Adhere to the Principle of Separation of Education and Religion, Promote Educational Development and the Construction of Atheism as a Discipline: A Summary of the 2011 Annual Academic Conference of the Chinese Atheism Society
From October 29 to 31, 2011, the 2011 Academic Annual Conference of the Chinese Association for Atheism was held in Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province. The conference was jointly organized by the Chinese Association for Atheism, the Center for Science and Atheism Research of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the College of Teacher Education at Zhejiang Normal University. Approximately 50 experts and scholars from across the country, as well as faculty and students from the Institute of Psychology at Zhejiang Normal University, attended the meeting. The theme of this conference was "Educational Development and Disciplinary Construction of Atheism." Participating scholars conducted extensive and in-depth discussions on several topics, including the separation of education and religion, the current status and countermeasures regarding the spread of religion on university campuses, the disciplinary construction of scientific atheism, and new trends in foreign religious infiltration.
I
Faced with the new situation of religion gradually infiltrating the public sphere, participating scholars focused their attention on upholding and implementing the principle of the separation of education and religion.
Xi Wuyi, Director of the Center for Science and Atheism Research at CASS and Vice President and Secretary-General of the Chinese Association for Atheism, pointed out that the Association attaches great importance to the issue of the "separation of education and religion," having held four symposia on the subject since the end of last year. The principle of the separation of education and religion was gradually formed during the historical process of the development of modern Western nations. In modern China, this issue was primarily directed at the Christian mission schools established by Western missionary forces. She provided a detailed review of the history of the separation of education and religion in China since the modern era, arguing that the factors promoting the secularization of Christian mission schools in modern China primarily stemmed from the impact of social transformation. There were three major peaks in these social transformation movements: the establishment of the modern educational system and the May Fourth New Culture Movement [1]; the Non-Christian Movement [2] during the rise of nationalism; and the Movement to Recover Educational Rights [3], which directly targeted Christian mission schools.
From their inception, mission schools in China took "conquering China for Christ" as their mission. During the process of establishing new-style schools in the early 20th century, they relied on unequal treaties and the advantages of Western educational systems to expand their influence. The modern educational trend represented by Cai Yuanpei’s [4] "replacing religion with aesthetic education" reflected the historical trend of increasing secularization in human society, while the May Fourth New Culture Movement used the banners of democracy and science to initiate a massive wave of religious criticism. As a powerful response to the mission schools' challenging stance of "building the Kingdom of God," the vigorous Non-Christian Movement made the principle of separating education and religion a consensus within the educational community. The Movement to Recover Educational Rights broke the control of foreign missionaries over Christian universities, causing theological education to shift "from the center to the periphery" and "from a prince to a pauper" within these institutions. After the founding of the New China, the government fully nationalized the educational rights of mission schools and established a new type of modern educational system, resulting in religion’s complete withdrawal from the national education system.
However, since the beginning of Reform and Opening-up, and particularly after the mid-1990s, as "religious fever" has gradually heated up, missionary activities in higher education institutions have shifted from secret to public. In particular, the "Sino-Christian Theology Movement" [5] has openly entered university lecture halls and national research institutions. Upholding the "separation of education and religion" is an important regulation reiterated by the state on numerous occasions; using public educational resources to spread religion on university podiums is an illegal act. Resisting the use of religion by overseas forces to infiltrate higher education and preventing campus proselytizing is an important and urgent strategic task. We must unwaveringly uphold the principle of the separation of education and religion and regard Marxist atheism as the foundational work for resisting infiltration and preventing campus proselytizing.
He Husheng, a professor at the School of Marxism at Renmin University of China, summarized the discourses on the separation of education and religion in Party and state documents since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee [6]. He argued that adhering to the separation of religion and education is one of the CPC’s fundamental viewpoints and policies on religious issues. It is also an inevitable requirement for fully implementing the Party’s policy on freedom of religious belief, managing religious affairs according to law, adhering to the principle of independence and self-management, and actively guiding religion to adapt to socialist society. At the same time, the requirements of this policy differ for Party members and cadres, the educational circles, religious circles, and academic circles. In practice, upholding the separation of education and religion requires the joint efforts of cadres and the masses across all sectors.
Professor Li Zhiying of Beijing Normal University gave a special report on the Nanjing National Government's policies to restrict campus proselytizaton from 1927 to 1937. She pointed out that the Nanjing National Government guided and supervised Christian missionary work by promulgating management measures for foreign missionary groups, integrating them into social and cultural organizations for unified management. Through Three People's Principles [7] education, the disciplinary system, and textbook censorship, the government exercised strict ideological control over schools of all types and levels, using the Three People's Principles to resist religious influence. It also promulgated a series of laws and regulations as legal documents to restrict Christian proselytizing on campuses and enforced them strictly, prohibiting religious education and propagation in schools. Although these policies were not entirely thorough in their restrictions, the National Government’s targeted and severe enforcement achieved relatively good results in practice, curbing to some extent the momentum of rapid Christian expansion since the late Qing Dynasty. This provides useful lessons for our current implementation of the principle of the separation of education and religion.
Zhao Zhi, a researcher at the Social Issues Research Center of the China Association for the Promotion of International Friendship, reflected on the separation of education and religion from the perspective of similarities and differences in Sino-Western church-state relations. He argued that there are three main models of church-state relations worldwide: the Caesaropapist model (union of church and state); the complete separation model; and the model where separation exists but one dominates the other, with either ecclesiastical power over secular power or vice versa. Through long-term historical development, China formed a model of "government as master, religion as follower" (政主教从), and the current framework for religious management in China basically continues this fundamental pattern. In the field of public education, China, like most countries in the world, has always adhered to the principle of the separation of education and religion. As the "religious fever" intensifies and the problem of religious infiltration in universities becomes more prominent, whether existing theories can effectively respond to various current practical contradictions and how to properly handle the relationship between education and religion in practice have become complex and sensitive new challenges facing the Party and government in the New Era.
II
To respond to the new developments and situations in theistic trends of thought, the theoretical construction of the discipline of scientific atheism urgently needs to be strengthened. Participating scholars conducted multi-faceted and multi-angle discussions on this issue.
Du Jiwen, an Honorary Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Vice President of the Chinese Association for Atheism, delivered a speech titled "The Disciplinary Construction and Path of Scientific Atheism." He pointed out that the Party Central Committee has consistently supported the development of the cause of scientific atheism. In recent years, CASS has increased its support by establishing professional research offices and centers. Overall, the current status is good, but the road ahead is long, and the "resistance and obstacles on the road are unusually numerous and unusually hard." Although theories of ghosts and gods never occupied mainstream public opinion from the Opium War to the first 30 years of the New China, since the emergence of "supernatural powers" (特异功能), various theistic trends of thought have become clamorous, eventually evolving into the scourge of cults.
Subsequently, "religious fever" took on new forms: some sought to use "orthodox" religion to resist cults, others sought to use indigenous religions to resist foreign religions, and still others more audaciously advocated using theories of ghosts and gods to "save the world and human hearts," halt moral decline, and build a harmonious society—even demanding that the national education system and state research institutions be opened to religion. This environment has led to a distortion of values and views on talent. Although the Party Central Committee has issued a series of documents and policies supporting the development of atheism, these have not been well implemented. Under the influence of heavy funding from foreign forces, some people have become blinded by greed, profiting from the divine and striving to expand the market for religion. Certain scholars who have accepted foreign theological ideas have occupied national resource and discourse platforms, attacking atheism as "anti-religion," "anti-state policy," and "anti-constitutional," claiming it destroys social stability and represents an "ultra-leftist" trend of thought.
These factors constitute the main obstacles to the development of atheism. Although atheism research is currently in a relatively weak position regarding material resources, "we speak the truth; we do not deceive ourselves, much less others. We possess the truth and dare to uphold it, and truth cannot be refuted." Some religious theists try their best to abstract religion into "culture," diluting the system of ghosts and gods and the core of faith, yet they forget that the belief in ghosts and gods is the essential attribute of religion. Only scientific atheism dares to clearly affirm the factual truth that "ghosts, gods, and their afterworld do not exist," thereby advocating that the hope for a happy life be placed in "rebuilding the nation through science and education" (科教兴国) and labor.
Since thirty years of Reform and Opening-up, many major questions remain to be answered. Two trends are particularly noteworthy: one is the "Revolutionary Penitent School," who have abandoned their previous adherence to materialism and atheism to indulge in mysticism; the other consists of those who have lost confidence in today’s governing line and attempt to seek help from religion, treating it as the fundamental solution for maintaining social harmony. These advocates of mysticism and religion exaggerate the public nature of social moral decline and attribute severe practical problems to a lack of religious faith, completely deviating from the fundamental goals of "rebuilding the nation through science and education" and "serving the people."
Therefore, "the disciplinary construction of atheism is a necessity of the situation, a call of the times, and should be a long-term strategic layout. We should increase our efforts, combine this with the construction and defense of socialist core values, and unite all scholars across the country committed to this cause to strive together. We should aim to produce a number of targeted and substantial works in a short period." Specifically, the current disciplinary construction of scientific atheism should include "One Theory" (An Introduction to Scientific Atheism), "Two Histories" (The History of Chinese Atheism and The History of Western Atheism), and a dictionary. Simultaneously, research on religious doctrines and the current religious situation should also be strengthened.
Xi Wuyi pointed out that religious infiltration has currenty become the primary content of foreign cultural infiltration. Cultural, religious, and even ideological issues ultimately require an intellectual response. We should master the right to speak (话语权) and cultivate our own academic advantages. To provide theoretical weapons from an ideological and cultural perspective to resist the infiltration of foreign religious theology, we must vigorously strengthen the disciplinary construction of scientific atheism.
Tian Xinming, former director of the Social Science Development Research Center of the Ministry of Education, conducted a systematic and in-depth discussion on the unification of atheism research, publicity, and education with the freedom of religious belief. He argued that whether from the perspective of legal basis, theoretical foundation, objective grounds, or the fundamental starting point, conducting atheism research and publicity is consistent with implementing the Party’s policy of freedom of religious belief. A deep understanding of this unity requires clarifying the relationship between religion and religious ideology, between religious ideology and theism, and between atheism and Marxist atheism. Achieving the unity of the two requires conscious effort.
In conducting atheism research and publicity, one must consciously abide by the Party’s policy on freedom of religious belief. Adhering to atheism requires overcoming misinterpretations of the freedom of religious belief policy. One cannot equate a citizen’s freedom of religious belief with a Communist Party member’s freedom to believe in a religion; one cannot equate respecting and protecting the freedom of religious belief with actively developing religion. While understanding the "mass character" (群众性) of religion, one must not forget the responsibility to promote atheism among the non-believing masses. While understanding the "long-term nature" (长期性) of religion, one must not forget the volatility within the long-term process of religion’s existence.
Zhang Xinying, Director of the Internet Center at CASS and Vice President of the Chinese Atheism Society, performed an analysis and critique of the claim that "atheist education makes people lawless and godless" [8]. He pointed out that the notion that religious morality is superior to secular morality, or that the average moral level of religious believers is higher than that of non-believers, lacks support in both theory and fact. Even if an atheist's convictions have not yet been elevated to the height of communist ideals, they can still create a meaningful and fulfilled life based simply on an optimistic and benevolent attitude toward living. Currently, some Party and government cadres and public institutions resort to the anesthetic and analgesic effects of religion on the human soul in order to alleviate social contradictions. However, the Communist Party of China cannot, like the rulers of the past, utilize the narcotic effect of religion on the masses to maintain its governing status. Using administrative power to develop religion and expand the religious camp and its social influence brings immense uncertainty, especially for the governing Communist Party. Compared to the political risks that may arise from developing religion, if rational criticism of theism by atheism could become a normal part of society—allowing a moderate and persistent dissenting voice against theism to be preserved in the public discourse—it would actually be greatly beneficial for guiding religious masses to improve their scientific and cultural literacy and the quality of their faith. It would also reduce the ideological soil that allows religious belief to heat up into fanaticism, and be conducive to lowering the costs of social management.
In response to the recent practice of some people distorting and summarizing the Marxist-Leninist view of religion as the "Opium (Cornerstone) Theory" and the "Struggle Theory" (regarding struggle against religion), [9] Jia Runguo, Deputy Director of the Research Center of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, provided a correction and response through a meticulous survey of the literature of Marx, Lenin, and the Communist Party of China. He argued that the Marxist view of religion is the concentrated expression of the Marxist standpoint, viewpoint, and method regarding religious issues; it is the guiding ideology for Communists to correctly understand and handle religious matters; and it is a scientific system that is consistent in its origins yet advances with the times, continuously enriching and developing through practice. Proponents of the "Opium Cornerstone Theory" extract certain words of Marx and Lenin from entire works, turning them into abstract dogmas detached from their historical background, specific context, and theoretical system. This seriously fragments and distorts the Marxist view of religion and deviates from the Central Committee's correct understanding and application of it. Using this as a basis and excuse, they describe the Party's religious work as a total mess and claim that the Marxist view of religion no longer meets the needs of the era, insisting that fashionable theories from Western bourgeois religious studies must be introduced to "advance with the times." This line of argument has caused many people to develop serious misunderstandings of and aversions to the Marxist view of religion, creating an extremely negative social impact that must be corrected and clarified.
Li Shen, Professor at Shanghai Normal University and Vice President of the Chinese Atheism Society, conducted an in-depth analysis of a fundamental issue in atheism and religious studies: the formation process and common characteristics of the concept of God. He argued that modern religious studies, influenced by Christian faith, has always treated God as a purely spiritual existence, which is inaccurate. Primitive gods, including animal gods and human gods, were all material. The history of the concept of the soul is very short; exploring the origin of religion should not begin with the concept of the immortality of the soul. Unlike the pure spirit-gods of Christianity, China’s spirit-gods [10] have never been able to exist independently of their material carrier, qi [11], nor is the Buddhist spirit-god opposed to matter. As for the "trans-spirit god," one can only say it is "existence itself," and even less can one say whether it is spiritual or material. Overall, the common characteristic of various deities is supernatural power. The "extraordinary powers" [12] popular in China over the last 20 years are a form of supernatural power; thus, "the international popularity of the phenomenon of extraordinary powers is a new movement of god-making." While religion played a certain role in history, it has ceased to be a progressive culture since the modern era and will inevitably and gradually decline.
Xu Xiaoque, Director of the Nanjing Library and Professor at Nanjing University, expressed a unique perspective on the relationship between traditional Chinese culture and the research and promotion of atheism. He argued that the "human-centeredness" and "nature-centeredness" formed by the Confucian and Daoist schools ultimately aimed to express problems of actual human nature and life, solving the root question of what makes a human a human. These perspectives all proceeded from reality rather than non-reality; from this shore rather than the other shore; and from humanism rather than ghosts and gods. In short, they argued their value orientations from an atheist standpoint. Therefore, it is far from enough to merely point out and acknowledge that Chinese atheist thought is an organic component of traditional Chinese culture or Chinese philosophical thought. Only by confirming and elucidating that Chinese atheist thought is the finest manifestation of the entirety of traditional Chinese culture and Chinese philosophy can its status truly be established. Since Marxism and traditional Chinese culture share a common "atheist" value orientation, the most effective way and method to promote Marxist and socialist atheist thought with Chinese characteristics in Chinese society is to link it closely with the essential atheist characteristics of traditional Chinese culture.
Professor Li Shiju of Hebei Normal University argued that the primary duty of atheism is the negation of religious theism. The theoretical basis of atheism is materialism, its reliable ally is natural science, and social practice is the profound foundation of atheism. The negation of religious theism by atheism should be a process of dialectical negation. Historically, how religious theism is negated—whether through metaphysical negation or dialectical negation—reflects questions of class standpoint, methodology, and the conditions of the era.
Professor Yu Yuhua of East China Normal University reflected on the misunderstandings in contemporary atheist education. She argued that the main problem lies in failing to find the laws governing atheist education in China, manifested as a lack of targeting in education, insufficient research into educational content, and unclear objectives for atheist education.
As the founder of Marxist religious studies [13] and an important leader in the cause of scientific atheism, Mr. Ren Jiyu's thoughts on scientific atheism are of great significance for the current disciplinary construction of scientific atheism. Regarding this, Yang Junfeng, an Assistant Researcher at the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies, provided a summary and synthesis in his speech. He argued that Ren Jiyu always adhered to scientific atheism as a guide for conducting religious research, combining the promotion of scientific atheism with an adherence to the Party’s policy of freedom of religious belief. He closely followed social reality and deeply criticized and exposed the absurdity and deceptiveness of trends in "new theism," making outstanding contributions to the construction of a socialist spiritual civilization. Research into and education on scientific atheism are indispensable prerequisites and foundations for building a socialist harmonious society. "One must not only escape poverty, but also escape ignorance"; no matter how superstition changes its appearance, its essence and root are always ignorance. We must vigorously strengthen the promotion and education of basic Marxist knowledge and the scientific atheist worldview, continuously improve the ideological and moral quality and scientific and cultural literacy of the people, and lead the masses to establish a correct attitude toward life, striving for their own happy life and beautiful tomorrow through the practice of transforming nature and society.
III
As the problem of religious penetration on university campuses becomes increasingly severe, the status of university students' religious beliefs and the strengthening of scientific atheist education in colleges and universities became one of the focuses of the conference discussions.
Xu Lin, a Researcher at the Hebei Academy of Social Sciences, conducted a detailed survey and summary of research results on "University Students' Religious Beliefs" over the past 20 years. He argued that the background of such research is primarily as follows: a portion of university students converted from non-believers or atheists into religious believers during their studies; some teachers or levels of university leadership responsible for ideological and political work once held, or still hold, the view that this conversion is normal or even intentionally facilitate it; the Party and the State require all colleges and universities, as part of their routine work, to take specific measures to prevent this conversion. Corresponding to this background, relevant research has basically not strayed from three themes: first, "whether university students should believe in religion and how some of them persist in and practice their religious beliefs"; second, "how educators in colleges and universities do or should treat student believers"; third, "whether the laws and policies related to university students' religious belief are clearly directed or subject to multiple interpretations." Xu Lin emphasized that on "these three major questions of right and wrong, the answers given by the Party and the State are consistent and beyond doubt; yet many local Party committees and university Party committees do as they please, turning a deaf ear, such that overseas Protestant forces—against the backdrop of the US plot to 'divide' and 'Westernize' socialist China—have entered many campuses unopposed. They have pushed Christian 'house churches,' which are already impatiently striding toward 'politicization,' to the front lines of the struggle to deny the CPC's governing status, using the subversion of the achievements of Catholic and Protestant work over the past 60 years as a breakthrough point. By now, the issue of 'university students' religious belief' and the issue of 'legalizing house churches' have become intertwined and inseparable." Facing this situation, he called on the attendees to strive to plant the great banner of Marxist atheism on university campuses.
Wang Lifang, an Associate Professor at Anhui Polytechnic University, introduced research findings on the religious cognition and beliefs of students at Anhui Polytechnic University, Anhui Normal University, and Wannan Medical College. The survey showed that current university students have significant contact with religion, with the channels of contact showing a diversifying trend; their understanding of the essence of religion is characterized by ambiguity and plurality, and they fail to recognize the conflict between religious theism and Marxist atheism. She pointed out that while as many as 18.55% of respondents explicitly stated they had a religious belief, the majority of students who claimed to believe were merely "feeling" that they believed or were simply interested in religion. Wang Lifang estimated that only about 4% of the surveyed students truly believed in a religion. Regarding the subjective and objective reasons for students' religious belief, she suggested that universities should emphasize research on students' religious beliefs, adhere to the principle of the separation of education and religion, establish and improve systems for managing religious activities, and strengthen the education of students' scientific spirit and psychological health.
Hu Xuehai, a Lecturer at Hohai University, conducted a survey of undergraduates at Hohai University and Southeast University, concluding that the proportion of religious believers among students was only 5.8%, but a considerable number of students were interested in religion. They lacked a clear understanding of religion; some students believed religion has a certain social function. Their choice of religious belief mainly concentrated on Buddhism and Christianity, and their motivations for belief were characterized by utilitarianism and a lack of idealism. In light of the subjective and objective reasons for student belief, universities should-strengthen scientific atheist education, innovate the concepts and methods of such education, and simultaneously absorb beneficial elements from religious promotion.
Huang Yanhong, an Associate Researcher at the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies, surveyed and summarized research from recent years regarding the religious beliefs of university students in the Beijing area, identifying five main aspects of the research content: (1) the proportion of believers is on an upward trend, with differences in family background, gender, grade, and major; (2) channels for contact with religion mainly include books, classrooms, and friends/relatives, with most believers choosing to believe only during their university years for multiple reasons; (3) most hold a tolerant attitude toward religion, and believers have a high level of understanding of doctrines and enthusiasm for religious activities, with a preference for fellowship activities; (4) religious belief significantly changes students' values and behavior patterns, with negative ideological tendencies; (5) on countermeasures and suggestions, researchers believe a multi-pronged approach should be taken, including offering relevant courses and strengthening the management of non-conventional missionary activities. Deficiencies in the research are mainly manifested as an overall lack of a scientific atheist observational perspective, and a lack of objective and neutral positions or in-depth understanding of the research subjects in some studies.
Wang Kang, a Professor at Hangzhou Normal University, proposed six countermeasures regarding the issue of contemporary university students' religious belief: (1) vigorously strengthen Marxist education; (2) establish specialized agencies for managing religious education in universities and strengthen organizational leadership; (3) vigorously strengthen religious education; (4) establish and improve university religious affairs management systems; (5) strengthen atheist education and cultivate students' scientific spirit; (6) correctly evaluate university student religious believers.
With the widespread application of the internet and other modern media in social life, the forms of religious dissemination and organization have undergone corresponding new changes. Professor Zuo Peng of the University of Science and Technology Beijing investigated the situation of Christian dissemination based on the internet. He pointed out that domestic and overseas ecclesiastical organizations, online missionaries, online Christians, "god-men" and "internet water armies" [14] are the main subjects of online Christian dissemination. Portal websites, community forums, blog spaces, and social networks are its basic forms. Doctrines and culture, major news and commentary, insights and guides for real life, and information and notices regarding offline activities are the primary content. Faced with this situation, he argued that, on the one hand, an individual's simple participation in religious activities or understanding of religious culture online should fall within the scope of a citizen’s freedom of religious belief and right to cultural education, and one cannot arbitrarily deprive them of these rights simply because their form of realization has changed. On the other hand, supervision must not be relaxed even for a moment regarding activities involving various relationships arising from online religious dissemination that affect national and public interests.
Professor Zhang Chengan of the Changsha University of Science and Technology analyzed the online religious life of university students from the three perspectives of logic, history, and practice. He argued that online religion is characterized by rapid and global dissemination, virtuality, openness, equality, and interactivity; meanwhile, the online religious life of university students is characterized by diverse modes of communication, irregular participation, and information that is wide-ranging, convenient, but also easily misleading. At the practical level, he suggested exploring response measures from such aspects as the selection of attitudes and methods for education on the religious beliefs of university students, the basis in laws and policies, and the building of personnel mechanisms, so as to guide university students' religious beliefs to adapt to a socialist society.
IV
Associate Senior Editor Sun Qian of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) reviewed the ten-year journey of efforts by people from all walks of life to defend scientific rationality following the banning of "Falun Gong" [15]. She argued that this can be divided into three stages: first, from 1999 to 2002, the stage of efforts to return scientific rationality to its dominant position in society; second, from 2002 to 2006, the stage where scientific rationality faced new challenges; and third, from 2006 to 2009, the stage of calling for a New Enlightenment Movement. This evolutionary trajectory shows that the overflow of superstition, pseudoscience, and mysticism is like a "rubber duck that won't sink"—after being suppressed by social criticism for a period, it resurfaces and becomes popular in society in another form. Therefore, to truly create an atmosphere of revere for science in Chinese society, popularize scientific knowledge, and improve the scientific literacy of the public and their ability to identify superstitions and cults, atheists still have a long way to go [16]. Faced with anti-science and anti-rationalist trends of thought, atheists must still focus their research on practical problems and treat scientific publicity and education for the public as their focal and essential point. They must work hard to clarify theories and improve the public's discernment, thereby better grasping the spirit of the times and promoting the implementation of the strategy of "invigorating the country through science and education."
In frontier regions, scientific atheism publicity and education are often closely related to the struggle against separatism. Researcher Zhu Xiaoming, former Party Group Secretary of the China Tibetology Research Center and the Central Institute of Socialism, gave a special presentation on the history and current status of research regarding the proposition that "Tibet has been an inseparable part of China since ancient times." He pointed out that regarding the relationship between the Tibet region and the motherland's interior and central government, the academic community generally has three expressions: "Tibet is a part of China," "Tibet became a part of China during the Yuan Dynasty," and "Tibet has been a part of China since ancient times." These sayings differ in perspective and emphasis, and all contain aspects that are imprecise and in need of improvement. In demarcating the territorial scope of China in history, three points require attention: (1) Dynastic history is not equivalent to Chinese history; (2) The Chinese people include both the Han and frontier ethnic minorities; (3) Ethnic groups within the borders of China before 1840 are all Chinese ethnic groups, and their history is Chinese history. Applying these standards, he stated, "The issue of Tibet's historical status can be expressed in two sentences: first, Tibet has been a part of China since ancient times; second, the central government began exercising formal administrative jurisdiction over Tibet starting from the Yuan Dynasty."
In recent years, religious infiltration has become the main content of foreign cultural infiltration, and religious theism has been used by certain countries and interest groups as a means to seek political power and economic interests. Associate Professor Huang Chao of Wuhan University focused on the core concept of "New Religious Extraterritoriality," analyzing the new model of US religious infiltration into China from four aspects: new goals, new strategies, new carriers, and new organizational systems. He revealed the evolution of the ideology of US religious infiltration into China in terms of theopolitics, geopolitics, and New Cold War thinking. He argued that since the end of the Cold War, newly rising theopolitical ideology has combined with old geopolitical thought to form a "New Cold War ideology" within the United States. To adapt to this, the fundamental demand of the new model of US religious infiltration into China is "New Religious Extraterritoriality," symbolized by the International Religious Freedom Act. Driven by "New Cold War ideology," the "Christianization of the overseas pro-democracy movement" has become an important step in the "political Christianization of China," while Chinese house churches have also become more active in the struggle for "rights-defense politics." Religious infiltration is essentially a form of "political infiltration." The "restoration" of American theopolitics and its diplomatic manifestations are, to a large extent, an ideological reaction to the decline of its global hegemony. In response to the new situation of overseas religious infiltration, we must eliminate all interference, adhere to and improve a new type of church-state relationship that matches socialism with Chinese characteristics, uphold the principle of independence and self-management of churches, and establish a long-term crisis management mechanism for religious emergencies.
Associate Researcher Huang Kui of the Institute of World Religions of CASS examined the game between theism and atheism in contemporary China from the perspectives of ideology, the united front, and the rule of law. He argued that the confusion of discourse in the ideological sphere, including confused understandings of religious issues, has caused and is currently causing actual consequences and real harms that negatively impact the overall work of the Party and the state and the formation of a scientific worldview among the general public. In any case, the bottom line of the Marxist view of religion—the atheist position—cannot be abandoned. The targets of united front work should be limited to high-level figures in religious circles; if expanded to general believers, the cost of the united front will increase until it becomes unbearable, potentially leading to the consequence of "the unifiers being unified." On the management of religious affairs, the principle of national sovereignty should be unswervingly upheld, while religious belief should simultaneously be made a private matter for individual citizens. The compatibility, mutual supplementation, and organic unity of the ideological, united front, and rule-of-law perspectives may help in the early warning of risks and the optimal resolution of religious issues, better serving the overall work of the Party and the state.
Professor Chen Yongsheng, Deputy Director of the Institute of Psychology at Zhejiang Normal University, spoke on the basic theoretical research of the discipline building of Marxist religious psychology. He argued that religious psychology research in the former Soviet Union initially constructed a disciplinary framework for Marxist religious psychology, emphasized the criticism of Western theistic psychological thought, and took atheism education as the core of Marxist religious psychology, gaining important historical experience. The lessons learned primarily included: insufficient understanding of the long-term and complex nature of religious issues, a failure to reflect the characteristics of the times in Marxist scientific methodology, and an incomplete understanding of the disciplinary system of Marxist religious psychology. Chinese Communists focus on examining atheist psychology and education from the strategic height of Party building, striving to use policy levers to accurately reflect the dual functions of religious psychology, and have creatively developed the Marxist view of religious psychology. Dialectical materialism and historical materialism are the methodological foundations of Marxist religious psychology. Under the guidance of this fundamental method, specific research methods should genuinely integrate a problem-oriented approach into specific research, gradually forming the characteristics of Marxist religious psychology methodology through methodological innovation, fully reflecting the distinct interdisciplinary characteristics of the field of religious psychology.
Participating scholars also discussed various specific issues, such as the atheist psychological thought of the famous Chinese psychologist Pan Shu, the atheist psychological thought of the German scholar Hinsberger, and the latest research progress in foreign religious neuroscience.