclusions of atheism. However, this does not mean that everyone who generally accepts and believes in Marxism recognizes the atheistic content it contains. Marxism contains rich atheistic content, which is self-evident to those with a deep understanding of Marxism, but others are not always aware of it. Atheism still needs to be presented explicitly, which requires publicity and education. Therefore, we must publicize both dialectical and historical materialism and Marxist atheism.
In July 2021, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Strengthening and Improving Ideological and Political Work in the New Era" (hereafter referred to as the "Opinions"), stating the need to "strengthen education in Marxist materialism and atheism." The term "Marxist materialism" used here already includes atheism in its ideological connotation; however, the "Opinions" immediately followed this with "atheism education," which is entirely necessary. This phrasing reflects the requirements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council for correctly understanding and handling the relationship between education in Marxist materialism and atheism in the ideological and political work of the New Era.
In his article "On the Significance of Militant Materialism," Lenin pointed out: "It would be the biggest and most grievous mistake a Marxist could make to think that the millions 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. These masses should be supplied with the most varied atheist propaganda material, they should be made familiar with facts from the most diverse spheres of life, they should be approached in every possible way, so as to interest them, rouse them from their religious slumber, shake them up in all sorts of ways and by all sorts of means, and so forth." In contemporary China, general theoretical publicity and education cannot replace publicity and education in Marxist atheism. We should also provide the people with various atheistic publicity materials, especially by using examples that occur around them to tell them the facts and truths of various aspects of actual life, conducting vivid and effective publicity and education through facts and comparisons, rather than letting atheism education remain only at the level of theory, principles, and concepts.
Second is the view that propagating atheism is useless. Some comrades argue: For those who believe in atheism, you do not need to propagate it to them because they already hold that view; for those who believe in theism, your propagation is useless anyway. The conclusion drawn is that there is no need to propagate atheism. This viewpoint actually restricts the target audience of atheistic publicity and education and narrows the scope in which atheism can play a role.
It is true that the publicity and education of atheism should not take the religious community and religious citizens as its target. Party policy stipulates that "one should not conduct atheistic propaganda in religious venues, nor initiate debates between theism and atheism among religious citizens." However, these policies and requirements must not be misunderstood or misread as policies and requirements for the whole of society. We cannot abandon the conduct of reasoned, beneficial, and effective atheistic publicity and education in mass media and social education simply because we do not target the religious community and religious citizens.
The focus of the audience for atheistic publicity and education is, first and foremost, the Party members and leading cadres at all levels who grasp power and resources—the "key minority." The long-term nature of the existence of theism determines that the atheism opposed to it must also necessarily possess a long-term nature. History has not ended, nor can it be ended; atheism will not end either, but will continue to deepen alongside the development of practice. Atheistic publicity and education is a process that requires constant research into new situations and the resolution of new problems; it should not and cannot be a once-and-for-all endeavor. Even for those Party members and leading cadres who have preliminarily established a world outlook of dialectical materialism and historical materialism and who believe in and persist in atheism, they must still continuously learn new knowledge and answer new questions in practice to resist the spiritual temptations and ideological infiltrations of theism and feudal superstition. Typical cases exposed during the massive anti-corruption wave since the 18th CPC National Congress, such as "asking ghosts and gods instead of the common people" [11], serve as profound and vivid warning education for the propagation of atheism in the New Era. Practice shows that the view that it is unnecessary to conduct atheistic publicity and education for atheists is an erroneous viewpoint that looks at problems in a static and isolated manner.
Atheistic publicity and education must not only be carried out but must also be persisted in relentlessly from generation to generation. This is because newly born generations of young people have not experienced the previous developmental processes of social consciousness. "If they are not given 'foundational' education, they will become ignorant and benighted regarding 'foundational' issues, and will either passively or actively fall into the lower strata of social consciousness in areas where education does not reach." In the New Era, we must boldly and relentlessly carry out atheistic publicity and education, ensuring that atheistic education enters textbooks, enters classrooms, and enters the minds of the broad masses of youth.
Third is the feeling of intimidation by the difficulty of the task. Propagating atheism requires studying religion and critiquing theology; it requires studying various manifestations of idealism and critiquing theism and feudal superstition. One of the difficulties therein is the critique of theology: if it does not touch upon specific theological viewpoints, the critique easily becomes vacuous; if it does touch upon specific theological viewpoints, it easily provokes resistance from certain people within specific religions or is exploited by them. Therefore, when conducting civic education and social publicity, there is often a sense of intimidation regarding the propagation of atheism, believing that atheism is difficult to discuss and that if discussed poorly, it could easily trigger incidents and affect social stability.
In this regard, there have been successful experiences and cases in history. For example, Mr. Ren Jiyu [12], whom Mao Zedong called one of those "as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns" [13], conducted research on Buddhist thought in the Han and Tang dynasties by placing every type of Buddhist thought produced in Chinese history into its specific historical context, analyzing the background and causes of its emergence, its development and characteristics, as well as its historical limitations and negative impacts. Mr. Ren Jiyu thereby became the pioneer and a master exemplar of using Marxism as a guide to study religion and critique theology.
Marxist atheism is not a simple negation of theism, but rather the use of a scientific world outlook and methodology to provide a correct explanation of it from various aspects. The critique of theism must be strictly limited to the ideological sphere. Politically uniting with personages from religious circles and religious citizens while ideologically critiquing idealism and theism are two aspects that must not be neglected. The means for critiquing theism is publicity and education, not the simple adoption of administrative measures. Critiquing theism is not the same as critiquing religion, nor is it directed at the social entities that believe in religion. Even within the ideological sphere, one must distinguish between religion and its connections, infiltrations, and interweaving with other forms of consciousness. For example, where religion and art permeate each other, we must scientifically inherit and protect them, absorbing the essence and discarding the dregs. We must attend to policy and strategy, distinguishing between different occasions and targets. We do not initiate debates between theism and atheism in religious venues or among religious citizens. There is a distinction between inside and outside the Party, and a distinction between different targets. If we clarify things theoretically and distinguish them in policy—explaining religion through history and explaining religion through facts, researching religion, and critiquing theology—then something can be achieved in "telling the story" of atheism properly; it can be explained and clarified in a reasoned, beneficial, and effective manner.
These three ideological obstacles must be clarified and broken down. The contest between infiltration and anti-infiltration, and between disorderly expansion and anti-disorderly expansion [14] in the field of religious work, plays an important role in national security, social stability, and economic development. Strengthening atheistic publicity and education for the masses is an important foundational task for preventing and defusing major risks in the religious field within the intellectual and ideological spheres. Doing this work well requires both profound theoretical and academic accumulation as well as great political wisdom; this will become a difficult but meaningful task in carrying out atheistic publicity and education and constructing a disciplinary system for atheism. To comprehensively implement the Party's theory on religious work in the New Era, we must persist in the principle of combining goal-orientation with problem-orientation, always firmly grasping the forward direction of religious work.
III. Using the Party's Theory on Religious Work in the New Era as a Guide to Seize Opportunities and Strengthen the Disciplinary Construction of Marxist Religious Studies
General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized the need to cultivate "three teams" [15] in the political, administrative, and academic circles of religious work: We must cultivate a team of Party and government cadres who are proficient in the Marxist view of religion, familiar with religious work, and adept at working with religious citizens; we must cultivate a team of representative personages from religious circles who are politically reliable, possess religious accomplishments, can command public respect through their character, and can play a role at critical moments; and we must cultivate a team of religious studies researchers who are firm in their ideological and political stance, persist in the Marxist view of religion, possess an excellent style of study, and are adept at innovation, so as to strengthen the disciplinary construction of Marxist religious studies.
General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the development of Marxist religious theory. In his speech at the 2016 National Conference on Religious Work, he proposed to "develop the theory of religion with Chinese characteristics and comprehensively improve the level of religious work under the new situation." On May 17, 2016, at the Symposium on the Work of Philosophy and Social Sciences, he further proposed to "accelerate the improvement of disciplines that support philosophy and social sciences," listing religious studies as one of the eleven supporting disciplines and requiring the "creation of a disciplinary system with Chinese characteristics and universal significance." At the 2021 National Conference on Religious Work, he explicitly proposed for the first time to "strengthen the disciplinary construction of Marxist religious studies." This constitutes an important opportunity for strengthening such disciplinary construction.
The developmental process of Chinese Marxist religious studies since the founding of the People's Republic of China illustrates the importance and arduousness of promoting the Sinicization of Marxist religious theory. In 1956, Mr. Ren Jiyu published "The Political Role of 'Prajna' and 'Nirvana' Doctrines in Buddhism during the Jin and Song Dynasties of the Southern Dynasty," beginning the study of religious issues under the guidance of Marxism. Subsequently, Mr. Ren Jiyu published several papers providing brief analyses of the philosophical thoughts of the Zen, Tiantai, Huayan, and Faxiang schools, which were collected and published in 1962 as Selected Essays on Buddhist Thought in the Han and Tang Dynasties. This marked the birth of Chinese Marxist religious studies.
In October 1959, Mao Zedong had a long overnight talk with Mr. Ren Jiyu regarding religious issues. Mao Zedong said, "In the past, we were all engaged in atheism and revolution, and did not have the opportunity to attend to this issue. The religious issue is very important and research must be carried out," proposing the importance of studying religion for the first time. Mao Zedong also said, "The study of religion needs outsiders to do it; religious believers have superstitions, which won't do; the study of religion itself cannot have superstitions," emphasizing the importance of a scientific world outlook for religious research. On December 30, 1963, Mao Zedong issued an important instruction on "strengthening the research of religious issues." There were two key points in the talk and instruction: first, the requirement that our research institutions and journals be "led by Marxists" and that research articles be "written using the viewpoint of historical materialism"; second, the statement that "without critiquing theology, one cannot write a good history of philosophy, nor a good history of literature or world history." That is to say, if one does not persist in studying religion and critiquing theology from an atheistic standpoint, one can neither correctly understand the historical facts related to religion nor correctly understand the role played by religion therein, thus affecting the scientific understanding of the history of philosophy, literature, and the world. This is an extremely profound judgment. Based on Mao Zedong's instruction and with the support of relevant departments and universities, Mr. Ren Jiyu prepared and founded the first research institution in New China led by Marxists and using the viewpoint of historical materialism to study religion and critique theology—the Institute of World Religions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (now CASS)—in 1964, initiating Chinese Marxist religious studies.
In 1979, Mr. Ren Jiyu published "Struggle for the Development of Marxist Religious Studies," which served as the manifesto and clarion call for developing Chinese Marxist religious studies after the start of Reform and Opening-up. In the early 1980s, Mr. Ren Jiyu taught a course on the principles of religious studies at Peking University, and his lecture notes were later compiled and published as Lectures on Religious Studies. In 1986, Principles of Religious Studies, edited by Chen Linshu, was published; in 1999, the revised version was published as a national textbook for liberal arts in universities. In 1989, A General Theory of Religious Studies, edited by Lü Daji, was published. The textbooks and teaching reference materials published in the 1980s all took the construction of Marxist religious studies as their mission and laid a solid foundation. After entering the 1990s, tendencies toward "theologization" and Westernization appeared in religious research. The religious studies community saw a decline in ideological rigor and a gap in the succession of talent; Marxism was gradually marginalized, hollowed out, and turned into a mere label in the field of religious studies.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has emphasized: "Persistence in the guidance of Marxism is the fundamental hallmark that distinguishes contemporary Chinese philosophy and social sciences from others; it must be upheld with a clear-cut stand." A new and encouraging atmosphere has also appeared in the disciplinary construction of Marxist religious studies. In recent years, the CASS Institute of World Religions and the Zhejiang Institute of Socialism have jointly held three consecutive Seminars on Marxist Religious Studies. The Department of Religious Studies at the School of Philosophy, Wuhan University, is currently working on compiling a textbook titled Marxist Religious Studies and has held specialized academic seminars. Recently, Professor Lü Jianfu's team at Sichuan University compiled Mr. Ren Jiyu's religious studies lectures, papers, and other related writings into the Newly Edited Lectures on Marxist Religious Studies by Ren Jiyu, in three volumes: Volume I, Principles of Religious Studies; Volume II, Historical Forms of Religion; and Volume III, Religion and Other Ideologies, which is about to be published. The Chinese Atheism Society has held several academic annual conferences and forums in recent years, repeatedly discussing the compilation outline for the Introduction to Marxist Atheism, and has opened a course titled "Introduction to Marxist Atheism" for master's students at the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. It should be said that both Marxist religious studies and Marxist atheism research have accumulated a certain academic and talent foundation, with a group of senior experts and scholars who persist in using Marxist positions, viewpoints, and methods to study religion and atheism playing a guiding and leading academic role.
The core of the disciplinary construction of Marxist religious studies is theoretical construction. In the process of implementing the spirit of the National Conference on Religious Work, the academic community should seize the historical opportunity, inherit and carry forward the academic style and tradition of Marxist religious studies with Chinese characteristics pioneered by Mr. Ren Jiyu, and write a new chapter for the disciplinary construction of Sinicized Marxist religious studies in the New Era!
(Author Biography: Zhu Xiaoming, Honorary President of the Chinese Atheism Society, Consultant to the Science and Atheism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and former Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the China Tibetology Research Center)