Introduction to the Science and Atheism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

The Center for Science and Atheism Research of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (hereafter referred to as "the Research Center") was established in April 2010 as a non-entity research center ^[1] affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). This is the first social platform for "science and atheism research" in contemporary China. Its positioning and objectives are not only to become an academic research center for Marxist atheism ^[2], but also to serve as a policy research center for responding to the ideologization of religion and the infiltration of hostile foreign forces using religion. Since its establishment, the Research Center has operated as part of a "four-in-one" ^[3] framework alongside the Marxist Atheism Research Office of the Institute of Marxism Studies, the Chinese Atheism Society, and the journal Science and Atheism, jointly participating in the disciplinary construction of scientific atheism.

Currently, Gong Yun, Vice President of the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies, serves as the Director of the Research Center. He Xinyuan, Deputy Director of the Department of Sinicization of the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies, and Zuo Peng, Director of the Marxism-Leninism Department of the Central Institute of Socialism, serve as Deputy Directors. The Center currently has five advisors: Wang Weiguang, Chairman of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the 13th National Committee of the CPPCC ^[4]; Zhu Weiqun, Chairman of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the 12th National Committee of the CPPCC; Jiang Hui, Member of the Standing Committee and Head of the Publicity Department of the Chongqing Municipal CPC Committee; Zhu Xiaoming, former Party Branch Secretary of the China Tibetology Research Center; and Du Jiwen, Honorary Member of the CASS Academic Divisions. There are also eleven members of the Academic Advisory Committee, including Researcher Tian Xinming, former Director of the Social Sciences Center of the Ministry of Education, as well as thirteen specially invited researchers.

In the next phase, the Research Center intends to implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s discourses on religious work and atheism. Through measures such as "semi-substantialization" ^[5], it will integrate existing resources for scientific atheism research, publicity, and education. By coordinating with Marxist colleges, religious studies departments, and philosophy departments in universities across the country, it will organize the compilation of textbooks and conduct relevant training. The Research Center will also integrate various academic resources to push China's atheism research toward the academic frontiers of international atheism studies.