Zuo Peng: Understanding and Grasping the Stance, Viewpoints, and Methods of General Secretary Xi Jinping's Important Expositions on Religious Work Through the "Six Must-Persists"
Editor's Note: On June 21, 2023, a seminar on General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on religious work was held in Beijing. Wang Huning, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), attended and delivered a speech. He stated that General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on religious work profoundly answer major theoretical and practical questions such as how to understand religion, how to handle religious issues, and how to successfully carry out the Party's religious work in the New Era; they constitute the ideological guidance and work compliance that must be mastered to do the Party’s religious work well in the New Era. We must understand and grasp the study and implementation of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on religious work within the entire scientific system of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and consciously achieve the "Six Must-Persists." From October 7 to 8, the National Conference on Public Communications and Cultural Work was held in Beijing. The most significant achievement of the meeting was the first formal proposal of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. To study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on religious work and Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, the editorial department of this journal invited three experts to provide written insights and exchange their learning experiences.
The "Six Must-Persists" [1] proposed at the 20th CPC National Congress summarize and explain the worldview, methodology, and the positions, viewpoints, and methods running through Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on religious work constitute the "religious work volume" of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Based on the rich connotations of the "Six Must-Persists," studying and implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on religious work is of great theoretical and practical significance for us to recognize and grasp the positions, viewpoints, and methods contained therein, and to perform the Party's religious work well in the New Era.
I. Persistence in Putting the People First: Better Uniting Religious Believers and Consolidating the Social Foundation of the Party's Governance
The "people-centered nature" is the essential attribute of Marxism. Persistence in putting the people first is the distinct value orientation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and a concentrated reflection of the CPC's ideals, beliefs, nature, purpose, original aspiration and founding mission. The report of the 20th CPC National Congress emphasized that "striving in unity is the only path for the Chinese people to create great historical achievements" and that "to build a modern socialist country in all respects, we must give full play to the great creative power of hundreds of millions of people." According to 2018 statistics, China has nearly 200 million religious citizens and over 380,000 religious clergy. Compared to other countries in the world, the proportion of religious believers in our total population is not high, but the absolute number is significant. In the overall strategy of achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, they are also an indispensable and important force. This requires that we "form a united front with the religious community under the banners of patriotism and socialism... unite and cooperate politically, respect each other's beliefs, engage in more contact, more heart-to-heart talks, and more assistance—persuading people through reason and moving people through emotion." [2] Furthermore, we must pool the wisdom and strength of the religious community and religious believers, giving play to their positive role in promoting economic development, social harmony, cultural prosperity, ethnic unity, and the reunification of the motherland. We must mobilize both religious and non-religious masses to strive together for the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country and the comprehensive promotion of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Only by treating religious work as an important aspect of mass line work—fully respecting the spiritual beliefs of religious believers while earnestly safeguarding their practical interests—can we unite them closely around the Party, consolidate the mass foundation of the Party's governance, and enhance the Party's influence throughout society.
II. Persistence in Self-Confidence and Self-Reliance: Promoting Constant New Progress in the Sinicization of Religion in Our Country
Only with self-confidence can one be self-reliant; only with self-reliance can one become strong. Persistence in self-confidence and self-reliance is an inherent spiritual characteristic of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and a powerful spiritual force for the CPC to overcome various risks and challenges on the road ahead. "The religious issue has always been a major issue that our Party must handle well in governing the country; religious work holds a special importance in the overall work of the Party and the state." During a period after the start of Reform and Opening-up, many new problems emerged in our country's religious field, and religious work faced some new situations. In response to this, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "To do religious work well, we must persist in the Party's basic policy on religious work, comprehensively implement the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief, manage religious affairs according to law, persist in the principle of independence and self-management, and actively guide religion to adapt to socialist society." Furthermore, "an important task in actively guiding religion to adapt to socialist society is to support our country's religions in adhering to the direction of Sinicization." This is a major theoretical and practical innovation by General Secretary Xi Jinping regarding religious work. The reason he was able to make this innovation lies in his high degree of consciousness and confidence regarding the history and reality of religious development in our country. From a historical perspective, our country's Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism were all introduced from the outside, and all underwent a long-term, proactive process of "following local customs," [3] namely Sinicization, before finally forming the Chinese religious landscape of "harmony in diversity and inclusive coexistence." [4] From a realistic perspective, for all religions in our country (including Taoism) to gain a foothold and develop in the New Era, they must adapt to our socialist society as it enters the New Era. They must lead themselves with the socialist core values, soak themselves in the fine traditional Chinese culture, and provide new interpretations of religious thought and doctrines that meet the requirements of contemporary progress. They must resolutely guard against the penetration of Western ideology and consciously resist the influence of religious extremist trends. This is both an external expression of self-confidence and self-reliance and an inevitable requirement for promoting constant new progress in the Sinicization of religion in our country.
III. Persistence in Upholding the Fundamentals and Breaking New Ground: Promoting the Continuous Development of Religious Work Theory and Practice
Only by upholding the fundamentals can we avoid losing our way or making subversive mistakes; only by breaking new ground can we grasp and lead the times. Persistence in upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground is a distinct theoretical character of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, embodying the CPC's basic principles and attitude toward persisting in and developing Marxism. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "To do religious work well under the new situation, we must persist in using Marxist positions, viewpoints, and methods to understand and treat religion, follow the laws of religion and religious work, deeply study and properly handle various issues in the religious field, and—combined with the changes in our country's religious development and the reality of religious work—continuously enrich and develop the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics on religion to better guide the practice of our country's religious work." Within this, "persisting in using Marxist positions, viewpoints, and methods to understand and treat religion" means persisting in the Marxist view of religion—that is, under the guidance of the dialectical materialism and historical materialism worldviews, scientifically analyzing the essence of religion, its social role, its eventual withering away, and the attitudes and principles of the proletarian party toward religion. To do the Party's religious work well in the New Era, we must persist in these basic conclusions; this is "upholding the fundamentals." "Continuously enriching and developing the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics on religion" means constantly advancing the Sinicization and modernization of the Marxist view of religion—that is, combining the Marxist view of religion with the new changes in our country's religious field and the new situations faced by religious work since Reform and Opening-up, and combining it with the fine traditional Chinese culture that has long saturated our country's various religions. This involves conducting theoretical analysis and policy research on religious issues and religious work in the new period of Reform and Opening-up and the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao all made outstanding contributions to the development of related theories and practices. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has written a new chapter in the development of these theories and practices; these are all "breaking new ground." Persisting in upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground on the new journey means unswervingly adhering to the Marxist view of religion while constantly enriching and developing the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics on religion, thereby promoting the continuous development of our country's religious work practice.
IV. Persistence in a Problem-Oriented Approach: Effectively Preventing and Defusing Risks and Hidden Dangers in the Religious Field
Problems are the voice of the times, and answering and guiding the solution of problems is the fundamental task of theory. Persistence in a problem-oriented approach is a vivid practical character of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era: "When Chinese Communists carry out revolution, construction, and reform, it has always been for the purpose of solving China's realistic problems." In the New Era, amidst changes in the external environment and internal reform and development, some unprecedented new situations and problems have emerged in our country's religious field and religious work. For example, the number of religious believers continues to increase, and their age structure, professional structure, and motivations for belief have undergone profound changes; external forces are intensifying their use of religion to infiltrate our country, and the internet has become an important channel for the spread of religion; commercialization issues are prominent in some religions, illegal proselytizing occurs frequently in others, and some show a clear tendency toward "de-Sinicization"; some people within the Party and society have differing understandings of religion, and in some locales, religious work is like "five oxen pulling a cart" [5]—lacking direction—while some Communist Party members participate in religious activities or even become religious believers. In response to these prominent problems, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed: "Under the new situation, the scope of religious work is broad and the tasks are heavy; we must advance comprehensively while also making key breakthroughs. We should combine the situation of each religion, grasp the primary contradiction, solve prominent problems, and advance overall work by doing key work well." To this end, he emphasized that there is also a contest in the ideological realm between atheism and theism, and we must ensure that Marxist atheism, as the mainstream ideology, occupies the dominant position in the thoughts of the masses; we must improve the level of the rule of law in religious work, using the law to regulate the government's management of religious affairs—protecting the legal, stopping the illegal, curbing the extreme, resisting infiltration, and striking at crime; and Communist Party members must be firm Marxist atheists and must never seek their values or beliefs in religion. It is precisely by persisting in such a problem-oriented approach that the Party's religious work in the New Era has found its pulse, effectively preventing and defusing various foreseeable and unforeseeable risks and hidden dangers in the religious field.
V. Persistence in Systems Thinking: Always Carrying Out Religious Work with the Concept of "Guiding"
The world is an interconnected whole and an interacting system. Persistence in systems thinking is a basic ideological and working method of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and the scientific application of Marxist materialist dialectics. As a complex socio-historical phenomenon, religion is both a transcendent ideological belief and a realistic social entity; it has both positive and negative social functions. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "In doing the Party's religious work and adhering well to the Party's basic policy on religious work, the key is to think deeply, see clearly, and target accurately on the word 'guide' (导 dǎo), so that this 'guidance' is methodical, powerful, and effective." This requires "using means such as ideological education, cultural leadership, policy guidance, administrative management, and legal governance to carry out systematic governance." Guidance that is methodical means comprehensively implementing the Party's basic policy on religious work and actively guiding religion to adapt to socialist society. Within this, "giving play to the positive role of religion does not mean treating religion as a panacea for the world or artificially encouraging 'religious fever'; rather, it means guiding it according to circumstances, promoting the beneficial while avoiding the harmful, and guiding religion to strive to serve economic development, social harmony, cultural prosperity, ethnic unity, and the reunification of the motherland." Guidance that is powerful means "establishing and improving a powerful leadership mechanism, and doing well in the guidance, planning, direction, and inspection of religious work," thereby promoting the construction of a religious affairs governance pattern characterized by Party committee leadership, government management, social coordination, and religious self-discipline. Guidance that is effective means uniting the broad masses of religious believers around the Party and the government, so that they think and work together with all the people of the country around the realization of the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation; at the same time, it means properly handling the relationships between the Party/government and religion, society and religion, different religions within the country, domestic and foreign religions, and religious and non-religious masses, thereby promoting harmonious religious relations. Only by persisting in such systems thinking can we manage religion well and effectively while "guiding" it, thus succeeding in religious work—which is both a matter of united front work and ideological work.
VI. Persistence in Maintaining a Global Vision: Telling the Story of Chinese Religion Well Internationally
When the Great Way prevails, the world is shared by all. [6] The CPC is a party that seeks happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, but it is also a party that seeks progress for humanity and the Great Harmony for the world. Persistence in maintaining a global vision (胸怀天下 xiōnghuái tiānxià) is a unique and grand perspective of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, vividly embodying the CPC's global outlook and sense of responsibility. As an international phenomenon, religion is often intertwined with realistic international struggles and conflicts, serving as an important factor in international relations and world politics. For a long time, our country's religions have carried out external exchanges on the basis of independence, equality, friendship, and mutual respect, which has not only promoted their own healthy development but also enhanced mutual understanding and friendship with the people and religious circles of various countries, making positive contributions to the maintenance of world peace. At the same time, however, external hostile forces often use religion to challenge our country. Under the names of "religious human rights" and "religious freedom," they distort our country's religious situation, slander our religious policies, and damage our country's international image. This requires us to carefully perform external propaganda work, taking the historical "harmony in diversity and progress amidst harmony" of our country's religions and the reality that "the rule of law in religious work has been significantly strengthened and religious activities are generally stable and orderly" as basic materials. We must create new concepts, categories, and expressions that bridge China and the world, tell the story of Chinese religion well, and spread the voice of Chinese religion. In particular, we must clarify to the world that—compared to the frequent chaos, intensified contradictions, continuous conflicts, and even fires of war in many countries and regions due to the improper handling of religious issues—China's religious theory, policies, and work in the New Era have not only effectively solved religious issues related to China's social harmony, ethnic unity, national security, and reunification but have also provided Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions for solving the common challenges faced by all countries: guaranteeing freedom of religious belief, properly handling religious relations, making religion adapt to the times, and curbing religious extremism. This is another new contribution made by China to humanity as it enters the New Era, once again reflecting the CPC's global vision and sense of responsibility.