Yan Yu: Cause, Achievement, and Value: A Three-Dimensional Interpretation of Engels' Later Research on Christianity
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized at the National Conference on Religious Work held in December 2021 the need to fully implement the Party's theory on religious work in the New Era, fully implement the Party's basic policy on religious work, and fully implement the Party's policy on freedom of religious belief. He stressed adhering to the orientation of the Sinicization of religion in China and actively guiding religion to adapt to socialist society. Marxist religious theory is an integral part of Marxism, and the issue of religion is a challenge that must be faced and properly handled in the current stage of China's social development. Therefore, research into Marxist religious theory based on the texts of classic Marxist authors possesses significant theoretical and practical importance. In Engels’ later years, the death of Bruno Bauer and the needs of the practical socialist struggle prompted him once again to turn his attention toward the field of religion. Unlike his youthful critique of religion as a generalized object, the elderly Engels began to conduct research into early Christianity and Christian history, examining and elucidating areas not emphasized in his previous critiques of religion, thereby further enriching the content and methodology of Marxist religious theory. Starting in 1882, Engels wrote Bruno Bauer and Early Christianity, The Book of Revelation, and On the History of Early Christianity to specifically explore Christian issues. These works concentrate the achievements and value of Engels' research on Christianity in his later years.
I. The Origins of Engels' Late-Period Research on Christianity
In the 1840s, the young Engels had already begun to critique practical religious issues and had set about conducting political and economic critiques of the phenomena behind religion. In his later years, Engels returned to the critique of religion, focusing specifically on early Christianity. The origins of this research were multifaceted, but the most important factor—and the primary thread running through all of Engels' late-period Christian studies—was the practical need of the socialist movement. Both Marx and Engels paid high level of attention to the issues of the socialist movement in their later years. Through his investigation of Eastern countries, Marx attempted to demonstrate an Eastern socialist model that could bypass the "Caudine Forks" [1] of capitalism. Engels, for his part, continued to theoretically enrich the theory of scientific socialism by organizing Marx's manuscripts, while simultaneously providing specific guidance for the practical workers' movement, testing the effectiveness of the socialist movement in practice.
(1) A Continuation of Early Religious Critique
The critique of religion is an important component of the historical materialist worldview and served as the starting point for the formation of Engels' atheistic views. Engels was raised in a wealthy factory owner's family; this comfortable environment allowed him to receive a systematic theological education from a young age. However, when the young Engels witnessed the reality of workers suffering under oppression and exploitation, and the hypocritical fact that Pietists [2] "did everything possible to lower workers' wages," he began to seek a path toward true liberation for the working class. It was precisely during this process that Engels realized his transition to atheism. By critiquing the Young Hegelians' [3] idealist critique of religion and the so-called "atheism" prevalent at the time, the young Engels clarified his own scientific atheist perspective. Once Marx and Engels discovered the economic roots behind religion, the liberation of real people became far more important than the negation of a presupposed God, and the two began to turn their focus toward the study of political economy.
Compared to Marx's assertions that "religion is the opium of the people" and "the imaginary flowers on the chain," Engels' treatment of religion was more detailed and comprehensive. In Anti-Dühring, Engels pointed out: "All religion, however, is nothing but the fantastic reflection in men’s minds of those external forces which control their daily life, a reflection in which the terrestrial forces assume the form of supernatural forces." This statement profoundly revealed the essence and practical basis of religion, containing Engels' historical materialist reflections on the nature of religion. Although Engels' attention to religious issues decreased relatively after this, he continued to use critiques of religion to elucidate Marxist viewpoints in other studies. For example, in Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy, Engels drew a clear line between himself and humanistic materialism by critiquing Feuerbach’s religious view of love.
In his later years, Engels once again turned his gaze toward the religious domain, researching the history of the evolution and development of Christianity. Building upon his early critiques of religion, he further enriched the ideological and methodological content of Marxist religious theory. At this time, Engels adopted the standpoint of historical materialism and applied mature Marxist views and methods to look at religious issues. This was both a profound re-articulation of his critique of religion and a review and summary of all his previous research involving religion.
(2) The Death of Bauer as the Immediate Cause of Engels' Late Research on Christianity
On April 13, 1882, Bruno Bauer died in Berlin. Bauer had made certain contributions to demonstrating the relationship between Christianity and Judaism and to the critique of revelatory prophecy. Engels began with historical materials and religious texts to re-examine this philosopher who had once critiqued the Christian Gospels; this became the direct impetus for Engels' late-period research on Christianity. There is a distinction between Engels' attitude toward and evaluation of Bauer in his later years compared to his earlier works. In the early works of Marx and Engels, Bauer played the role of a "critical theologian," yet Marx and Engels pointed out that a "critical theologian" remains a theologian, essentially maintaining a negative attitude toward him. In his later years, Engels evaluated Bauer as a philosopher and recognized his contributions to the critique of religion. It must be said that Engels' discussions of Bauer in his later Christian studies do carry a sense of reflection on his earlier evaluations. Of course, regarding the position of Bauer, Engels always maintained the height of historical materialism for an objective evaluation. While affirming Bauer’s contributions, he pointed out the fundamental flaw in Bauer’s idealist conception of history: it "cannot make clear observations or provide precise explanations. Frequently, at the critical juncture, it must substitute facts with empty rhetoric." This flaw led Bauer to a standstill in his research on Christianity and his critique of religion. And the "critical juncture" where Bauer stopped was precisely where Engels' research began and where the key to the religious question lay.
(3) The Practical Needs of the Socialist Movement
An examination of the chronology of Engels' late texts on Christianity reveals that a gap of ten years exists between the writing of Bruno Bauer and Early Christianity and The Book of Revelation and the writing of On the History of Early Christianity. While Bauer’s death was certainly a catalyst, the reason for Engels writing On the History of Early Christianity ten years later was even more profound: it was the true reason for Engels' late-period religious research—the need of the practical socialist movement compelled Engels to defend Marxism theoretically.
At that time, the socialist cause encountered several problems: the Fabian Society, which was essentially bourgeois-liberal and acted as "socialists" for the bourgeoisie, advocated "reformism" and "gradualism," seriously hindering the progress of the workers' movement. Furthermore, the "Youngsters" [4] within the Social Democratic Party, who eventually descended into anarchism, misused "materialism" as a mere catchphrase, exerting a destructive influence on the dissemination and development of Marxism. Even within specific socialist sects, deceptive phenomena similar to religion existed. In On the History of Early Christianity, Engels pointed out that members of the Weitlingian sect took advantage of Weitling's imprisonment to use "evangelical" methods to deceive workers, thereby causing serious harm to the Weitlingian communist cells.
As a mentor to the proletarian cause, Engels needed to highlight the powerful guiding role of Marxism in theory while leading the working class in the struggle against these false types of socialism. Specifically, the comparative demonstration Engels provided in On the History of Early Christianity regarding the origins, development, and essence of early Christianity versus socialism became a powerful interpretation of scientific socialism. Through this comparative study, he clarified that the socialist movement must achieve the goal of transforming the world. This both pointed out the true direction of the socialist movement and drew a clear line between it and opportunistic sects.
II. Major Achievements of Engels' Late-Period Research on Christianity
(1) On Early Christianity and Socialism
In the opening of On the History of Early Christianity, Engels compared the similarities between early Christian history and the socialist movement. First, both early Christianity and the socialist movement were movements of resistance by the oppressed. Second, both aimed for salvation from bondage and poverty. Third, both achieved certain historical victories. These three points constitute the comparable historical foundation between early Christianity and socialism.
As resistance movements of the oppressed, both early Christianity and the socialist movement manifested as "mass movements," and both initially suffered from the chaos inherent in the spontaneity of such movements. Consequently, leaders emerged in both to play a guiding role in the actual struggle. The leaders of Christianity became the so-called "prophets," acting as earthly spokespersons for God and holding the power to interpret religious laws and regulations. At the same time, while early Christianity and socialism were struggling against the external world, they also produced internal struggles and divisions. In the religion, because the interests and views of the prophets differed, it split into numerous sects; similarly, in the socialist movement, the Weitlingians, Proudhonists, and Bakuninist anarchists appeared due to differences in standpoint, class, and viewpoint. The difference was that the constant struggle between the various sects of early Christianity paved the way for the eventual unification of Christianity; this was the internal logic of Christian development through its own struggle. As Engels pointed out, Christianity was formed spontaneously during an era where hundreds of sects and prophets appeared, acting as a "product of the mutual interaction of the most developed of these sects." In contrast, the struggles between the various so-called "socialist" factions within the socialist movement hindered and threatened the movement's progress, harming its achievements. Therefore, it was necessary for Engels at the time to explain the essence and trends of socialism from the perspective of a comparison between religion and socialism, reaching a point of "clearing the source" [5] for the socialist movement.
As a "mass movement" of the oppressed, early Christianity naturally contained active elements of anti-oppression. However, like other religions, early Christianity positioned the goal of anti-oppression in a "world beyond" (the hereafter) rather than the real world. Engels affirmed that the world beyond created by religion shared certain formal similarities with socialism, but the fundamental difference lay in the illusoriness of the "beyond" in religious consciousness versus the reality of the "here-and-now" in the socialist ideal. In terms of possibility, the empirical world of the here-and-now is far more accessible than the transcendental religious world beyond, and liberation and freedom in the real world are much more foreseeable and achievable than salvation in the kingdom of heaven. Engels viewed the Christian doctrine of believers being saved through the sacrifice of Christ as a most crude manifestation, because for Christians, "how and why they are saved—remains entirely unexplained." Marxism, however, starts from the real living conditions of the proletariat and, through the critique of capitalist private property, indicates the direction of the socialist movement and the practical path to real liberation.
Regarding "mass movements" in the religious sphere, Engels pointed out: "All these movements carried out under a religious cloak were caused by economic reasons." Only by analyzing and seeking the economic roots of religion’s emergence within the real material world can one grasp the essence of religion and solve religious problems. Human history, excluding primitive society, is a history of class struggle, and the substance behind class struggle is the struggle for economic interests. As a product of the development of human society, religion necessarily possesses its own laws of historical development. Just as Marx and Engels investigated primitive society as a special stage when discussing the history of class struggle, in religious research, spontaneous primitive religions also differ from later mature religions and cannot be generalized. As Engels noted, the fetishism of Black Africans and the primitive religion of the Aryans did not contain deceptive elements at their inception; it was only in their subsequent development that fraud quickly emerged. For a scientific understanding of religion, one must specifically analyze the concrete factors within the social roots of its emergence: "The problem can only be solved by explaining its origin and development based on the historical conditions under which religion arose and attained dominance."
Early Christianity, as a form of "ideological consolation" under specific social conditions, differed from later developed institutional religions in its economic roots. However, this does not deny that economic factors still played a role in the emergence and development of early Christianity, because "behind every religious frenzy, there are always real worldly interests hidden." Engels utilized historical materialism to analyze the emergence of the first Christians. When slaves, small-holders, and ruined free citizens faced real-world dilemmas such as bankruptcy and the burden of usury, these diverse "suffering people"—owing to differences in their social origins and material interests—could only find a common path out in the religious sphere, as religion provided them with ideological and spiritual consolation. In contrast, true socialism and communism represent the interests of the broad proletariat. The commonality of interests within the proletariat inevitably leads to the realization of a union of the proletarians of all countries, achieving true and thorough emancipation through the possession of the means of production.
Similarities in the forms, goals, and results of resistance against oppression cannot obscure the essential differences between religion and socialism. Engels pointed out that Christian deliverance occurs in the world beyond after death, whereas socialism directly acts upon and transforms the material world of reality through human practice. Engels' discourse on the origin, development, and withering away of religion invariably contains profound principles and methods of historical materialism. In the process of discussing the history and essence of early Christianity, he further expounded upon scientific socialism, demonstrating that the socialist movement is a practical mass movement conducted from a proletarian standpoint with the goal of realizing the real material interests of the proletariat, thereby defending the class position and guiding status of Marxism.
(2) On the Essence and Conditions of Religious Prophecy
In On the History of Early Christianity, Engels affirmed Bruno Bauer’s critique of the Gospels and the Epistles. However, an idealist worldview led Bauer to "always treat history quite light-mindedly," which became his fundamental limitation in truly understanding the origin and essence of religious prophecy.
Starting with Strauss’s writing of The Life of Jesus, revelatory prophecy began to return from the kingdom of heaven to the human world, transforming from divine revelation into human creation. Strauss’s critique of religion had a significant influence at the time, such that the young Engels even called himself a "Straussian" [6]. Through The Life of Jesus, Strauss discussed the narrative characteristics of revelatory prophecy, attributing it to the unconscious ideological product of religious communities. Bauer critiqued Strauss's claims on this basis, completely denying the historical authenticity of Jesus as a person and pointing out that revelatory prophecy is a purposeful creation. Both Strauss and Bauer recognized the secular foundations of revelatory prophecy, but neither could reveal the true causes of its emergence.
The study of revelatory prophecy was one of the primary contents of Engels' later research on Christianity. In the Book of Revelation, Engels denied the mystical nature of revelatory prophecy by listing research results from different perspectives. Regarding the study of Christian texts, Bauer proved that "the Epistles are often copied word-for-word from Seneca." This is because early Christianity absorbed much of the content of Stoic philosophy, gradually establishing its dogma through its connection with the Gospel legends. Based on his investigation of Christian texts, Engels pointed out from the perspectives of divergent doctrinal interpretations and disordered grammar that the "Gospel of John," the "Epistles of John," and the "present piece" [The Revelation] belonged to different authors, further exposing the deceptive principle of revelatory works intended to blind the reader. In fact, the appearance of different versions of the Bible to some extent also illustrates religion's internal contradictions regarding revelatory prophecy. Through an analysis of various apocalypses, Engels concluded that two conditions must be met for the emergence of revelatory prophecy: first, it must be falsely attributed to a predecessor; second, its true author must hold an important theological position in their own era. These two conditions are the prerequisites for the creation of revelatory prophecy. The false attribution to a predecessor enhanced its mystery and predictive quality, while the significant position of the true author in the theology and the church of the time provided the prophecy with a false "authenticity," facilitating its dissemination. Engels utilized the principles of historical materialism to analyze and reveal the essence and conditions of the production of religious prophecy, which became one of the important achievements of his later studies on Christianity. Furthermore, the exposure of the deceptive principles and production conditions of revelatory prophecy is also an explanation of the causes of religious functioning within Marxist religious theory.
(3) On the Formation of a World Religion
Engels pointed out that spontaneous primitive religion did not contain deceptive elements at its inception; only in its subsequent development, as it gradually integrated economic and political interests, did deception begin to arise, thereby acquiring a class character. From the history of Christianity, we see that it began as a mere sect of Judaism. Although Judaism constituted the inception of the entire Hebrew system, as Christianity continuously secured victories in its struggle against Judaism, it eventually became the most significant religious component of Western civilization and acquired the character of a world religion. Building on Bauer's research on the relationship between Greco-Roman culture and Christianity, Engels analyzed the role of the Roman Empire in promoting the formation of Christianity as a world religion based on historical facts. The rule of the Roman Empire cleared the obstacles for the development of Christianity, for "the Roman Empire, while it destroyed the political and social uniqueness of various nations, also destroyed their unique religions." By destroying the social foundations upon which national religions depended for survival and development, the Roman Empire accelerated the demise of national religions and provided the necessary conditions for the development of Christianity, enabling it to begin the first stage of its evolution into a world religion. In his analysis and investigation, Engels clarified that the process of Christianity growing into a world religion was accompanied by the disintegration of the social foundations of primitive and ethnic religions during the Roman era. This once again demonstrated that the socio-political and economic base is the decisive factor in the development and withering away of religion. Furthermore, Engels analyzed the withering away of religion and the causes of world religion within the same dialectical process, fully demonstrating that the replacement of religious sects is a reflection of class struggle and the result of economic struggle. This was an expression of using mature Marxist viewpoints and methods to analyze religion, and it served to enrich and greatly develop the theory of the withering away of religion within Marxist religious theory.
Growing amidst the gradual demise of other national religions, Christianity absorbed the concept of "atonement through sacrifice" widely held in the religious beliefs of that time and refashioned it into the uniquely Christian concept that "believers are saved through Christ's sacrifice." In the Christian conception, Jesus was crucified to atone for the sins of the world, and "believers of all tribes and directions have received forgiveness of sins before God through his blood." Engels called this viewpoint the "fundamental outlook" for Christianity's transformation into a world religion and the doctrinal foundation that allowed it to rapidly attract adherents. Christianity thus became a "universal religion," offering diverse lower-class individuals the possibility of becoming Christians. When slaves and the bankrupted could also believe in Christianity, it began to possess a "universal" community of believers and a "world-wide" potential constituency.
The simplification of Christian religious rituals was another important factor in its becoming a world religion. Simultaneously with the formation of universal concepts, simplified modes of belief and religious rituals adapted to them were produced. For Christianity, "to rid itself of these rituals which hindered or prohibited interaction with heathens was the first condition of being a world religion." Religious rituals are important behaviors in religious life and are usually regarded as expressions of religious piety. Historically, religious reforms often involve the content of religious rituals and make simplified modifications that are more in line with daily life. Whether it was the establishment of "domestic altars" in the early stages of Chinese Taoism [7] or the promotion of "justification by faith" in the Protestant Reformation, these were adjustments made to attract believers and develop the religion. Because "Christianity created no isolating rituals," when it "denied all national religions and their common rituals and treated all nations without distinction, it became in itself the first feasible world religion."
On the issue of religious research, Engels pointed out: "One can only solve the problem by explaining the origin and development of a religion based on the historical conditions under which it arose and achieved dominance." Looking at the results of Engels' research on Christianity in his later years, the embryonic trend of early Christianity's development into a world religion benefited from the social environment brought about by Roman imperial rule. During "a period of general economic, political, intellectual, and moral disintegration," Christianity conformed to the psychology of people at that time who, due to the pessimism of their material reality, sought the salvation of their souls. Through the simplification of its own rituals and the shaping of universal concepts, it attained the conditions to become a world religion. Of course, the transformation of Christianity into a world religion was the result of a combination of factors, including the promotion of the external political and economic environment as well as the various internal advantages Christianity possessed to become a world religion—for instance, the openness and proactivity Christianity displayed in its methods of proselytization, which clearly differed from the secrecy of other national and Eastern religions. In Engels' later studies of Christianity, the causes of the formation of Christianity as a world religion fully demonstrate that "as far as its formation as a world religion is concerned, it was precisely the most authentic product of this world." It is only based on this judgment that the roots of the withering away of religion can be found within the real world.
III. The Value of Engels' Later Research on Christianity
(1) Content: Introducing Historical Religious Materials into the Study of Marxist Religious Theory
During the period when Engels first met Marx, the critique of religion was popular in the philosophical world; therefore, this period became the most concentrated time for Marx and Engels' critique of religion. However, Marx himself conducted relatively few studies and discourses on the history of religion. Until Marx's death, religion never became a subject of his true concern and focus. As primary works of Engels' later research on Christianity, Bruno Bauer and Early Christianity, The Book of Revelation, and On the History of Early Christianity together utilize a wealth of historical facts combined with theory to make Marxist religious theory more systematic and comprehensive in the study of the history of religious development.
The study of religious history and religious ethnography belongs to the field of religious studies. Only through the study of religious history can one truly recognize the historical laws of religious development, thereby correctly grasping the essence of religion and ensuring the exercise of its positive functions. Although Engels' later research on Christianity focused on the developmental history of early Christianity, he conducted specific research on early Christian history from the perspective of the overall history of Christian development, viewing the evolution and development of Christianity from the height of historical materialism. In On the History of Early Christianity, Engels used abundant historical materials and Christian texts as a basis. Through the investigation of Bruno Bauer’s religious research results and the combination of the developmental stages and status of Christianity as a world religion, he conducted an analysis of the origin, development, and evolution of early Christianity in accordance with the principles of historical materialism. By integrating history and theory, he broadened the field of research for Marxist religious theory and enhanced the persuasiveness of Marxist religious critique.
Religious textual materials serve as the basis for religious research. It was precisely through his study of Christian texts that Engels derived the relationship between Christianity and Judaism, clarified the developmental sequence in which Christianity first had revelatory myths and then religious dogmas, and demonstrated Christianity's absorption of contemporary philosophical thoughts. It could be said that before this, most of the religious critiques conducted by Marx and Engels were based on the general concept of "religion." In contrast, Engels' later research on Christianity not only referenced the history of specific religions but also discussed the development of early Christianity and the causes and process of Christianity becoming a world religion through extensive citation of historical materials such as geographical gazetteers and ethnic histories. Through the scientific reconstruction of the historical facts of Christian development, he revealed the true face of religion. The enrichment and development of Marxist religious theory provided by Engels' later research on Christianity offers theoretical guidance for strengthening the discipline of Marxist religious studies in the New Era and "cultivating a team of Party and government officials who are proficient in the Marxist view of religion, familiar with religious work, and adept at working with religious masses."
(2) Methodology: Multi-religious and Stage-specific Religious Critique
Historical materialism is the guiding thread for researching history. Whether researching the history of Christianity or other social histories, one must firmly grasp the standpoint and metrics of historical materialism. Conducting specific research and critiques of particular religions stage-by-stage under the guidance of historical materialism was an innovative method in Engels' later research on Christianity.
Engels specified early Christianity from the generic category of "religion," conducting concrete research and discourse on the religious texts of various Christian sects. Primitive religion and early Christianity, as specific stages in religious development, possess a unique background of emergence and evolution. By conducting a comprehensive and systematic investigation into specific religions at specific stages, and deriving conclusions suitable for the general object of religion, Engels provides a methodological manifestation of the dialectical relationship between the universal and the particular. Analyzing and grasping the distinct characteristics of a specific phase of religious development, thereby further grasping the essence and developmental laws of religion, both conforms to the Marxist perspective and provides methodological guidance for applying Marxist religious theory to the study of religious issues.
Only by adhering to the scientific direction of Marxist religious theory can we ensure that research into specific religions does not go astray. As a cultural and spiritual product, religion is an ideological superstructure determined by the economic base [8] under certain historical conditions. Stage-based religious research acknowledges the dynamic process of the development of productive forces and the progressive trend of human society; it contains profound principles of historical materialism.
(3) Practice: Enhancing the capacity of Marxist religious theory to resolve practical problems.
Although Marx and Engels began from the starting point of the Old Philosophy [9], they escaped the confines of that Old Philosophy through a practical materialist philosophy. Regarding religious issues, Marx and Engels did not examine religion as an isolated philosophical object, but rather analyzed and criticized it as a concrete and realistic social problem. As a philosophy that is the "quintessence of the spirit of its age," it should be a reflection of the problems of the era and a means and method for providing a way forward for those problems. Therefore, while criticism of religion possesses the characteristics of criticism at the philosophical level, it should more importantly become a practical guide for solving real-world religious problems.
Engels's research on Christianity in his later years was carried out alongside the process of organizing Marx's texts and viewpoints. In this process, he both applied Marxist stands, viewpoints, and methods to religious research—supplementing the content of religious criticism that had not yet been discussed—and re-interpreted Marxist religious theory in light of the needs of the specific situation, thereby enhancing the capacity of Marxist religious theory to resolve practical problems.
After Marx passed away, the task of guiding the workers' movement fell to Engels alone. This period was an important era when capitalist development entered the stage of monopoly capitalism; opportunism was clamoring [10], and the workers' movement and the socialist cause encountered various problems. In particular, the right-wing opportunism represented by Georg von Vollmar [11], a leader of the right wing of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, was most harmful. Engels sarcastically alluded to the viewpoints of right-wing opportunism as the pacifist ideas advocated by the Quaker sect of Protestantism. In The Civil War in France, Marx regarded the Church, along with the standing army and the police, as "powerful weapons" of the "ready-made state machinery," in which the "priest-power" existed as the "spiritual force" within the old government's tools of oppression. Engels's later research on Christianity profoundly revealed the deceptive essence of the religious revelations and prophecies represented by Christianity, once again reducing religious relations to economic relations. He clarified the bourgeois nature of religion in capitalist society and reiterated the proletarian path of practice—that is, to destroy all "ready-made state machinery," including the Church and "priest-power," through revolutionary means. This pointed out the path and direction for the continued revolution of the proletariat from the perspective of religious criticism.
Engels's research on Christianity in his later years holds significant importance today for conducting religious studies under the guidance of Marxism, for applying Marxist religious theory to solve practical religious problems, for adhering to the direction of the Sinicization of religion in our country, and for actively guiding the mutual adaptation of religion and socialist society. At the National Conference on Religious Work, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that 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 problems, and how to perform the Party's religious work in the New Era. Our country's current stage of social development and the inherent developmental laws of religion determine that religion will continue to exist for a long period of time. Therefore, applying Marxist religious theory to solve practical religious problems means realizing religious harmony, social harmony, and ethnic concord.
Religious problems are never merely simple religious phenomena; they contain complex social issues. Only through research into the history and stages of religious development can we accurately analyze the true problems behind religious phenomena. Only then can we effectively prevent Western countries from using religion to carry out infiltration and subversion against our country, while adhering to the Holistic Approach to National Security, the principle of independence and self-management of our country's religions, and the developmental direction of the Sinicization of religion in our country. Only in this way can we create a new situation for religious work and better organize and guide religious believers to work together with the broad masses of the people in a united struggle to comprehensively build a great modern socialist country and realize the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
IV. Conclusion
Examining and interpreting Engels's research on Christianity in his later years from the three dimensions of origins, results, and value allows for a relatively comprehensive explanation of Engels’s atheist stance and the connotations of his religious criticism. With its rich achievements and profound value, Engels’s later research on Christianity made Marxist religious theory more complete in both thought and practice. Through the examination of these three dimensions, it is not difficult to find that the main thread running through them is the actual socialist movement. The trends, directions, and effectiveness of the socialist movement were one of the focuses of Engels's work in his later years. Therefore, understanding and grasping Engels's later research on Christianity based on this main thread is of greater practical significance and contemporary value. Through the interpretation of the three dimensions and the grasp of this single main thread, we can better understand and apply Marxist religious theory to guide our country's religious work, persist in the direction of the Sinicization of religion in our country in the New Era, and "guide religion according to the situation, maximize advantages and minimize disadvantages, and guide religion to strive to serve economic development, social harmony, cultural prosperity, ethnic unity, and the reunification of the motherland."