Yang Yansheng and Qian Hanfei: The Triple Basis and Implementation Path for the Principle that Religious Activities Must Not Interfere with Social Life
In recent years, the desire for social participation among religious groups has steadily increased, with a widespread trend toward "this-worldliness." Some religious organizations and individuals have shown great enthusiasm for engaging in various social affairs, leading to increasingly complex and frequent conflicts between religion and relevant social sectors. Mass incidents and emergencies involving religious interest claims are on the rise. The proliferation of uncertainty and instability within the religious sphere has presented severe challenges to religious governance in the New Era.
In December 2021, at the National Conference on Religious Work, General Secretary Xi Jinping explicitly pointed out that "religious activities must not interfere with educational, judicial, or administrative functions, nor with social life." This important discourse further clarifies the boundaries of religious activities and provides an essential follow-through for successfully conducting religious work in the New Era. The assertion that "religious activities must not interfere with social life" vividly reflects the Party’s accurate grasp and scientific assessment of new situations, conditions, and problems in the field of religious work in the New Era. Behind it lie profound theoretical foundations, robust institutional support, and intense practical concerns.
I. Theoretical Foundations for the Non-Interference of Religious Activities in Social Life
Based on the positions, viewpoints, and methods of historical materialism, the classical Marxist authors conducted in-depth research into the essence, origins, and social functions of religion, as well as the laws governing its development and eventual withering away. This research provided scientific theoretical guidance for proletarian parties to correctly understand religion and handle religious issues. The characteristics of religion revealed by Marxism—the illusory nature of its essence, the private nature of religious belief, and the irrationality of religious mysticism—stand in sharp contrast to the practical, public, and scientifically rational characteristics of modern social life itself.
1. The contradiction between the illusory essence of religion and the practical essence of modern social life Regarding the essence of religion, Engels pointed out in Anti-Dühring: "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 is consistent with Marx’s view of religion as an "inverted consciousness of the world" and "the fantastic realization of the human essence." The classical Marxist authors’ discourses on the essence of religion are developed based on religion being an "inverted" and "illusory" reflection of man’s "social essence." "The highest beings created by religious fantasy are only the fantastic reflections of our own essence." Thus, religion’s reflection of the human essence is an "illusory reflection," and religion itself is also illusory. Looking back at the developmental trajectory of European feudal society, religion long controlled secular society, and religious activities permeated every aspect of social life. The ruling class used "religion... as a universal compendium" to stultify the people, causing them to immerse themselves in the imagination and pursuit of an illusory "world beyond." The imagination and pursuit of this illusory "world beyond" can only result in the "illusory happiness of the people" rather than "real happiness." When humans are in a "state of illusion" regarding "illusory happiness," they abandon the practical exploration of the essence of real social life.
2. The contradiction between the private nature of religious belief and the public nature of modern social life Lenin mentioned several times that "as far as the state is concerned, we demand that religion be a private matter." The essence of China’s policy of freedom of religious belief also lies in "making the question of religious belief a matter of personal free choice for citizens and a private matter for individual citizens." The purpose of such provisions is to keep politics to politics and religion to religion, ensuring that religious belief truly becomes a private affair. However, in real society, this boundary between "public" and "private" is not always distinct, and the intertwining of the two is exceptionally complex. In the final analysis, religion is influenced by its social reality; the economic and political conditions of real society inevitably reflect in a person's religious belief, thereby establishing a connection between a person's religious status and their sociopolitical attitude. For the religious believer, religion—as a private matter—may become a vehicle or mouthpiece for their sociopolitical demands. Therefore, in real social life, it is difficult for citizens to precisely delineate the boundary between the private sphere of religious belief and the public sphere of sociopolitical life; it may even lead to a binary opposition between the private life of civil society and the public life of the political state. Once these two lives are severed—where private life in civil society becomes the dominant force and public life is reduced to a subordinate of private life—various relationships in social life will be inverted. Consequently, man’s social relations will shift from being practical to being abstract, and religion within private life will become the spiritual pillar of civil society, further aggravating the alienation of the human essence. Therefore, religious activities must be restricted to the sphere of private life and not allowed to permeate or interfere with public social life.
3. The contradiction between religious mysticism and the rationality of modern social life As a religious and philosophical concept, mysticism exists universally across the world’s major religions and philosophical traditions. As revealed by the Marxist trajectory of religious evolution, the deities of religion tend to present themselves in "mysterious images" during advanced stages of development; the essence of this is a form of religious mysticism. People believe in the existence of certain mysterious forces through forms such as intuitive experience and sudden enlightenment [1], choosing their individual behaviors according to the dictates of these mysterious forces. Under the influence of religious mysticism, people’s modes of thinking and behavioral choices exhibit irrational characteristics. The formation of modern social life is a "process in which rational secular cultural values replace the religious worldview." Since the dawn of the modern era, with the rise and development of concepts such as "popular sovereignty" and "democratic politics" in theory and practice, "mass rationality" or "people’s rationality" has gradually replaced "divine rationality" as the rational cornerstone for constructing modes of political life. Modern social life, built on a rational foundation, has achieved a sublation [2] of religious mysticism to a certain extent. First, values such as freedom, equality, and democracy have renovated people’s modes of thinking and established the basic value norms and behavioral standards of modern society, achieving the sublation of mysticism at the spiritual level. Second, the orderly, standardized, and rule-of-law operation of the public life sphere has provided effective institutional guarantees for the governance of modern society, achieving the sublation of mysticism at the institutional level. Third, modern contractual ethics based on common value goals and interest claims have transcended religious ethics tied together by common faith, achieving the sublation of mysticism at the ethical level. Therefore, based on the consideration of constructing a more rational and better modern social life, interference by religious activities in social life should be avoided.
II. Institutional Foundations for the Non-Interference of Religious Activities in Social Life
As a major issue that cannot be ignored and must be highly valued on the path of China’s modernization, religious work occupies an important position in the Party’s policy system and the national legal system. By reviewing the basic principles and policies concerning religious work since Reform and Opening-up, as well as the laws and regulations formulated and implemented by the state, we find that the assertion "religious activities must not interfere with social life" has strong institutional support, which is specifically reflected in the following two aspects.
1. The Party’s principles and policies on religious work provide the basic policy follow-through In the course of the Party leading the people through revolution, construction, and reform, the Communist Party of China has integrated the Marxist view of religion with the concrete realities of Chinese religion, forming a scientific system of religious policy and theory. These policies all contain discursive expressions stating that religious activities must not interfere with social life. For example, the "Basic Viewpoint and Policy on the Religious Question During Our Country's Socialist Period" [3] issued by the CPC Central Committee in 1982 explicitly pointed out: "Under no circumstances shall religion be allowed to interfere in state administration, the judiciary, schools, or public social education," and strictly stipulated the limits of religious activities to "avoid obstructing social order, production order, and work order." The "Circular on Several Issues Concerning the Further Improvement of Religious Work" issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council in 1991 emphasized again: "No one may use religion to oppose the Party's leadership or the socialist system, endanger national unity, social stability, or ethnic solidarity, nor may they damage the interests of society or the collective, or obstruct the legitimate rights of other citizens. No one may use religion to interfere in state administration, the judiciary, school education, or public social education, nor use religion to conduct activities that obstruct the implementation of compulsory education, nor restore abolished religious feudal privileges or systems of oppression and exploitation." The "Decision on Strengthening Religious Work" issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council in 2002 similarly emphasized that "religious activities must not obstruct social order, work order, or life order." This is also reflected in important conferences concerning religious work. For instance, at the 2016 National Conference on Religious Work, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Persist in the principle that religion must not interfere in the implementation of state functions such as administration, justice, and education; persist in the government managing religious affairs involving national interests and social public interests according to the law." At the 2021 National Conference on Religious Work, General Secretary Xi Jinping again explicitly emphasized: "Religious activities should be carried out within the scope stipulated by laws and regulations, must not harm the physical health of citizens, must not violate public order and good customs, and must not interfere with educational, judicial, or administrative functions, nor with social life." Beyond this, similar expressions appear in other important Party documents. For example, the Code of Conduct for Intra-Party Political Life Under the New Situation emphasizes from the level of regulating the political life of Party members that "Party members are not permitted to engage in feudal superstitions and are not permitted to believe in religion." Article 24 of the Regulations on the United Front Work of the Communist Party of China explicitly emphasizes "adherence to the separation of church and state." The Opinions on Strengthening and Improving Ideological and Political Work in Higher Education Institutions Under the New Situation clearly states: "Adhere to the principle of separation of education and religion; strictly forbid the dissemination of religion, the recruitment of followers, or the organization of religious activities in higher education institutions." These documents place special emphasis on key groups such as Party members and youth, further highlighting the importance of the principle that religious activities must not interfere with social life.
2. National religious laws and regulations provide essential legal protection Viewed from the perspective of our country’s legal system, the construction of laws concerning religious work has initially formed a relatively comprehensive legal system for religious affairs. This system centers on the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, takes the Regulations on Religious Affairs as its backbone, and includes laws, administrative regulations, local regulations, departmental rules, and local government rules; thus, there is basically a law to follow for every situation. Laws such as the Criminal Law, the Civil Code, the Counter-Terrorism Law, the National Security Law, and the Law on the Management of Domestic Activities of Foreign Non-Governmental Organizations also include behavioral norms involving religious activities as important content, providing a legal basis for regulating and adjusting the relationship between religious activities and social affairs. From the Constitution—the fundamental law of the land—down to departmental rules, there are specific regulations targeting the principle that "religious activities must not interfere with social life." For example, Article 36 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China stipulates that no one may use religion to engage in activities that disrupt social order, harm the physical health of citizens, or obstruct the state educational system. Article 4 of the Regulations on Religious Affairs stipulates that no organization or individual may use religion to engage in illegal activities that endanger national security, disrupt social order, harm the physical health of citizens, obstruct the state educational system, or otherwise damage national interests, social public interests, or the legitimate rights and interests of citizens. Article 14, Chapter III of the Measures for the Administration of Internet Religious Information Services, which came into effect on March 1, 2022, sets out ten provisions for providing information on religious doctrines, rules, knowledge, culture, and activities to the public via the internet. These include prohibitions against using religion to obstruct the implementation of national systems such as the judiciary, education, marriage, and social management; prohibitions against inducing minors to believe in religion or participate in religious activities; and prohibitions against conducting commercial activities in the name of religion. This address the regulatory gap regarding religious activities involving social life in the internet sphere.
III. Practical Foundations for the Non-Interference of Religious Activities in Social Life
The vanishing of religion is a protracted historical process that requires the fulfillment of numerous conditions. Engels pointed out, “When society, by taking possession of all means of production and using them on a planned basis, has freed itself and all its members from the bondage... when man no longer merely proposes, but also disposes—only then will the last alien force which is still reflected in religion vanish.” Until these conditions mature, religion will continue to exist and exert influence on social life. As the sociologist of religion Peter Berger said, “The world is as furiously religious as it ever was, and in some places more so.” Using the keywords "Buddhism," "Islam," and "Christianity," the author used professional public opinion monitoring software to comb through recent religious-related social media incidents. Cases of religious activities interfering in social life are not few, and show an increasing trend, highlighting the practical urgency of implementing the requirement that religious activities must not interfere with social life.
1. Religious Infiltration Interferes in Various Fields of Public Social Life As China increasingly integrates with the world, international religious issues and domestic religious issues have become intertwined, and new situations and problems in the religious field continue to increase. In the political, cultural, and everyday life spheres, traces of religion infiltrating and influencing public life in more covert ways through various activities can be found. In the political field, certain religious forces have utilized the convenience of the Internet to incite believers to interfere with government law enforcement. They often first disseminate large amounts of inflammatory and targeted information on Internet platforms to induce public opinion and gain the identification and support of believers. They then guide and mobilize believers to take collective actions such as “online participation” or “offline gathering” to pressure the government and other public authorities, forcing them to change decisions and actions already made. This not only significantly increases religious issues in the Internet sphere but also easily triggers mass incidents [4]. For example, the public opinion surrounding the removal of illegal structures at the “Sanjiang Church” in Zhejiang and the “Grand Mosque” in Weizhou Town, Ningxia, was triggered by the use of illegal religious activities to interfere with normal government law enforcement under the guise of “defending rights.” In the field of education, the invisible infiltration of religious activities is even more active, with students who have strong psychological needs becoming key targets. Illegal religious groups often disguise themselves as campus personnel to sneak into schools to distribute leaflets or preach directly door-to-door; some even trick students into joining religious exchange groups or participating in religious gatherings by offering gifts for scanning QR codes. In the cultural and lifestyle fields, the cultural functions of religion are over-interpreted, and religion continuously expands its influence through mass media, the tourism industry, and cultural industries. Examples include the blindly sought-after, exorbitantly priced “first incense of the year” [5] at religious sites across China on Lunar New Year’s Day, and internet celebrities using religious charity activities to perform and seek attention. In short, religion remains very active in modern social life, and its impact on the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field and on Socialist Core Values cannot be underestimated.
2. The Disorderly Expansion of House Churches Disrupts the Order of Public Social Life Compared to the “Three-Self” [6] churches, a considerable portion of house churches are unwilling to take the initiative to register. Although some house churches follow the so-called biblical instruction to “submit to the authorities,” the difficulty of registration caused by policy ambiguity has led to a dilemma regarding the legitimacy of house churches in real-world society. Simultaneously, this has caused local governments to fall into an “ambiguous” predicament when managing house churches, invisibly providing grey soil for their disorderly expansion. Within public opinion, there have been several incidents where citizens, due to insufficient understanding of the potential risks of house churches, felt resentful after being detained by public security for accidentally participating in illegal house church activities. These incidents have affected the trust of some religious masses in the government and potentially impacted religious harmony and social stability. The disorderly expansion of house churches not only brings many problems to kinship and geographical relationships in rural areas but also plays a negative role in urban social interpersonal relationships. In rural areas, house churches mostly develop members among the old, weak, sick, and disabled, satisfying the spiritual needs of believers through a “small community” model, which makes the exclusivity of belief particularly obvious. As an “alien culture,” the requirements of house churches conflict with traditional Chinese culture, impacting kinship and geographical ties. In studying the problems of rural churches, some scholars have noted, “In some villages, believers will never participate in folk activities organized by non-believers, nor will they participate in ancestral worship activities of their own lineage. This creates a gap between them and non-believers, which is particularly prominent during the Tomb-Sweeping Day [7] rituals.” These all pose challenges to the governance of rural order. In urban areas, cases of college students participating in house church activities are increasing. “Travel preaching” activities fully reimbursed by the church have become an effective way for student believers to recruit classmates into house churches. Some student believers have abandoned normal social activities for fear that the daily religious rituals required by the house church are incompatible with others, and some have even abandoned their political beliefs for their religious faith. Furthermore, incidents of parents interfering in their children's marriages on the condition of joining a house church occur from time to time, reflecting to some extent the negative role played by the disorderly expansion of house churches in normal social interaction. Only by guiding house churches toward legal, healthy, and orderly development, and letting religion return to religion itself, can the fence of public social order be reinforced.
3. The Binding of Ethnic and Religious Issues Endangers Social Public Security Religion and ethnicity are two different concepts, but they are very closely related. For a period of time, due to historical and geographical reasons and the influence of domestic and international situations, the two have been mentioned increasingly frequently within the same discourse. As seen in religious-related public opinion incidents in recent years, China’s current religious and ethnic problems show a trend of being intertwined and bound together. Taking Yunnan Province alone as an example, from 2017 to 2019, more than a hundred ethnic and religious-related public opinion incidents occurred annually. The problems brought by the binding of ethnic and religious issues are mainly concentrated in the following aspects: first, biased law enforcement in civil disputes. In China, ethnic and religious issues are often linked to “maintaining stability” [8]. In areas where multiple ethnic groups live together, the parties in civil disputes often involve different ethnicities, which causes some grassroots law enforcement personnel to be hesitant and constrained in their work. Although General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the 2014 Central Ethnic Affairs Conference that “one should not hesitate or bypass a situation just because a party’s ID card says ‘such-and-such ethnic group,’ leading to indecision in handling the matter,” such situations still occur in reality. In related public opinion, Han Chinese masses generally believe that law enforcement personnel, out of fear of touching the sensitive area of ethnic religion, make unfair disposals, violating the principle that everyone is equal before the law. “These contradictions and problems, although they carry the label ‘ethnic,’ are not all ethnic problems.” At the same time, some hostile forces [9] deliberately create discordant “noise” to fan the flames, maliciously binding ordinary civil disputes with ethnic and religious issues. For the general public, ethnic and religious issues are already difficult to distinguish, and such erroneous attribution further leads to antagonistic sentiments. Second, the intertwining of multiple forces endangers social security. In some regions, religious activities centered on members of specific ethnic groups have become political tools for extremist religious forces, terrorist forces, and ethnic separatist forces. For example, the “July 5th Serious Violent Criminal Incident” in Urumqi in 2009 and the “Serious Violent Terrorist Incident” in the same city on May 22, 2014, were all terrorist activities with clear backgrounds of religious extremism and ethnic separatism. The interference of these activities in Chinese social life is not just at the micro-level of individual life, but even affects the macro-level of socio-economic development and national security and stability. Religious harmony, social harmony, and ethnic unity are the lifelines for maintaining security and stability in the borderlands; China’s ethnic and religious issues urgently need to be "unbound."
IV. The Practical Path for Religious Activities Not to Interfere with Social Life Religion is an important component of society, and religious problems are, to some extent, a reflection of social problems in the religious field. Therefore, in accordance with the requirements of the modernization of national governance, religious governance should be incorporated into the national rule of law and governance systems. Through sound institutional guarantees and systematic top-level design, the legalization and modernization of religious governance should be promoted, effectively avoiding the interference of religious activities in social life. At the specific operational level, one should start from aspects such as improving relevant institutional guarantees for religious affairs, increasing practical care for the masses, and pooling the synergistic forces of multiple subjects to truly implement the requirement that “religious activities shall not interfere with social life.”
1. Improving Relevant Institutional Guarantees for Religious Affairs Currently, the provisions regarding “religious activities shall not interfere with social life” in the guiding principles, policies, laws, and regulations of the Party and the state are not yet fully clear or consistent. This easily leads to dilemmas such as a lack of policy interpretation or ineffective judicial explanation at the operational level. Therefore, it is urgent to explicitly write the important thesis that “religious activities shall not interfere with social life” into the Party and state’s principles, policies, laws, and regulations on religious work, and achieve consistency in discourse. First, it should be incorporated into the theoretical system of religious theory with Chinese characteristics and institutionalized as an important theoretical innovation result of the Party's religious work in the New Era. By revising important Party documents on religious work, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on “religious activities shall not interfere with social life” should be written into relevant Party documents and used as an important policy basis for guiding the Party's religious work in the New Era. Second, it should be written into laws and regulations to promote the modernization of the religious governance system and governance capacity on the track of the rule of law. By revising existing religious laws, this content should be added to the current religious legal system, with “religious activities shall not interfere with social life” clearly defined and refined as a key component; relevant religious management departments should also accelerate the formulation of departmental regulations to clear institutional blind spots in certain areas of religious affairs. For example, establishing management standards for house churches to further regulate their religious activities. Through these measures, religious activities can truly be brought onto a standardized and legalized track, effectively enhancing religious governance capacity and levels. Third, a governance mechanism for religious-related public opinion should be established. Particular attention should be paid to areas prone to negative public opinion, such as disputes involving ethnic minority masses and overseas religious activities, clearing blind spots in Internet religious management, paying attention to sensitive timing for advanced planning, and establishing a full-process mechanism from early warning to handling. In addition, attention should be paid to guiding religious organizations in revising and improving their doctrines and canons. Specifically, those parts of doctrines and canons that might involve religious activities interfering in social life should be revised to restrict the space and scope of religious activities within the framework permitted by laws and regulations.
2. Increasing the Level of Practical Care for the Masses Marx pointed out: “Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions.” The reason why religious masses seek solace in an illusory world is often that it is difficult to alleviate material or spiritual troubles. Therefore, we should continuously satisfy the material and spiritual needs of the people by promoting high-quality economic development, creating better material conditions for social life, and providing richer spiritual and cultural products. We must respond to the practical appeals of the people through necessary economic assistance and emotional support, continuously enhancing the people's sense of fulfillment. Let the Party and government's care for the masses always stay ahead of religious care, surpassing it in both time and space. Targeted care strategies should be adopted for groups with different reasons for religious belief to improve effectiveness. Relevant academic research shows that the reasons for people's religious beliefs are complex, mainly including spiritual sustenance, curing illness and strengthening the body, high social pressure, dissatisfaction with reality, obtaining help, and seeking a sense of belonging. These diverse reasons suggest that we should formulate personalized guidance measures and carry out targeted guidance work. For example, for those who develop religious dependence and establish religious beliefs due to poverty or illness, more robust social security care should be provided; through various measures such as temporary hardship relief, assistance in seeking medical treatment, and industrial poverty alleviation, they can be helped out of their predicament to avoid material and emotional dependence on religion. For those who establish religious beliefs for spiritual sustenance, more proactive psychological communication platforms need to be built, with emphasis on the invisible influence and leading role of socialist culture.
3. Pooling the Synergistic Forces of Multiple Subjects
The effective collaboration and coordination of diverse subjects constitute an effective path for advancing the modernization of national governance. The governance of religious affairs is an important component of national governance; ensuring that religious activities do not interfere with social life is a significant topic in the Party and state’s religious affairs governance work in the New Era. Achieving this goal similarly requires the mobilization of a collective force from diverse subjects. At the 2021 National Conference on Religious Affairs, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “We must cultivate ‘three teams’ for religious work in the New Era: Party and government cadres, representative figures from the religious circles, and religious studies researchers. We must promote the construction of a religious affairs governance pattern characterized by Party committee leadership, government management, social coordination, and religious self-discipline.” This important discourse clarifies the participating subjects for preventing religious activities from interfering with social life. When leveraging the power of these subjects, we should focus on the following two aspects of work:
First, we must build a collective research force. Religious issues do not only fall within the scope of religious studies; they require the common attention of multiple disciplines including Marxist theory, history, ethnology, sociology, and law. Through interdisciplinary research, we must demonstrate the theoretical basis for “religious activities must not interfere with social life” while simultaneously carrying out public dissemination and popularization. Second, we must build a collective force for prevention. Party committees, the government, society, and the religious circles themselves must all fulfill their respective responsibilities and firmly guard the boundary between religious activities and social life. Among these, Party and government cadres must not only understand the belief systems and behavioral systems of religion, but also master the intellectual systems of religion to enhance their capacity to "guide" [10]. All sectors of society must actively participate, guiding positive and progressive civilized trends through media publicity and the popularization of science. For the religious circles themselves, all religious organizations must correctly understand the relationship between religious law and national law, organizing and carrying out religious activities within the framework of policy and law.