Scientific Atheism and Its Social Responsibility

In recent decades, atheism has acquired a bad reputation, and scientific atheism has repeatedly come under attack, often tinged with political emotion — not from religious circles, but from certain figures in academia or even political circles. Taking advantage of this opportunity to hold the annual conference of the Chinese Atheism Society in Xinjiang, I wish to discuss this issue. I hope experts and scholars will correct me if I am wrong.

近数十年来，无神论的名声不佳，科学无神论也屡屡遭到攻击，而且往往还带有政治情感的色彩——这不是来自宗教界，而是出自学界甚或政界的某些人物。借着这次在新疆举办中国无神论学会年会的机会，我想谈谈这个问题，是否得当，希望专家学者教正。

Critics generally list three charges against atheism: first, that it is a remnant of the “Cultural Revolution” and “ultra-leftism”; second, that it undermines social harmony; third, that it opposes the policy of freedom of religious belief. These charges can all be politically lethal. However, this article does not intend to respond from the perspective of refuting false accusations — because the charges themselves imply a lack of relevant knowledge and a habitual mindset of using political labels against dissenting opinions; in academic discussion, both of these are negative factors that corrupt the atmosphere and should be avoided. As for certain scholars who claim to study Marxist views on religion yet are irreconcilably hostile to atheism, that is even more worthy of examination.

抨击者列举无神论的罪名大致有三条，一是“文革”“极左”的遗绪；二是破坏社会的和谐；三是反对宗教信仰自由的政策。这些罪名都可以在政治上置人于死地，可本文并不想从辩诬的角度去做回应——因为提出这类罪名背后隐含的是相关知识的缺失，以及对不同意见惯于使用政治帽子的习惯性思维；在学术讨论中，这两条都是消极的、败坏风气的因素，应该避免。至于某些号称也要研究马克思主义宗教观的学者，竟然与无神论不共戴天，那就更值得探讨了。

I. Atheism Is a Product of Labor and Human Self-Consciousness, an Achievement of Human Civilization and Thought

一 无神论是劳动和人性自觉的产物，是人类文明和思考的成果

First, we must clarify what atheism is. As the term suggests, atheism means seeking truth from facts, holding that gods, ghosts, heaven, hell, and any other supernatural forces do not actually exist in the world; that human destiny is in human hands. This is a fact and a truth. Should it not be spoken or taught?

首先要弄清什么是无神论。顾名思义，无神论就是实事求是，认为世界上没有神、鬼和天堂、地狱以及其他任何超自然的力量实际存在；人的命运掌握在人自身的手里。这是事实，也是真理，不应该讲或不可以讲么?

Some scholars say that atheism is not a scholarly discipline; only those without learning advocate atheism. There is some truth to this statement. Because atheism expresses such a very simple fact. Conversely, theism must be “scholarly”: it must assert that something which does not exist does exist, and moreover must present it as a sacred being to which ordinary people should submit. Without “learning” this is indeed impossible. For example, how many articles and books have been written demonstrating the existence of God (ontological, cosmological, teleological arguments, and so on)? How many works describe the attributes of God (truth, goodness, beauty, love, omniscience, omnipotence, and so on)? How many publications further explain the relationship between God and humanity (the Trinity, original sin and salvation, believers ascending to heaven and non-believers descending to hell, and so on), and especially the relationship between God and society, including politics, science, ethics, and values? From the West to China, from ancient times to the present, probably several libraries could not contain them all. Yet everyone also knows: this kind of learning is called “theology.” To avoid popular distaste for gods, it is now euphemistically called “religious studies” or “academic theology,” and it is said to have become a “prominent discipline” in contemporary Chinese “academic circles.”

有学者说，无神论没有学问；只有没有学问的人才讲无神论。这话有一定的道理。因为无神论道出的就是这样一个非常简单的事实。相反，有神论必须是“有学问”的，因为它要把本来没有的东西说成是有的，而且还要说成普通大众都应该归命的神圣，没有“学问”确实不成。譬如论证上帝的存在（本体论、宇宙论、目的论之类），写过多少文章，出版过多少图书? 描述神的性能（真善美、爱及全知全能之类）的又有多少论著? 进一步说明神与人的关系（三位一体、原罪与救赎，以及信神者上天堂、不信者下地狱之类），特别是神与社会，包括政治、科学、伦理以至价值观的出版物又有多少? 从西方到中国，从古至今，恐怕几个图书馆也装不下。然而大家也都清楚：这种学问叫做“神学”，为了避免大众对神的嫌弃，现在又美其名曰“宗教学”或称之为“学术神学”，而且据称已经成为当代中国“学界”中的“显学”了。

Why is it said that there is some truth to the claim that atheists have no learning? Many scholars today eagerly argue that the birth of religion is almost coeval with human civilization, thereby claiming that theism has a long history, is a treasure, and must not be touched. What about atheism? Labor created humanity; what distinguishes humans from animals and makes them human began with labor that could make and use tools. Accordingly, once labor became the guarantee and driving force of human survival and development, it simultaneously implied a negation of the idea that gods created humans and all things, and thus implied the emergence of atheism; productive labor became the first proof of atheism’s validity. As for men and women falling in love, mating and bearing children, through which humanity continues, this became another proof that atheism arises from human nature. “Appetite for food and sex are part of human nature.” [1]1 A classical Chinese expression from *Mencius* (告子上), referring to the innate human drives for sustenance and reproduction. Human nature itself firmly anchors atheism in the depths of life; no one can escape it. The world’s three major religions all have ascetic doctrines, precisely because “appetite for food and sex are part of human nature” creates the primordial obstacle to religious faith, and as a result, no religion has ever implemented asceticism thoroughly. Recently the Catholic Pope encountered major trouble because he concealed and covered up the scandal of clergy molesting children, to the point that British atheists publicly sued him for “crimes against humanity.” And pederasty is one of the evil consequences of ascetic doctrines that violate human nature. Reading the famous work *The Decameron* or watching the film *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* can provide a more vivid impression. More intuitively, as soon as a baby is born, its little mouth seeks its mother’s milk, not divine gifts — this is the most everyday observable phenomenon. Thus, without theoretical demonstration or any special learning, as long as one’s nerves are normal, no one waits for pies to fall from the sky, and no virgin becomes pregnant without fertilization or begs Guanyin [2]2 The bodhisattva Guanyin (Avalokiteśvara), widely venerated in East Asian Buddhism as a deity of compassion who is often invoked for fertility and childbearing. to send a child into her womb. In this sense, everyone is an atheist. We call this spontaneous or instinctive atheism — it exists in all spheres of secular life and runs through a person’s entire life.

为什么讲，说无神论者没有学问也有道理? 现在好多学者争着说，宗教的诞生几乎与人类的文明同源，以此说明有神论的源远流长，是个宝，动不得。那无神论呢? 劳动创造人；人之所以脱离动物而成为人，始于能够制造和使用工具的劳动。据此，一旦劳动成为人类生存和发展的保障和动力，同时就意味对神造人和神造物的否定，也就意味着无神论的产生；生产劳动就成了无神论得以成立的第一个证明。至于男女相恋，交媾生子，人类由之得以延续，则成了无神论出自人的本性的另一个证明。“食色性也”，人性自身把无神论牢牢地系在生命的深处，任何人都无法摆脱。世界三大宗教都有禁欲主义的教义，因为正是“食色性也”制造了宗教信仰的原始障碍，而其结果，没有一种宗教实行得彻底。最近天主教教皇遇上大麻烦，他因为隐瞒和包庇神职人员娈童的丑闻，闹到英国的无神论者要以“反人类罪”公开起诉他，而娈童就是禁欲主义教义违反人性的恶果之一，这种情况读读《十日谈》这一名著，看看《巴黎圣母院》的电影，就会增加些形象化的印象。更直观一些，婴儿一出生，他（她）的小嘴就要找妈妈的奶吃，而不是去寻求神赐，这是日常最能感知的现象了。这样，不需要理论的论证，也不需要什么学问，只要神经正常，没有人会等着天上掉馅饼，也没有哪位处女不受精即能怀孕或求助观世音即能送子入怀。就此而言，大家都是无神论者，我们称这种无神论为自发的或本能的无神论——它存在于世俗的一切生活领域，而且贯穿于人的一生。

Seen in this light, religion is not a natural human need; theism is a burden and a yoke imposed on humanity. The question is: is its basis real? Is its existence rational? How did something without objective basis and irrational come into being? And how was it imposed on people such that they accepted it voluntarily or had no choice? These questions need answers, and thus conscious atheism emerged — that is, atheism directed against theism and opposed to it. The mission of conscious atheism is to expose and criticize the absurdity of theism, refute the fallacies of theology, explain the origins of religious doctrines about gods and spirits, and identify the path to overcoming theism. It can be said that it emerged from the very day religion was born. The history of conscious atheism is synchronous with the history of the formation and development of religion. In this sense, atheism is also a very large body of learning: it must refute all doctrines of gods and spirits, and reveal the history and functions of their many organizational forms; at the same time, it must elucidate the scientific, philosophical, and practical foundations of atheism, and even indicate the characteristics of atheistic and non-religious modes of thought and ways of life. Its scope is therefore far broader than theology, and its thought goes deeper. The *Encyclopædia Britannica* explains “atheism” as an “achievement of civilization and thought” [3]3 The author cites the *Encyclopædia Britannica*; the exact phrasing in the English original is “the achievement of civilization and thought” in the entry on atheism. — this should be an accurate judgment based on extensive scientific research, objective and fair: in atheism is embodied the main process of humanity’s development from barbarism to civilization, from blindness to thought, from incomplete knowledge to complete knowledge in its infinite progression, as well as the fundamental spirit of what it means to be human. To express all its “achievements” would be impossible without sufficient knowledge.

如此看来，宗教并不是人类的本然需求，有神论是被强加给人类头上的一种负担，一付枷锁。问题是，它的依据是否真实，它的存在是否合理，这种没有客观依据而又不合理的东西是怎样产生的，以及如何强加给人们而人们又自愿或不得不接受?这类问题需要回答，于是就有了自觉的无神论——即针对有神论、与有神论对立的无神论产生了。自觉的无神论担负的使命，是揭露和批判有神论的荒诞，驳斥神学的谬误，说明宗教鬼神论的根源以及战胜有神论的途径。可以说，它从宗教的诞生那天起就产生了。自觉的无神论的历史与宗教形成和发展的历史是同步的。从这个意义上说，无神论又是一门很大的学问，它要驳倒一切鬼神论，并揭示其诸多组织形态的历史与功能，与此同时，还要阐明无神论的科学与哲学以及人类实践的依据，甚至要表明无神论和非宗教的思维方式和生活方式的特征，因此论及的范围远比神学广泛，而思想更有深度。《大不列颠百科辞书》对“无神论”的解释是：无神论是人类“文明和思考的成果”，——这应该是在大量科学研究的基础上作出的准确判断，是客观公正的：在无神论那里，体现着人类从野蛮到文明，由盲目到思考，从不完全的知向完全的知之无限发展的主要过程，以及人之作为人的基本精神，要把它的所有“成果”表达出来，没有足够的知识是不可能的。

In this regard, theism and atheism involve only the question of factual truth — which is closer to truth and which tends toward error — and have no necessary connection with a person’s moral character or political orientation. Some scholars today loudly proclaim the moral attributes of religion, believing that believers all do good deeds, even advocating the use of religion to maintain social order and coordinate interpersonal relations. This does not conform to historical or contemporary facts and is logically untenable. Similarly, claiming that atheism is evil, lawless, or necessarily manifests as political progress is equally inconsistent with facts and logically untenable — because politics, morality, and belief or non-belief in gods and spirits are entirely different domains. However, once theism is organized — including the construction of a system of thought and the establishment of church organizations — the situation changes fundamentally: it is further endowed with ideological significance and acquires social functions. Simple theism belongs to religious concepts and is limited to the spiritual level; as organized religion, it acquires the function of social indoctrination, forms social groups, and spiritual power is transformed into material power.

就此而言，有神论和无神论涉及的仅是事实的真相问题，是孰更接近真理与孰更趋向谬误的问题，而与人的道德资质和政治趋向没有必然的联系。现在有些学者高调宣扬宗教的道德属性，认为信教都是行善的，以至提倡用宗教维护社会治安，协调人际关系，不符合历史也不符合现实的事实，逻辑上不通；同样，说无神论就是邪恶，无法无天，或一定表现为政治进步，同样不符合事实，逻辑不通——因为政治、道德与有无鬼神信仰是完全不同的领域。但是，一旦有神论被组织化，包括思想体系的构建和教会组织的确立，情况就有了根本性变化，它被进一步赋予了意识形态的意义，具有了社会的性能。单纯的有神论属于宗教观念，只限于精神层面；作为组织化了的宗教，具有了社会教化的功能，形成社会团体，精神力量转化成了物质力量。

The dual organization of theism—spiritual and material—has complicated the content of atheism’s response, extending it far beyond the scope of who has stated the facts and who possesses the truth, and further involving almost all areas of real life, such as worldviews, outlooks on life, systems of values, and morality, politics, society, and law. This kind of atheism, beginning in the West with the Renaissance, passing through the Enlightenment and reaching the Young Hegelians, reached its climax along with the emerging bourgeoisie’s opposition to feudal theocratic politics and the great development of modern science. Because the atheism of this period had a distinctly anti-feudal and anti-theological character, it is generally called “militant atheism”; and because it fully adopted the scientific achievements of the time, using the scientific spirit and scientific methods as its weapons and promoting the development of science, it is also called “scientific atheism.”

有神论之被精神和物质的双重组织化，促使无神论应对的内涵也复杂起来，大大超出了是谁道出了事实，是谁拥有真理的范围，而进一步涉及到世界观、人生观、价值观体系以及道德、政治和社会、法律等几乎现实生活中所有领域。这种无神论，西方从文艺复兴起始，经启蒙运动而至青年黑格尔派，随着新兴资产阶级反对封建主义的神权政治和近代科学的大发展，达到了高潮。由于这个时期的无神论具有鲜明的反封建主义和批判神学的性质，人们一般称之为“战斗无神论”；又由于它充分采用了当时的科学成果，以科学的精神和科学方法为武器，对科学发展起着推动作用，所以又被称作“科学无神论”。

II. Types of Atheism and the Characteristics of Marxist Atheism

二 无神论的种类和马克思主义无神论的特点

The concept of “atheism” was introduced from the West, particularly in reference to Christian theism. Traditionally, Christianity recognizes only one God and denies any deities worshipped by other religions, which gave Western atheism the special character of being anti-monotheistic. Christianity monopolized the dominant position in Western ideological and cultural fields for at least a thousand years, and its residual influence has not ceased to this day; with strong support from the United States over the past twenty-plus years, it seems to be regaining its power. Therefore, the atheist currents directed against Christianity have also continued historically, rising and falling, diverse in form and rich in content. For instance, deism, pantheism, skepticism, agnosticism, and even nominalism, as a branch of theology, have all become variants of atheism. Current Western atheism, on the one hand, defends science—for example, opposing intelligent design theory and strengthening scientific research into religious mystical experience; on the other hand, it defends democracy, upholding the constitutional principle of separation of church and state, opposing religion entering schools, and even more so opposing the use of religion for war mobilization or as a pretext for violence. But the most powerful force is the call of the process of social secularization for the rationalization of human nature, giving rise to so-called secular humanism and the New Atheist movement. We also call this atheism “scientific atheism”; its slogan is not to fight against religion, but to advocate a non-religious life. They believe that a non-religious life relies on human beings’ own intelligence and wisdom to seek their own happiness, which highlights human nature more than relying on external forces like gods, and is also more suited to the development of human independence and freedom.

“无神论”这个概念是从西方输入的，特别是针对基督教有神论而言的。从传统上说，基督教只承认一个神，否定其他宗教所信奉的任何神祇，致使西方的无神论也具有了反一神论的特别性质。基督教独占西方思想文化领域的统治地位至少一千数百年，至今馀绪未止，近20多年在美国的大力扶植下，又有重新发威的模样。因此，针对基督教的无神论思潮也历史延绵，彼伏此起，形式多样，内容丰富，诸如自然神论、泛神论、怀疑论、不可知论，甚至作为神学一支的唯名论，都成了无神论的变种。当前西方的无神论，一方面在捍卫科学，例如反对智能设计论，加强对宗教神秘主义经验的科学研究等；一方面是捍卫民主，坚持政教分离的宪法原则，既反对宗教走入学校，更反对将宗教用于战争动员或暴力借口。但最强势的力量，是社会的世俗化进程对人性理性化的召唤，有了所谓世俗人文主义和新无神论运动的兴起。我们也称这些无神论为“科学无神论”；他们的口号不是与宗教战斗，而是提倡非宗教的生活。他们认为非宗教的生活是依靠人自身的聪明才智去谋取人自身幸福生活，比依靠神等外力更突显人性，也更适应人的独立与自由的发展。

Broadly speaking, Marxist atheism also falls within the category of scientific atheism, but it is more thorough, more scientific, and a higher form of scientific atheism. As for Marx himself, he completely broke free from the Christian domination of his family and school during his participation in the Young Hegelian Left movement and his break with Hegelian idealist philosophy. Engels recalled the situation at the time with this passage: “Due to the practical necessity of the struggle against existing religion, the great majority of the most determined Young Hegelians returned to English and French materialism… At that time, Feuerbach’s *The Essence of Christianity* was published… The liberating effect of this book can only be imagined by those who experienced it themselves. Everyone was excited: we all became Feuerbachians for a time. How warmly Marx welcomed this new viewpoint, and how strongly it influenced him (despite critical reservations), can be seen from *The Holy Family*”—this new viewpoint was humanist atheism—it turned upside down the absurd claim that God created man, demonstrating that man created God; with this, the entire worldview was turned upside down. This was the highest achievement of the French Enlightenment and also the end of classical German philosophy. As everyone knows, Marx then turned from the critique of Feuerbach’s abstract humanism to the study of man as the sum of social relations, and especially to the discovery of historical materialism and surplus value, which prompted him to shift from the critique of religion and the exposition of atheism to the creation and leadership of the scientific socialist movement, from being a thinker to becoming a great revolutionary. In this regard, Marx’s critique of religion also shifted mainly from criticizing feudalism to criticizing Christianity, which upholds the capitalist system and the interests of the bourgeoisie. His atheism is integrated into his entire theoretical system and the practice of scientific socialism. Therefore, we can say that there is no Marxist view of religion or atheism that exists outside the entirety of Marxism. Whoever talks about a Marxist view of religion or atheism outside the entirety of Marxism is fragmenting Marxism. Similarly, to abstract Marxist research and deliberately bypass Marx’s critique of religion, especially to expel its atheist worldview from the exposition and study of the Marxist view of religion, is to basely castrate the Marxist view of religion—I personally do not believe that the essence of the Marxist view of religion is atheism, but rather that atheism is the cornerstone and starting point of its entire view of religion, because atheism is only one component, or a general attribute, of its view of religion, not its unique characteristic; just as the theory of class struggle is a component of scientific socialism, and whoever attempts to separate it from class society is a revisionist, but it is not a unique characteristic of Marxism, nor a discovery of Marxism.

宽泛些说，马克思主义无神论也属于科学无神论范畴，但更彻底，更科学，是科学无神论的高级形式。就马克思本人言，他彻底摆脱家庭和学校的基督教统治，是在参加青年黑格尔左派运动，与黑格尔唯心主义哲学决裂的时期。恩格斯回忆当年的情况有这样一段话：“由于对现存宗教进行斗争的实际必要性，大批最坚定的青年黑格尔分子返回到英国和法国的唯物主义……这时，费尔巴哈的《基督教的本质》出版了……这部书的解放作用，只有亲身体验过的人才能想像得到。那时大家都很兴奋：我们一时都成了费尔巴哈派了。马克思曾经怎样热烈地欢迎这种新观点，而这种新观点又是如何强烈地影响了他（尽管还有批判性的保留意见），这可以从《神圣家族》中看出来”——这种新观点，就是人本主义的无神论——它把神造人的妄说颠倒过来，说明神是人造的；随着是整个世界观被翻了一个个儿。这是法国启蒙运动的最高成果，也是德国古典哲学的终结，接下去大家也都知道，马克思从对费尔巴哈抽象人本学的批判转向对人作为社会关系的总和之研究，特别是对唯物史观和剩余价值的发现，促使他从对宗教的批判和对无神论的阐述转向了对科学社会主义运动的创建与领导，从思想家而成为伟大的革命家。就此而言，马克思主义的宗教批判也从主要对封建主义批判转向主要对维护资本主义制度和资产阶级利益的基督教的批判，它的无神论融含在它的整个理论体系和科学社会主义实践中。因此，我们可以说，没有离开马克思主义整体之外的什么马克思主义宗教观和无神论，谁若离开马克思主义整体侈谈之外的马克思主义宗教观和无神论，谁就在割裂马克思主义；同样，把马克思主义研究抽象化，有意地绕开马克思主义对宗教的批判，尤其是在马克思主义宗教观的阐述和研究中，驱除它的无神论世界观，那就是卑下地阉割马克思主义宗教观——我个人不认为马克思主义宗教观的实质是无神论，而是它的全部宗教观的基石和出发点，因为无神论只是它的宗教观的一个组成部分，或者一般属性，不是它独有的特质；正像阶级斗争学说是科学社会主义的组成部分，谁企图从阶级社会中割裂出去，谁就是修正主义，但它不是马克思主义的特质，也不是马克思主义的发现一样。

What are the characteristics of Marxist atheism? First, proceeding from historical materialism, it must use history to explain religion, not religion to explain history, thereby identifying the social basis of the emergence of religion, digging up the roots of theism, and at the same time drawing a clear line with culturalism, which one-sidedly exaggerates the role of religion and pan-culturalizes religion—that is, using “culture” to explain religion and using religion to explain “culture.” Second, the theory of surplus value’s analysis of capitalism discovered that the true subject and motive force of the socialist movement is the proletariat, which represents the advanced productive forces, thereby incorporating atheism into the scientific socialist movement as an organic part of it. Third, it inherits and develops the outstanding achievements of humanity in atheist thought, especially the continuous contributions of science, prompting atheism to constantly enrich, substantiate, and become more persuasive, while at the same time clearing away the obstacles of religious theology for the continuous development of science. In this way, Marxist atheism possesses three most distinctive characteristics: the theory of historical materialism, the practice of the scientific socialist movement, and the scientific spirit that runs through both.

马克思主义无神论的特点是什么? 首先，是从唯物史观出发，必须用历史说明宗教，不能用宗教说明历史，由此指明宗教产生的社会基础，挖了有神论的根柢，同时与片面夸大宗教的作用，将宗教泛文化化——即用“文化”说明宗教和用宗教说明“文化”的文化主义划清了界限。其次，是剩余价值论对资本主义的分析，发现了社会主义运动的真正主体和动力，乃是代表先进生产力的无产阶级，由此把无神论纳入了科学社会主义运动，构成它的有机部分。第三，继承与发展人类在无神论思考方面的优秀成果，特别是科学不断作出的贡献，促使无神论不断丰富、充实和有说服力，同时为科学的持续发展扫除宗教神学的障碍。这样，马克思主义无神论就具有了三个最鲜明的特点：唯物史观的理论与科学社会主义运动的实践以及贯彻始终的科学精神。

Lenin inherited Marxist atheism and made important developments in it. In practice, this atheism was an ideological weapon for the weapon-critique [n] of Russian theocratic politics, and also the primary measure for preventing and purging the erosion of the workers’ party by religion. In theory, Lenin, especially from the philosophical foundation, that is, from the epistemology of materialism and dialectics, carried out an analysis and critique of the fallacies of religion in terms of thinking methods. In particular, Plato and Aristotle, who were regarded by Christian theology as its philosophical basis, and neo-Kantianism, widely used by modern and contemporary theology, became the first to reveal the epistemological roots of the emergence of religion, thereby also developing the epistemology of materialist dialectics. For various reasons, Lenin’s contributions in these areas have been almost completely excluded from the field of vision of the “Marxist view of religion.” The losses thus incurred have made our research appear impoverished and lacking in more positive constructiveness. To draw everyone’s attention, I quote a passage from Lenin here for your consideration:

列宁继承了马克思主义无神论，并做了重要发展。在实践上，这种无神论是对俄罗斯神权政治进行武器批判的思想武器，也是防范和肃清宗教对工人政党侵蚀的首要举措。在理论上，列宁特别从哲学基础上，即从唯物主义和辩证法认识论上对宗教的谬误进行了思维方法上的分析和批判，尤其是被基督教神学奉为哲学依据的柏拉图、亚里士多德和被近现代神学广泛利用的新康德主义，成为揭示宗教藉以产生的认识论根源的首创，从而也发展了唯物辩证法的认识论。由于种种原因，列宁在这些方面的贡献几乎被完全排斥在“马克思主义宗教观”的视野之外，由此带来的损失使我们的研究显得贫困，缺乏更积极的建设性。为了引起大家的注意，我这里引一段列宁的话请大家思量：

“Human knowledge is not a straight line (nor does it proceed along a straight line), but is an infinite approximation to a series of circles, to a spiral curve. Any fragment, splinter, or segment of this curve can be transformed (one-sidedly transformed) into an independent, complete straight line, and this straight line can lead people (if they cannot see the forest for the trees) into a quagmire, into clericalism (where the class interests of the ruling class will consolidate it). Straight-line thinking and one-sidedness, rigidity and ossification, subjectivism and subjective blindness—these are the epistemological roots of idealism. And clericalism (= philosophical idealism) certainly has its epistemological roots; it is not groundless; it is undoubtedly a sterile flower, yet one that grows on the living, fruitful, real, mighty, omnipotent, objective, absolute tree of human knowledge—a sterile flower on that living tree.” [5]5 This is a quotation from Lenin’s *Philosophical Notebooks*, specifically his commentary on Hegel’s *Science of Logic*, discussing the epistemological roots of idealism and clericalism.

“人的认识不是直线（也不是沿着直线进行的），而是无限地近似于一串圆圈，近似于螺旋的曲线。这一曲线的任何一个片段、碎片、小段都能被变成（被片面地变成）独立的完整的直线，而这条直线能把人们（如果只见树木不见森林的话）引到泥坑里去，引到僧侣主义那里去（在那里统治阶级的阶级利益就会把它巩固起来）。直线性和片面性，死板和僵化，主观主义和主观盲目性，就是唯心主义的认识论根源。而僧侣主义（=哲学唯心主义）当然有认识论的根源，它不是没有根基的，它无疑地是一朵不结果实的花，然而却是生长在活生生的、结果实的、真实的、强大的、全能的、客观的、绝对的人类认识这棵活生生的树上的一朵不结果实的花。”

Exploring how people can think correctly without making mistakes, or making fewer mistakes, is also one of the finest traditions of the Chinese Communist Party. It has played a huge and irreplaceable role in ensuring that we correctly understand Chinese history, judge the nature of society, and assess the current situation. The errors of religious theology provide rich material for studying why human cognition goes wrong and how to correct these errors so as to approach correct understanding. Lenin set forth this task in his struggle against the fog of religion, and it should rightly be a natural subject in the study of Marxist atheism.

探究人如何正确思维而不犯或少犯错误，也是中国党最优秀的传统之一，它在保证我们正确认识中国历史和判断社会性质以及当前形势方面，曾起过巨大的，不可替代的作用。宗教神学的谬误，对于研究人的认识之所以会犯错误，以及如何纠正这些错误以趋向正确的认识，提供了丰富的资料，列宁在同宗教迷雾的斗争中提出了这一任务，理应是马克思主义无神论研究中的当然课题。

Historically, China had no term for “atheism,” because China has traditionally been a country where polytheism and atheism coexisted. The concepts of “people-centered” (以人为本) and “the people are the foundation” (民为贵) are traditional ideas that have run through three thousand years of history. The coexistence of the creation of gods and the abolition of gods is the distinctive feature of Chinese religion. The elevation of conscious atheism to the philosophical level began with the emergence of the two concepts of “qi” (气) and “dao” (道), which completely eliminated the mysterious aspect of “heaven” (天) and the view of “man and heaven.” By the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, a hundred schools of thought contended, and religion had no independent status. From the Han and Wei dynasties onward, indigenous Daoism and imported Buddhism emerged, standing alongside Confucianism as the “three teachings,” forming a tripod and merging together to create a relatively stable cultural structure that lasted until the Opium War. Within this structure, Daoism regarded “immortals” (神仙) as the highest achievement of human cultivation; Buddhism listed “heavenly gods” (天神) among the sentient beings of the mundane world, granting them no special privileges, and even the Buddha, at the highest level of attainment, was an “awakened one” (觉者) accessible to all, not a creator god. Therefore, China never had a god who created the world and humanity, and never recognized the world or humanity as the creation of any god. Legend speaks of Pangu, who separated heaven and earth, and Nüwa, who created humans and mended the sky, but these are myths about the ancestors of the Chinese nation, absolutely not objects of faith. In ancient times, there was also a great flood, but the one who controlled the flood and saved the people was Yu the Great, not Noah receiving an ark from God. Fire was invented by Suirenshi through drilling wood, not a spark stolen by Prometheus from Zeus in heaven. The emphasis was on human nature; there were long debates over whether human nature was good or evil, but it was never acknowledged that humans were born sinful, nor was there any seeking of redemption from a savior. Precisely because of this, there was no Western-style theology or atheism that refuted theology. The oldest religious practice was divination to fathom the mandate of heaven (天命) or the fortunes of heaven (天运), which extended to physiognomy (reading bones and faces), fortune-telling based on the Eight Characters (八字), observing celestial phenomena, and geomancy (feng shui)—practices close to shamanism that are now criticized as ignorant superstition. In ancient times, opponents called this “rejecting the false and absurd” (疾虚妄). What truly had theoretical significance was the Buddhist advocacy of the “theory of the indestructibility of the spirit” (神不灭论) and the critics’ “theory of the destructibility of the spirit” (神灭论)—here “spirit” (神) refers only to the soul. Notions of ghosts and goblins (鬼魅魍魉) were widespread, collectively called “the theory of the existence of ghosts” (有鬼论), and opponents held “the theory of the non-existence of ghosts” (无鬼论). Other illegal idol worship was called “excessive sacrifices” (淫祀), and illegal religious-type organizations were called “evil cults” (邪教), and so on—none of these fall under the Western concept of atheism. The appearance of the concept of atheism in China is directly related to the introduction of Christianity. The first to use it was likely Zhang Taiyan in his “On Atheism” (《无神论》), which directly targeted Christianity and other monotheistic religions. Later, Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi, and other figures of the May Fourth Movement used it, further including China’s then-current “spiritual studies” (灵学, roughly equivalent to today’s “extraordinary powers”) and other ignorant superstitions within the scope of theism, using the term “atheism” to negate both the “god” of monotheism and all of these together. The atheism we commonly refer to mainly follows this tradition of the May Fourth Movement.

中国历史上没有无神论这个名称，因为中国传统上是一个多神主义与无神论并存的国家。“以人为本”和“民为贵”是贯彻3000年历史的传统观念，造神与废神并行才是中国的宗教特色。将自觉的无神论提到哲学层面的，当从“气”与“道”两个概念的产生开始，它们完全排除了“天”以及“人天”观的神秘性一面；以至到了春秋战国，百家争鸣，没有宗教的独立地位。自汉魏以来有了土产的道教和外来的佛教，与儒家并列为三，鼎立而合流，形成鸦片战争之前相对稳定的文化结构。其中道教把“神仙”看作是“人”修炼的最高成就；佛教把“天神”列在世间众生行列，没有任何特权，即使最高果位的佛也是人人可及的“觉者”，而不是造物主；因此，我国从来不存在创世造人的神，不承认世界和人是什么神的创造物。传说中有开天辟地的盘古，有造人补天的女娲，但他们都是关于华夏祖先的神话，绝对不是信仰对象；远古也发过大洪水，治水救民的是大禹，不是上帝给予诺亚的方舟；火是燧人氏钻木的发明，不是普罗米修斯从天上宙斯那里偷下来的火种。重视的是人性，有人性善恶的长期争论，但绝不承认人先天有罪，也不会寻求救世主的救赎。正因如此，也就没有西方那样的神学和驳难神学的无神论。最古老的宗教行为是窥测天命或天运的占卜，推而广之是看骨相、面相、算八字，观天象、看风水之类的近乎巫觋而今被批判为愚昧迷信的部分，古代的反对者名之为“疾虚妄”；而真正具有理论意义的是佛教所倡“神不灭论”，以及批判者的“神灭论”——此“神”仅指灵魂；鬼魅魍魉之类的观念很普遍，统称“有鬼论”，反对者即是“无鬼论”；其他非法的偶像崇拜称为“淫祀”，非法的宗教类组织名为“邪教”，如此等等，都不属于西方无神论的概念。中国无神论概念的出现，与基督教的传入直接有关，首先使用者，当是章太炎的《无神论》，它的锋芒直指基督教等一神教；而后为陈独秀、胡适等“五四”人物所用，进一步将中国当时的“灵学”（相当今天的“特异功能”）以及其他愚昧迷信也列入了有神论范围，用“无神论”一词连同一神教的“神”一起全部否定之。我们通常指谓的无神论，主要是沿袭“五四”的这一传统。

III. The Core of Religious Faith and Its Ideological and Social Nature

三 宗教的信仰内核及其意识形态和社会性质

People are often vague in their use of terms and concepts, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and this can lead to significant differences in interpretation and writing. The word “religion” (宗教) is one such term. It is said that there are countless definitions of religion both at home and abroad. Recently, Comrade Li Shen also examined its etymology. Here I will only discuss three current understandings. First, it refers to religious concepts, including ghosts (spirits), gods (deities), the other world (heaven and hell), and supernatural forces (feng shui, the Eight Characters, physiognomy, divination, extraordinary powers, etc.)—this is also the scope covered by “theism.” Second, religious behavior refers to the actions manifested by religious concepts, such as sacrifices, prayers, worship, rituals, festivals, and related collective behaviors. These often have local and ethnic characteristics, and some have even transformed into folk customs. These two categories of “religion” embody “faith” itself; they belong to the pure category of faith, may have cultural significance, but do not possess an ideological or social nature. In this regard, I would not object to saying that religion has a “mass character,” “ethnic character,” or “long-term nature,” and that it will not disappear even in communist society, because their emergence is largely constrained by psychological, physiological, and even pathological conditions, as well as by traditional customs and habits. Third, when religious concepts and religious behaviors are ideological and organized into social groups, they become “religion” in the complete sense, possessing social functions. Such religion is constrained by the social base and obeys the historical laws of social development; theism is then endowed with social functions beyond its faith. In summary, these three forms of religion in the popular context all share theism as their commonality; theism is the core of all religions. Religions like Feuerbach’s “religion of love,” today’s “moral” religion, Einstein’s religion that expelled a personal god and urged pastors to become teachers, and Zhang Taiyan’s religion based on “consciousness-only philosophy” (唯识哲学) in China—all of these have removed the core of theism and belong to the category of atheism, completely altering the original meaning of religion. Incorporating atheism into the concept of religion is like a square circle or white black—a logical contradiction, and this article does not adopt it. Some people also refer to the workers’ party guided by Marxism as a “religion,” but that is a political maneuver not worth discussing.

人们在使用名词概念上往往比较模糊，有意或无意地用于解读和作文，差别可以很大，“宗教”这个词汇是其中之一。据说，国内外关于宗教的定义就多到不可胜数，最近李申同志还考察了它的词源，我这里只讲人们当下的三种理解。第一，是指宗教观念，包括鬼（灵魂）神（上帝）、彼岸世界（天堂地狱）以及超自然力量（风水八字、相面占卦、特异功能）等，这也是“有神论”涵盖的范围。第二，宗教行为，指宗教观念所表现的行为，诸如祭祀、祈祷、膜拜、仪式、节日以及与之有关的群体性行为，它们往往具有地方的和民族的特点，有些还转化成民俗。这两类“宗教”体现的是“信仰”自身，属纯粹的信仰范畴，或有文化意义，但不具意识形态和社会属性。就此而言，说宗教具有“群众性”、“民族性”或“长期性”，到共产主义社会也不会消失，我不会反对，因为它们的产生，在很大程度上受制于心理、生理甚至病理的状况以及传统的风俗习惯影响。第三，宗教观念和宗教行为被意识形态化和作为社会团体组织起来，即具有了社会性能的完备意义上的“宗教”，它受制于社会基础，服从社会发展的历史规律，有神论也就被赋予了其信仰之外的社会功能。总此大众语境下的三种宗教形态，均以有神论为共性，有神论是所有宗教的内核；像费尔巴哈的“爱”的宗教，现今的“道德”宗教，爱因斯坦驱逐了人格神和劝令牧师改作教师的宗教，以及中国章太炎的以“唯识哲学”建立的宗教，都抽掉了有神论内核，而属无神论范畴，完全改变了宗教的本意——将无神论纳入宗教概念，是圆形的方、白色的黑，逻辑矛盾，本文不取。有人把以马克思主义为指导思想的工人政党也称之为“宗教”，那是一种政治动作，不值得讨论。

Regarding the above-mentioned social religious organizations and their countless sects, religion does not possess long-term character, only “historical character”; it does not possess national character, only “mutability.” There is abundant evidence for this in both history and reality. The most influential “religion” in antiquity was undoubtedly Zoroastrianism (the religion of the Fire-Worshippers). It emerged roughly in the 7th–6th centuries BCE, was one of the sources of Christian thought, and may also have influenced Buddhism. Its place of origin was Persia (Iran); it flourished in Central Asia and was transmitted to China during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Its founder, Zoroaster, is rendered in Chinese as “Suluzhi” and in the West is commonly called “Zarathustra,” hence Nietzsche’s work *Also sprach Zarathustra* is also translated as *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*. What was the fate of a religion with such enormous influence? After the 7th century CE, it essentially vanished from Persia and the Central Asian region; in China it disappeared without a trace after the Song Dynasty, and it is said that today only a very small number or scattered believers remain in India and elsewhere. This shows that its faith was not confined to the Persian people; the Persians who once believed in it have long since discarded it. The Chinese could accept it, and they could equally abandon it. Furthermore, the claim that religion has its own independent laws of emergence and development, and that it cannot be fostered or eliminated by administrative means, is not necessarily true either. Buddhism’s homeland was India; after the 11th century, it was essentially driven out of the country. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Buddhist scholars from China and abroad hoped it would be reborn in India, but to this day it has not amounted to much. It seems never to have become India’s national religion, yet it has continued to survive and flourish in the Sino-Tibetan and Pali language families. Central Asia was once the most developed region for Buddhism; from the 3rd–2nd centuries BCE to the 7th–8th centuries CE, it was essentially a Buddhist sphere of influence, but later it became a unified Islamic domain, and Buddhism was basically eliminated by administrative, even violent, means [6]6 (英)渥德尔:《印度佛教史》, 王世安译, 商务印书馆1987年版. — A.K. Warder, *Indian Buddhism*, translated by Wang Shi’an, Commercial Press, 1987 edition.. In Afghanistan, a few traces of stone Buddhas that remained were also recently dynamited by human hands. Today, the birth and death of religious groups is clearly accelerating; religions that qualify as “new religious movements” almost all share this attribute of impermanence in emergence and extinction. As for Christianity, it has spread across the globe and is striving to become the state religion of relevant countries or the ethnic religion of relevant peoples—is this not so? From the Opium War onward, it sought to Christianize China; up to the beginning of the last century, it implemented the “Christian Occupation of China” project, and down to the present day, “theology” has entered China’s institutions of higher learning and national research institutes, all of which shows that Christianity is by no means content to stop in Western countries and be a Western religion; rather, it expects other countries and other peoples to change their non-Christian traditions and adopt Christianity as their state or ethnic religion. In contrast, the decline of Christianity in Europe is already a consensus. A single scandal over child abuse has stripped the Pope of his sacred aura and bankrupted the Church. Huntington wrote a book lamenting that Americans, as believers in Anglo-Saxon Protestantism, are asking: “Who are we?” The overall prospects are thus clear. And so on and so forth—all this proves that religion indeed has no essence of its own, nor its own history; its essence and history lie entirely in its social character. Its laws are governed by the laws of social-historical development. Understanding religion must penetrate to its social foundation. How are religious ideas and religious behavior ideological, thereby manifesting their social character? This requires support from many empirical sciences; this article can only offer a brief sketch. The major existing world religions can be divided into monotheistic and polytheistic; here, monotheism is exemplified by Christianity, and polytheism by Buddhism.

就上述具有社会性的宗教组织和难以数尽的教派而言，宗教不具有长期性，只有“历史性”：不具民族性，只有“多变性”。这在历史和现实中都有大量的例证。古代影响最大的“宗教”当属琐罗亚斯德教（祆教），它大约产生在公元前7-6世纪，是基督教的思想来源之一，对佛教也可能发生过影响；它的产地是波斯（伊朗），盛行于中亚，南北朝时传入中国。它的教主琐罗亚斯德，中译“苏鲁支”，西方通称“查拉斯图拉”，故尼采所著《苏鲁支语录》亦译作《查拉斯图拉如是说》。影响如此巨大的一种宗教结局如何? 公元7世纪之后，基本上从波斯和中亚地带灭亡，中国自宋朝之后也销声匿迹，据说今天在印度等地还有极少数或零星的信仰者。由此可见，它的信仰并不限于波斯民族，信仰过它的波斯民族早已将其丢弃；中国人可以接受，同样可以放弃。又，说宗教有自己独立的产生和发展规律，不可以用行政手段扶植或消灭，也不一定。佛教的故土是印度，11世纪以后，基本上被驱出境外；19—20世纪之际，中外佛教界学者曾期望它在印度重生，但至今依然不成气候；它似乎始终没有成为印度的民族宗教，但却在汉藏语系和巴利文语系持续地生存与繁荣。中亚地带曾是佛教最发达的地区，从公元前3—2世纪到公元7—8世纪，那里基本上是佛教的势力范围，但后来却成了伊斯兰的一统天下，佛教基本上是用行政的甚至暴力的手段给消灭的（（英）渥德尔：《印度佛教史》，王世安译，商务印书馆1987年版。）；在阿富汗还留有些微遗迹的石佛，也在最近被人为地爆除了。到了今天，宗教团体的生灭速度明显加快，作为“新宗教运动”的宗教，几乎都有这种生灭无常的属性。至于基督宗教遍及全球，而且在努力把它变成有关国家的国教或相关民族的族教——不是么，从鸦片战争就想把中国基督教化，至上个世纪初实施“中华归主”工程以至今天“神学”进入我国高等院校和国家研究机构，表明基督教绝不甘心停止在西方国家，做西方宗教，而是期望他国和他民族改变非基督教的传统，奉基督教为国教或族教。与此相反，欧洲基督宗教日趋没落，已成共识；一条娈童丑闻，就使教皇的圣光扫地，教会破产；亨廷顿著书哀叹，作为盎格鲁-撤克逊新教信仰的美国人在问：“我们是谁?”其整体前景可知。如此等等，证明宗教确实没有自身的本质，也没有自身的历史，它的本质和历史全在于它的社会性；它的规律，就是受社会历史发展的规律所支配。对宗教的认识，必须深入到它的社会基础中去。宗教观念和宗教行为是如何被意识形态化从而体现它的社会性的? 这需要许多实证科学的支持，本文只能作一简略地描绘。现存的世界诸大宗教可以区分为一神教和多神教；这里的一神教即以基督教为例，多神教可以佛教为例。

The core of Christian faith is undoubtedly God, revered as the sole deity, which is also the only uncontested referent of its theism. The corresponding religious behaviors are prayer, sacrifice (sacrifice to God later alienated into offerings to the church), and other verbal and physical acts directly related to God. All of this existed before Christianity was organized. We regard the Bible as the completion of Christianity’s organization; it has been transmitted for nearly two thousand years and is still regarded by believers as the sole authoritative text. There are many works introducing and appreciating it, and countless theologies have arisen from it, which continue to proliferate even now. In the last ten-plus years, a so-called “extra-ecclesial theology” has even emerged in our country, which, together with so-called “religious studies” research, has become quite popular in the “field of religious culture.” But none of this can serve as the basis for understanding Christianity; to trace it to its source, one must start with the Bible.

基督教信仰的核心无疑是上帝，被尊为唯一的神，这也是它的有神论指谓的唯一不存在争论的对象；与之相应的宗教行为当是祈祷、祭祀（对神的祭祀后来异化为对教会的奉献）以及其他与神直接关联的语言举止。这一切都存在于基督教被组织起来之前。我们把《圣经》视为基督教组织化的完成，它流传了近两千年，迄今仍为信徒奉为唯一的权威读本。介绍和鉴赏它的作品很多，由此产生的神学无数，现在仍然滋生繁衍；近10多年来，我们国内还兴起了所谓“教外神学”，与所谓“宗教学”研究一起，在“宗教文化领域”相当走红。但这都不能作为认识基督教的根据，追本溯源，都得从《圣经》谈起。

The distinctive feature of the Bible is that it expands the faith centered on “God” into a system of doctrine expressed in the form of myths and legends, bearing the entire complex ideology of Christianity and serving as the original text from which successive theologies have developed all kinds of Christian thought. This has added or appended countless things to the simple faith in God that have little to do with faith itself. Here, we will examine only those parts particularly relevant to our real life.

《圣经》的特色是把以“神”为核心的信仰扩展成了以神话传说形式表达出来的教义体系，承载着基督教全部复杂的意识形态，并成为历代神学据以发展基督教各类思想的原本，这就给单纯对上帝的信仰，附加或增添了无数与信仰无甚干系的东西——在这里，仅以其中与我们现实生活关系特别密切的部分略作考察。

The opening of the Old Testament is Genesis, which mainly records God’s creation of the world and humanity. Note: that the world and humanity are both creations of God is a common point of all monotheisms, all of which can be called “Creator”; the difference lies only in the name of the deity. The Chinese translation of the Christian God’s name is “Shangdi” or “Tianzhu”; his original name is “Yahweh.” The natural world he created is said to be for the purpose of settling humanity and allowing humans to manage it; the purpose of creating humanity itself is unclear. Some say that God’s creation of the world and humanity only serves to display “God’s life and authority” and “to make the earth God’s kingdom.” Regardless, this establishes the foundational relationship between God and humanity: God is the Father, humans are God’s children, so believers address each other as brothers and sisters; God is the Lord, humans are God’s servants, so believers never stop saying “Lord” and adopt a posture of humility; God is the Shepherd, humans are the sheep being shepherded, and church pastors are the专职 personnel who shepherd people on God’s behalf; sheep must forever depend on the shepherd; God is the Giver of grace, humans are the recipients of grace, and humans must forever be grateful for God’s grace, concretized as confessing to and making offerings to church clergy. And so on—this forms the first layer of Christian doctrine.

《圣经•旧约》的开篇是《创世纪》，主要是记上帝创世造人的——注意：世界和人都是神的创造物，是一神教的共同点，均可以称作“造物主”，差别仅在于神的名称不同；基督教的神的汉译名字是“上帝”或曰“天主”，本名“耶和华”。他所造的自然界，据说是为了安顿人的生存和让人给以管理的；至于造人的目的就不清楚了。有说，神之创世造人只在于显示“神的生命和权柄”，“使地上成为神的国度”。不论怎样，这样就确定了神与人之间的基础关系：神是父，人是神的子女，所以教徒之间即以兄弟姊妹相称；神是主，人是神之仆，所以信徒口不离“主”，自居谦卑；神是牧者，人即是被牧的羔羊，教会牧师就是代神牧人的专职人员；羔羊需要永远依赖牧者；神是施恩者，人是受恩者，人要永远感激神的恩惠，具体化就是向教会神职人员忏悔、作奉献。如此等等，形成基督教的第一重教义。

Everyone knows that the first humans created by God were Adam and Eve, who lived in the Garden of Eden in heaven. The first ancestors did not obey God’s command; they ate the fruit of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” acquired “wisdom,” “their eyes were opened,” and they knew the shame of nakedness, thereby angering God. God immediately cast them down to earth, not only “cursing” Eve as a woman but also burdening all of humanity with “original sin.” From then on, God regarded humanity as criminals, and humanity became God’s enemy. On one occasion, God became so angry that he resolved to destroy all his creations, so he sent a great flood to drown everything in the world, but at the last moment he showed mercy and preserved Noah’s family, allowing them to be saved in an ark. God’s hatred for humanity is so profound that Christian faith makes the “redemption” of humanity the sole task of life. The common phrase “I am a sinner” in the humility of believers originates from this; and using offerings to atone for sin, selling indulgences, became a direct source of income for the church and its clergy. Thus, the doctrines of “original sin” and “redemption” became the second fundamental layer of Christian doctrine. Among the scholars currently pushing to Christianize China, there is a faction that completely negates traditional Chinese culture, their main reason being that the Chinese people, from ancient times, have not known they have sin and are blindly arrogant.

大家都知道，上帝所造人的始祖是亚当和夏娃，生活在天上的伊甸园。始祖没有遵从上帝的嘱咐，偷吃了“分别善恶的树”上的果实，具有了“智慧”，“眼睛明亮了”，知道了赤身露体的羞耻，从而触怒了上帝，立即将他们赶到了地上，不但“诅咒”作为女性的夏娃，而且连带整个人类都负上了“原罪”。从此上帝即视人类为罪犯，人类与上帝结为仇敌——有一次上帝发怒，决心将他的创造物全部毁灭，所以发特大洪水淹没了世上的一切，到了最后一刻突发慈悲，保留了诺亚一家，让他们乘方舟得救。上帝对人类的仇恨是如此之深重，促使基督教信仰把人的“救赎”当成人生的唯一要务。教徒谦卑中的通常语“我有罪”，就是来源于此；而用奉献赎罪，出售赎罪券，则成了教会和神牧人员的直接财源。这样，“原罪”论和“救赎”论，就成了基督教第二重基本教义。当前力促把中国基督教化的学者中有一派是全盘否定中国传统文化的，主要理由就是中国人自古以来不知道自己有罪而盲目自大。

These two fundamental doctrines illustrate a principle: humanity is God’s creation, and God absolutely cannot tolerate humans possessing wisdom, especially the ability to distinguish good from evil, right from wrong, and beauty from ugliness. Human nature is sin; human life can only crawl on the ground, “obedient like a dog, patient like an angel” (Heine’s words), and cannot stand upright, raise its head, and live with self-respect and independence. From the perspective of us ordinary Chinese, God is used to stupefy the people; only by not “thinking” or lacking “thinking” can the sincerity of faith be guaranteed.

这两条根本教义说明了一个道理：人是上帝的创造物，神绝对不能忍容人具有智慧，特别是辨别善恶、是非和美丑的能力；人的本性即是罪恶，人生只可以匍匐于地，“像狗一样的顺从，像天使一样忍耐”（海涅语），而不能直起腰、昂起头来自尊自立的生活，这从我们中国俗人来看，上帝就是用来愚民的；只有不“思考”或缺“思考”才能保证信仰的虔诚。

Clearly, this kind of doctrine has already exceeded the scope of theism and the original meaning of faith; it adds to the object of theistic belief a unique system of worldview, outlook on life, and values, reflecting specific social relations and secular interests, and also providing more room for adaptation to the social attributes of Christianity.

很明显，这类教义已经超出有神论的范围和信仰的本义，是给有神论信仰对象增添的一种独特的世界观、人生观和价值观体系，反映着特定的社会关系和世俗利益，也给基督宗教的社会属性提供了更多适应的空间。

The Book of Exodus contains the famous "Ten Commandments," among which are these words:

《出埃及记》中载有著名的“摩西十诫”，其中有这样的话：

"I am the LORD your God… You shall have no other gods before me… for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments."

我是耶和华你的神……除了我以外你不可有别的神……我耶和华你的神，是忌邪的神。恨我的，我必追讨他的罪，自父及子，直到三代四代。爱我守我诫命的，我必向他们发慈爱，直到千代。

Another passage records:

另记：

"You shall not permit a sorceress to live… Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the LORD alone, shall be devoted to destruction."

行邪的女人，不可容他存活……祭祀别的神，不单单祭祀耶和华的，那人必要灭绝。

This kind of commandment or precept adds to Christianity an absolute exclusivity and expansiveness toward the outside, and an absolute closedness and cohesiveness toward the inside. These two aspects are both for the purpose of ensuring a high degree of unity in thought and belief, and maintaining a high degree of concentration in church organization. Their actual manifestation is a hostile attitude toward pagans, becoming the internal basis for launching religious wars; internally, they implement extreme ideological tyranny, serving as the classical basis for persecuting heretics and establishing the Inquisition. On this basis, the large-scale burning of witches in the name of "devils" alone prevailed for two or three hundred years, reaching its climax from the 15th to the 18th century, while in England and Scotland it did not formally end until the 19th century. According to Russell's estimate, several million people were persecuted because of the commandment "You shall not permit a sorceress to live." As for implementing the rule "Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the LORD alone, shall be devoted to destruction," its effect must inevitably be belligerence. The so-called "Crusades" against Muslim countries were fought eight times over nearly 200 years (1095-1291); more recently, the Iraq War was declared by the U.S. President in a "slip of the tongue" as a "second crusade." As for the sectarian struggles within Christianity itself, from the unified Catholic Church split the Eastern Orthodox Church, and then the Reformation split off Protestantism again; each of these splits was invariably accompanied by abundant bloodshed. For example, in the 17th century, "during the Cromwell period, English Protestants slaughtered at least 30,000 Irish people. To cover up their atrocities, they fabricated a myth claiming it was revenge for Irish Catholics killing 30,000 Protestants." This hatred persists to this day, with shadows still lingering. During the spread of Christianity to the Qing Dynasty, the so-called Rites Controversy occurred; after the Opium War, Christianity became a cultural tool for Western imperialist aggression against China, producing a continuous stream of "missionary cases," leading to the Eight-Nation Alliance's bloody sack of Beijing; not long after the Xinhai Revolution, Western Christianity launched a movement to "occupy China" through Christianity, which triggered a nationwide "anti-Christian movement." Behind all this, Christianity, relying on colonial power, implemented its doctrine of expansion and exclusivity—the final form of the practice of expansion and exclusivity being cultural aggression and war of bloodshed.

这类诫命或诫条，给基督教添加的是对外的绝对排他性及扩张性，对内的绝对封闭性及内聚性，这二者都是为了保障思想信仰上的高度统一，维护教会组织上的高度集中，实际表现则是对异教徒持敌对态度，成为发动宗教战争的内在依据；对内实施思想的极端专制，是迫害异端，成立宗教裁判所的经典依据。据此，仅以“魔鬼”名义大规模烧杀女巫就流行了二三百年，从15世纪至18世纪是高潮，而英格兰和苏格兰到19世纪才算正式结束。据罗素估计，由于“行邪的女人，不可容他存活”这一诫条而受迫害者达几百万人。至于贯彻“祭祀别的神，不单单祭祀耶和华的，那人必要灭绝”，其效用必然好战成性。所谓“十字军东征”对穆斯林国家的战争前后8次，打了近200年（1095-1291）；新近的伊拉克战争，在美国总统的“口误”中也宣布为“第二次十字军东征”；至于基督教自身的教派之争，从统一的天主教分裂出东正教，而后宗教改革再次分裂出耶稣新教；这每次分裂不带有十足的血腥是没有的。举例说，17世纪“在克伦威尔时期，英国的新教徒至少屠杀了三万爱尔兰人，他们为了掩盖自己的兽行，就捏造一个神话，说什么这是为了对爱尔兰天主教徒杀戮三万新教徒实行的报复”，这仇恨延续至今，仍有阴影笼罩。在基督教向清朝传播时，曾发生过所谓礼仪之争；鸦片战争之后，基督教变而成为西方帝国主义侵华的文化工具，制造的“教案”不断，导致八国联军血洗北京；辛亥革命不久，西方基督教又发动了一次基督教“占领中国”的运动，由此触发了全国规模的“非基督教运动”。这一切的背后是基督教借殖民主义之力，行其扩张和排他之教义——扩张排他性的实践的最后形式即是文化侵略与流血战争。

Its "closedness" lies in strictly controlling believers, employing every conceivable means from ideological brainwashing to organizational punishment. "Atheism" is the greatest crime, and "heresy" cannot escape the death penalty either; that science has been enslaved is also common knowledge. Of course, it is now difficult for religious trials involving life and death to exist openly in the West, but this does not mean other monotheistic religions are not still continuing them. Even the "awe" generated by doctrinal intimidation and temptation is not uncommon in today's open world, and its degree of terror can make everyone feel endangered. Some scholars euphemistically call this national or ethnic "cohesion," treating it as a virtue that contemporary Chinese culture should also imitate—one wonders what kind of thinking this is.

它的“封闭性”，在于严格控制教徒，从思想洗脑到组织处罚，无所不用其极。“无神论”是最大的罪名，“异端”也逃脱不了死刑，而科学之被奴婢化，也是常识了。当然，现在要动用关乎性命的宗教审判在西方是难以公开存在了，但不等于其他一神教不在继续沿用。仅就教义上的恐吓和诱惑所具有的“敬畏”力，在当今开放的世界也不少见，其恐怖的程度能使人人自危。有学者美其名曰民族或国家的“内聚力”，当作今天的中国文化也应当模仿的美德，真不知是何种思维。

The New Testament has some changes, especially as promoted by Protestantism. For instance, the Old Testament emphasizes revenge: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" is its famous saying; the New Testament does the opposite: "If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." The Old Testament says: "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy," while the New Testament says: "Love your enemies"—thus "tolerance" and "love" became the most resonant and heart-winning slogans of Protestantism's propagation of the "Gospel." Among these, "love your neighbor as yourself" is regarded together with the Confucian "Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself" as the golden rule of morality. Apart from the test of practice—"listen to their words and observe their deeds"—it is also worthwhile to examine the actual content of the original text and its original meaning. The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament; let us take this book as an example:

《新约》有了一些变化，特别为“新教”所推崇。譬如《旧约》强调复仇：“以眼还眼，以牙还牙”是它的名句；《新约》则反其道而行之：“有人打你的右脸，连左脸也转过来由他打”。《旧约》说：“当爱你的邻舍，恨你的仇敌”，《新约》说：“要爱你们的仇敌”——于是“宽容”和“爱”就成了新教传播“福音”最响亮也最赢取人心的口号。其中“爱人如己”还与儒家的“己所不欲，勿施于人”一起被视作道德的黄金律。这除了实践的检验——“听其言观其行”之外，不妨也看看原文原义的实际内容是什么。《马太福音》是《新约》的第一卷，我们就以此卷为例：

"Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.'"

“耶稣对他说，你要尽心、尽性、尽意，爱主你的上帝，这是诫命中的第一，且是最大的。其次也相仿，就是爱人如己。这两条诫命是律法和先知一切道理的总纲。”

This "first," and also the premise, is to love God; your love should not be selfish, limited only to self-interest, but should also be extended to others, shared with them. Therefore, you love God, and you should also let others love God; you do not want to go to hell but desire heaven and eternal life, and you should also let others understand this kind of doctrine and believe in this religion. In this way, "love your neighbor as yourself" becomes equivalent to proselytizing, becoming an emotional investment in preaching. By the same logic, one can also understand the true meaning of "love your enemies" and why this is said to be the "sum of all the Law and the Prophets" of Christianity. There is now a song—"Let the World Be Filled with Love"—this is a wish of ordinary people like us, which is fundamentally different from Christianity's "universal love." This is not my arbitrary judgment; there is also scriptural evidence—Jesus said:

这“第一”的，也是作为前提的，乃是爱上帝；你的这种爱不应该自私，仅限于利己，而应该同时施之于人，与他人同享，所以你爱上帝，也应该让他人爱上帝；你不爱下地狱，而爱上天堂永生，也应该让他人懂得这类教义，信仰这种宗教。如此之类，“爱人如己”就等同于传教，成为传教的一种情感付出。同样道理，也可以理解“爱你的仇敌”的真实意义，以及为什么说这是基督教“一切道理的总纲”。现在有首歌曲——“让世界充满爱”，这是我们普通人的一种愿望，与基督教“普世的爱”有原则差别。这不是我的武断，也有经文为证——耶稣说：

"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

我来，并不是叫地上太平，乃是叫地上动刀兵。因为我来，是叫人与父亲生疏，女儿与母亲生疏，媳妇与婆婆生疏。人的仇敌就是自己家里的人。爱父母过于爱我的，不配做我的门徒；爱女儿过于爱我的，不配做我的门徒。不背着他的十字架跟从我的，也不配做我的门徒。得着生命的，将要失丧生命；为我失丧生命的，将要得着生命”。

"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life."

凡为我的名撇下房屋或是兄弟、姐妹、父亲、母亲（妻子）、儿女田地的，必将得着百倍，并且承受永生。

Scholars of religious ethics should not overlook this kind of content in the Bible's New Testament. Assuming that "a person's enemies will be those of his own household"; for the sake of loving God, one must even alienate relationships with one's own parents, children, brothers, and sisters—how can one speak of the universality of its love? If brotherly and sisterly relationships can only exist within the church, or if the only recognized father is God, does that kind of "love" not amount to declaring all non-Christians as enemies—"a person's enemies will be those of his own household"—this assertion alone is chilling. The best way to "love your enemies" is to make your relatives and friends, including your neighbors, all convert to Christianity and believe in God.

研究宗教伦理学的学者不应该忽视《圣经•新约》的这类内容。假定“人的仇敌就是自己家里的人”；为了爱上帝，连自己的父母子女兄弟姐妹之间的关系都必须疏离，何谈其爱的普世性? 假若兄弟姐妹的关系只能存在于教内，或承认唯一的父是上帝，那种“爱”不是等于宣布对非基督教信仰者都是仇敌么——“人的仇敌就是自己家里的人”，这一断语本身就令人毛骨悚然。“爱你的仇敌”的最佳途径，就是让你的亲朋好友包括你的邻居全去皈依基督教，信仰上帝。

In the New Testament, exclusivity and closedness not only do not disappear but are strengthened, strengthened to the point of hostility toward the family and estrangement from loved ones, with only total devotion to Christianity offering a way to survive—for the sake of faith, even death is life, a temporary death exchanged for eternal life. Correspondingly, the mission for believers to preach and teach is further increased. Jesus said:

在《新约》里，排他性和封闭性不仅没有消失，而且强化了，强化到从仇视家庭、背离亲人，唯有全身心地依附基督教才有生路的程度——为了信仰，即使死，也是生，暂时的死，换得永恒的生。与此相应，是更增添了教徒必须传教布道的使命。耶稣说：

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

天上地下所有的权柄都赐给我了。所以你们要去，使万民作我的门徒，奉父子圣灵的名，给他们施洗。凡我所吩咐你们的都教训他们遵守，我就常与你们同在，直到世界的末了。

The Gospel of Mark also repeats this teaching:

《马可福音》也重复了这一教诫：

"Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned… So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs."

你们往普天下去，传福音给万民听。信而受洗的必然得救，不信的必被定罪……主耶稣和他们说完了话，后来被接到天上，坐在上帝的右边。门徒出去，到处宣传福音，主和他们同工，用神迹随着，证实所传的道。

Some of our scholars who are now keen to promote Christianity as a “universal religion” probably come from this kind of precept — as a believer, whether you are willing or not, you must simultaneously carry out the work of a missionary. In this way, if all believers and their scholars were truly to fulfill this, the ideological prohibition would become so impenetrable that not even a needle could pierce it, not even water could seep in; if it did not congeal and did not die, that would be truly strange. People call the Middle Ages the Dark Ages, and I think there is good reason for it, even though some scholars today talk up the “light” of the Middle Ages with great eloquence, trying to rehabilitate it.

我们现在的一些热衷于宣传基督教为“普世宗教”的学者，大约就来自这类教诫——作为教徒，不论你愿意还是不愿意，必须同时作着传教士的事业。这样，全体信徒及其学者们若真的履行起来，那思想的禁制真成了针插不进，水泼不进，不凝固、不死亡，那才叫怪呢。人们之所以称中世纪为黑暗时代，我看很有道理，尽管现在有学者把中世纪的“光明”说得天花乱坠，替它平反。

Since the Renaissance, the atheism that arose in the West has been directed mainly against Christianity, striving for liberation from the theocratic enslavement of Christianity and the shackles of medieval theology. Its fruits were the flourishing of science and democracy, the demise of feudalism, and the establishment of bourgeois civil society. But this new type of society was still built on the foundation of class antagonism. Christianity, after undergoing a thoroughgoing reform, changed its class character (the word “class” is not something I arbitrarily add; some Chinese theologians promoting *The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism* say exactly this), while its doctrine did not change; the *Bible* remained the same *Bible*. Only the object of its enslavement and service changed — people moved from enslavement by “theocracy” to enslavement by “capital,” and theology, having served theocracy, turned to serving capital. Hence, to struggle against this type of socially conditioned religion, Marxism emerged.

西方自文艺复兴以来兴起的无神论，针对的主要是基督教，力求从基督教的神权奴役和中世纪神学束缚中解放出来，其成果是科学与民主的发达，封建主义的灭亡，资产阶级公民社会的确立。但新的社会类型，依旧建立在阶级对立的基础上，基督教经过脱胎换骨的改革，变化的是阶级属性（“阶级”这个字眼不是我妄加的，中国的一些神学家鼓吹的《新教伦理与资本主义精神》，就是这样说的），教义没有变化，《圣经》依旧还是那部《圣经》，只是奴役和服务的对象变了——人们从“神权”的奴役改受“资本”的奴役，神学从为神权服务，也就改作为资本服务，于是为了与这类社会性质的宗教作斗争，有了马克思主义的产生。

I classify Buddhism as a polytheistic religion because it has no single sacred canon; its Tripitaka of sutras, vinaya, and abhidharma — in Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan — is immeasurably vast. Its monasteries may be found everywhere, but they are not subordinate to one another; each acts on its own. The deities it believes in, as well as other objects of worship such as scriptures, stupas, and dharma masters (living buddhas), are also infinitely varied. This shows that although it is listed as a world religion, it is ideologically, doctrinally, and organizationally disunified. The sole commonality is its insistence on karmic retribution and rebirth, where one reaps what one sows; it does not acknowledge, and even opposes, a single creator god. Theoretically, it advocates the “theory of dependent origination” and opposes “monocausalism.” One of its major characteristics is that wherever it spreads, it assimilates, including incorporating various deities and ghosts into its belief system. Thus, internally it eliminates wrong views, externally it opposes heterodoxies; overall its doctrine is moderate and its mode of development peaceful. But one must not deny that it also possesses the exclusivity and closedness inherent to religion, and its social character can equally lead to religious discrimination and conflict. The earliest Buddhist scripture to reach China, the *Sutra of Forty-Two Sections*, defines the human body as a “vessel of suffering,” the family as a “cage,” and regards abandoning wife and children to become a monk as “noble” — such is its pessimism and world-weariness. The famous *Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra* regards *icchantikas* [11]11 Emperor Wu of Liang (464–549 CE), personal name Xiao Yan, was the founding emperor of the Liang dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period. He was a devout Buddhist who built many temples and even took monastic vows several times. as enemies; the *Bodhisattva Prātimokṣa* [12]12 Fan Zhen (c. 450–515 CE) was a Chinese philosopher and official of the Liang dynasty, best known for his atheist treatise “On the Extinction of the Spirit” (Shenmie Lun), which argued that the spirit perishes with the body. deems it blameless to kill those who slander or oppose the Mahayana. Although these are extreme examples, they may reflect that historically Buddhism’s struggles with external religions were also very brutal. However, after Buddhism entered China proper, its doctrines and precepts underwent fundamental changes. Ethically, it had to adapt to Confucian concepts; the view that *icchantikas* also possess buddha-nature and can achieve buddhahood became mainstream, while the precepts were formulated independently, with both Mahayana and Hinayana vinaya being reformed. Buddhism in Japan differs again from that in China; it once possessed armed forces and experienced sectarian warfare. Tibetan Buddhism once served as an important link connecting the Han, Tibetan, Mongol, Manchu, and other ethnic groups, but the long-term system of theocracy turned it into a historical reaction; democratic reform liberated a million serfs and gave Tibetan Buddhism a new life. Yet to eliminate old influences and fully realize the democratic principle of separation of religion from politics, there is still interference from hostile forces to this day. All these are manifestations of the social character of religion, things appended to it beyond belief.

我把佛教作为多神信仰的宗教，在于它没有唯一的圣典，就其经律论三藏而言，巴利文和梵文、汉文和藏文，多得不可胜数。它的寺院可能遍天下，但却互不隶属，各行其是。它所信仰的神祇以及经书、塔庙、法师（活佛）等其他崇拜对象，也是千差万别。这说明，它虽然被列为世界性宗教，但在思想上、信仰上和组织上都是不统一的。唯一的共性，是坚持业报轮回，自作自受，不承认甚至反对能够创世造人的唯一神；在理论上则唱“缘起说”，反对“一因论”。它的一大特色是流行到哪里就融入到哪里，包括收容种种神祇和鬼怪进入他的信仰体系，所以它内祛邪见，外反外道，总体上教义是温和的，发展形式是和平的，但绝不能否认它同时也具宗教固有的排他性和封闭性，它的社会性同样能够导致宗教歧视和宗教冲突。来华最早的佛经《四十二章经》定人身为“苦具”，家庭为“牢笼”，以弃妻子出家为“高尚”，其悲观厌世如此；著名的《大般涅槃经》视“一阐提”为仇敌，《菩萨戒本》认定诛杀诽谤和反对大乘者无罪，虽是极端的例子，可能反映了历史上佛教与外教的斗争也是十分残酷。不过佛教进入中国内地，教义和戒律都有了根本性变化，伦理上要适应儒家观念，“一阐提”亦具佛性、亦可成佛的主张成了主流，而戒律则自行制定，大乘戒和小乘律都被改造了。佛教在日本又与中国不同，它曾拥有武装，发生过教派战争。藏传佛教曾作为汉藏蒙满等诸多民族连结的重要纽带，但长期的政教合一体制，使它变成历史的反动，民主改革解放了百万农奴，也使藏传佛教得到新生；然而要肃清旧的影响，彻底实现政教分离的民主原则，迄今仍有敌对势力的干扰。这些，都属于宗教的社会性使然，是在信仰之外被附加进去的东西。

IV. The Historical Role and Current Tasks of Scientific Atheism

四 科学无神论的历史作用和当前任务

From a Western perspective, the existence of scientific atheism as a mode of thought is concentratedly reflected in the fact that scientific rationality has come to dominate the realm of modern human thought, while religion itself is placed under the scrutiny and judgment of scientific rationality. As a mode of life, its existence is manifested in the degree and speed of societal secularization, which has squeezed religious life into a position where it must be thoroughly transformed or even become unsustainable. Religious sentiment, religious ethics, and religious morality are being replaced by interpersonal sentiment, human ethics, social morality, and even legal provisions. The era when religion encompassed all disciplines and commanded all modes of life began to disintegrate as early as 200 years ago. Today, the territory left to it is meager and countable. The rapid development of science, education, and philosophy makes religious theology appear ever more petty and insignificant. Some relics have already entered museums or are preserved as cultural artifacts; some religious gestures and festivals are increasingly passed down as traditional customs. The status and role of gods have basically been replaced by the status and role of human beings. In recent decades, there has indeed been a degree of religious revival in different regions, but a brief analysis shows that this is mainly not due to theism at work, but rather to its social function being artificially elevated and strengthened — its theism is being used by certain states and certain groups as a means to seek political power and economic interests, manifesting a regression of civilization, a historical reaction.

从西方看，科学无神论作为一种思维方式的存在，集中反映在科学理性已经占据现代人类思维领域的支配地位，宗教自身则被放置在科学理性的视线和评判之下；作为生活方式的存在，则是社会世俗化的程度和速度，将宗教生活挤压到必须彻底改变以至难以为继的地位。宗教感情、宗教伦理、宗教道德，正在被人际感情、人间伦理和社会道德、甚至法律条文所替代。宗教曾经包容一切学科、统帅全部生活方式的时代，早在200年前就开始瓦解了，如今给它剩余的地盘了了可数，科学、教育和哲学突飞猛进的发展，越显得宗教神学的渺小和微不足道。一些遗迹已经进入博物馆或作为文物被保存起来，一些宗教举止和宗教节日，越来越作为传统习俗而流传：神的地位和作用基本上已被人的地位和作用所取代。近数十年来，在不同地区宗教确有不同程度的复归模样，但稍作分析可见，这主要不是它的有神论在起作用，而是它的社会性能在被人为地抬高和加强——它的有神论在被某些国家和某些集团当作谋取政治势力和经济利益的手段，呈现出一种文明的倒退，历史的反动。

This kind of situation urgently requires comprehensive assessment and investigation, and it must be closely linked to the overall situation of international relations and the social changes in the relevant countries — such as why international terrorism, religious extremism, and ethnic separatism have become global problems. Why do the local wars and social upheavals that have occurred and are ongoing always involve religion and occur with such frequency? We are not capable of making a comprehensive assessment and analysis of such matters, but in examining the social function of religion, this is an absolutely indispensable background. Even looking at the current state of religious and theistic activities in our country can illustrate some issues.

这类情况，急需做全面的评估和探讨，而且必须与国际关系的整体形势和相关国家的社会变化紧密联系起来——诸如国际恐怖主义、宗教极端主义、民族分裂主义为什么会成为全球性问题? 已经发生和正在进行中的局部战争与社会动乱为什么总有宗教的参与而且频发不已? 如此之类，我们没有能力做出全面的估量和分析，但在考察宗教的社会性能方面，却是绝对不容忽略的背景。即以我国当前的宗教和有神论的活动状况，也颇能说明一些问题。

Reform and opening up have brought comprehensive development to our country, with unprecedented growth in productive forces and national power, unprecedented improvement in people’s livelihoods, unprecedented cultural flourishing, and unprecedented civic freedom. At the same time, dregs have floated up, and overseas infiltration has also become rampant. The emergence of evil

改革开放使我们国家取得长足的全面发展，生产力和国力的增强空前，民生的改善空前，文化的繁荣空前，公民的自由度空前。与此同时，沉滓浮起，海外渗透，也猖狂起来。像“法轮功”这类邪教的滋生，“藏独”、“疆独”这类分裂势力的涌现，以及海外基督教向文化教育领域及边远地区的扩展，都是前所少有的动态。在这种咄咄逼人的形势下，有相当一批党员知识分子和党政干部，把宗教当成维护社会稳定、防止犯罪的精神因素，将形形色色的有神论当作不可触动的禁区，而无神论则罪不容赦，“宗教”一词变得真的神圣不可冒犯起来。这有些令人不知今日身在何时、何处，天下域中是谁主沉浮。

In fact, the spirit of the Party Central Committee’s requirement to strengthen research on and propaganda-education of atheism has always been clear and unwavering. To remove ideological obstacles, it has recently been emphasized in particular that research on and propaganda-education of atheism is a long-term task, and this does not contradict the implementation of the Party’s policy of freedom of religious belief. I wish to begin by discussing this point.

其实，中共中央要求加强无神论的研究和宣传教育的精神，始终是明确的、不动摇的。为了清除思想障碍，近来还特别强调，无神论研究和宣传教育是一项长期任务，这与贯彻党的宗教信仰自由政策并不矛盾。我想首先从这里谈起。

What is “freedom of religious belief”? This concept, too, is Western in origin. It was originally a slogan of the Western bourgeois revolution against the theocratic political rule of feudalism, demanding liberation from the shackles of religion, and later became an important principle in their nation-building and constitution-making. Marxism regards it as one of the outstanding achievements of the development of human civilization; the working-class party takes it as a basic policy for handling religious issues; and today it has become a citizen’s right stipulated in China’s Constitution. Its original meaning is to ensure that religious belief becomes a matter of individual choice, free from interference by any person or organization and from the influence of external forces such as politics and economics. Therefore, freedom of religious belief itself includes the freedom to believe in no religion and to hold atheism, thereby unifying it with the various freedoms—especially the freedom of thought and speech—that the Constitution grants to citizens, rather than creating contradiction and conflict. Since the United States promulgated the International Religious Freedom Act, specifically to promote the development of non-governmental religious forces in countries outside the United States, for some Chinese people religious freedom has become the “first freedom,” and atheism has become the primary enemy of “religion.” However, the International Religious Freedom Act is only a piece of U.S. legislation for the “international” arena; the United States itself is not subject to it. This is because the United States, like Europe, not only drives religion out of the educational sphere and restricts its freedom, but also has increasingly powerful non-religious organizations and currents of atheist thought.

什么是“宗教信仰自由”? 这一观念也是西方的。它本是西方资产阶级革命反对封建主义神权政治统治，要求从宗教枷锁中解放出来的口号，而后成了它们建国立宪的一条重要原则，马克思主义把它视为人类文明发展的优秀成果之一，工人阶级政党将它作为处理宗教问题的基本政策，而今则成为我国《宪法》规定的公民权利。它的本意，是保证宗教信仰成为完全由个人自主选择的事情，免受任何个人或组织的干涉和政治经济等外在力量的左右。因此，宗教信仰自由本身就含有不信仰任何宗教和持有无神论的自由，从而与《宪法》规定公民享有各种自由——尤其是思想言论自由的权利统一起来，而不是矛盾和冲突。自从美国公布《国际宗教法案》，专门用来推动美国以外各个国家非政府组织的宗教势力的发展，在某些中国人那里，宗教自由就变成了“第一自由”，无神论也就成了“宗教”第一位的敌人。但是，《国际宗教自由法案》只是美国给“国际”的立法，美国自身是不在其列的；因为美国与欧洲一样，不但把宗教从教育领域中驱赶出去，限制了它的自由，也同样存在日益强大的非宗教组织和无神论思潮。

Historically, China has never had a religious problem. In the realm of belief, whether one believed in a particular god or not, or even wanted to create a new god or discard an old one, there was no force to interfere arbitrarily. Fierce anti-theists and devout believers could coexist peacefully; religious discrimination was extremely rare, there was no religious persecution, and still less religious war. As everyone knows, Emperor Wu of Liang [n11] was a ruler famous for his devotion to Buddhism, while his subject Fan Zhen [n12] was a stalwart opponent of Buddhism who wrote the “Treatise on the Extinction of the Spirit” (Shenmie Lun). The emperor, on the charge that Fan Zhen had “violated the classics and betrayed the Way,” mobilized over sixty princes, ministers, and eminent monks to write articles attacking him. Yet the result, aside from leaving a commendable record in the history of Chinese thought and culture, was that Fan Zhen suffered no harm to his person or mind; he continued to hold office and even seemed to be promoted. The so-called “Three Wus and One Zong” [n13] incidents, which most offended Buddhism, certainly involved disputes between Buddhism and Daoism, but in Chinese historiography these were merely a backlash caused by the expansion of Buddhism to the point of seriously threatening the stability of the state—they were political measures, not religious motives. In other words, historically there was no reality of unfreedom of religious belief in China, and therefore there was no need to cry out for freedom of religious belief.

中国历史上从来不存在宗教问题。在信仰领域，信仰哪个神或不信仰哪个神，甚至要造个什么神，丢弃哪个神，没有什么力量横加干涉；激烈的反神者和虔诚的信神者可以和平的并存共生，极少发生宗教歧视，没有宗教迫害，更没有宗教战争。大家知道，梁武帝是以佞佛著名的皇帝，他的臣属范缜则是著《神灭论》反佛的健将；他曾以范缜“违经叛道”的罪名发动王公大臣高僧大德60余人撰文围剿，结果除了给中国思想文化史上留下这样一笔值得称道的记录之外，范缜的身心没有受到任何影响，他的官照做，似乎还得到重用。最为佛教反感的所谓“三武一宗”事件，固然涉及到释、道之争，但在中国史学那里，这只是佛教的膨胀已经严重地威胁到了国家的稳定而造成的反弹，是政治措施，不是宗教动机。就是说，中国历史上不存在宗教信仰不自由的现实，因而也就没有呼喊宗教信仰自由的必需。

Nevertheless, state management of religion has always been strict. There are at least three boundaries that religion must not cross: First, it must not harm the lives and property of the people, including human life, health, and material goods. Second, it must not endanger social order or the public interest, including spreading rumors to deceive the masses, gathering crowds to cause trouble, or extorting money and engaging in debauchery. Third, it must not threaten national security, especially by colluding with officials, participating in or interfering in politics, or plotting rebellion. Any violation of these three boundaries was generally dealt with by administrative means, including suppression. For this reason, the separation of religion from the state and the separation of religion from education have been the historical norm in our country. Religion emerged as a serious problem only with the spread of Christianity in China following the Opium War [n14]. Religious conflicts that had never occurred before now arose—these were the unending “missionary cases” (jiao’an) [n15], culminating in the Boxer Uprising and the Eight-Power Allied Forces’ bloody sack of Beijing. Entering modern history, Chinese religion from the very beginning carried a strong political connotation, becoming one of the driving forces of the Chinese people’s national-democratic revolution. The fact that the May Fourth Movement [n16] was led by “science” and “democracy,” followed by the nationwide “anti-Christian movement” and “anti-religion movement,” is all related to this historical background. Therefore, in the Chinese context, “freedom of religious belief” particularly emphasizes the strict restriction of religious interference in politics and entry into the field of national education.

尽管如此，国家对宗教的管理始终是严格的。至少有三条界限，宗教是不可以逾越的：第一，不能损害百姓的身家性命，包括人的生命健康和财物。第二，不能危害社会秩序和公共利益，包括妖言惑众，聚众闹事，敛财盗色。第三，不能威胁国家安全，特别是勾结官吏，参政干政，谋逆造反。凡触及这三条，大都以行政手段包括镇压在内的方式解决。正因为如此，政教分离，宗教与教育分离，是我们国家的历史常态。宗教作为一个严重的问题突出来，是随着鸦片战争基督教在中国的传播开始的：从来没有发生的宗教冲突发生了，这就是延续不断的“教案”，直到义和团运动与八国联军血洗北京。进入近代史的中国宗教，一开始就带有强烈的政治涵义，成为中国人民民族民主革命的动因之一，“五四运动”之所以有“科学”与“民主”做主导，接着全国性的“非基督教运动”和“非宗教运动”，都与这样的历史大背景有关。因此，在中国语境下的“宗教信仰自由”特别强调严格限制宗教干预政治和进入国民教育领域的含义。

The Communist Party of China inherits the Marxist view of religion and adopts a newer perspective on the issue of religious belief: First, whether or not to believe in religion is a citizen’s right, and no force is allowed to interfere. Second, theism does not correspond to reality; as a party responsible to the people, it has the duty to tell the truth of the matter and to carry out propaganda and education in atheism. This legal protection and respect for citizens, unified with the principle of serving the people and being responsible to the people, particularly embodies the consistency between freedom of religious belief and the propagation and study of atheism. Third, beginning with Mao Zedong’s “Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan,” [n17] the religious question has been incorporated into the overall tasks and guiding principles of China’s revolution and construction. It unambiguously strikes at all forces that use the name of religion to engage in reactionary political activities, while adopting a sincere attitude of respect toward the beliefs of the masses. This is because Mao believed that the masses, through education and self-education in the course of revolutionary and construction practice, would resolve the issue on their own, and he opposed doing things for them that they should do themselves. “One draws the bow but does not release the arrow; it is as if he were leaping forward.” [n18]

中国共产党继承马克思主义的宗教观，对待宗教信仰问题有更新的视角：第一，是否信仰宗教属于公民的权利，不允许任何势力干涉。第二，有神论不符合实际，作为对人民负责任的政党，有义务道出事情的真相，进行无神论的宣传教育。这种法权上对公民的尊重和保护，与为人民服务和对人民负责的宗旨统一起来，特别体现了宗教信仰自由与宣传和研究无神论的一致性。第三，从毛泽东的《湖南农民运动考察报告》开始，就把宗教问题纳入中国革命和建设的总体任务和方针路线之内，毫不含糊地打击假宗教之名从事反动政治活动的各种势力，而对人民大众的信仰则采取由衷的尊重态度，因为他相信群众在革命和建设实践过程中通过教育和自我教育，会自行解决，反对越俎代庖。“引而不发，跃如也”。

Theism is a matter of the subjective spiritual world. From the perspective of historical materialism, we must seek the causes and solutions from the social roots that breed it. Therefore, Marxist atheism must be based on trust in and reliance on the masses, and must play its role in actually improving the material and cultural conditions of the people and raising the level of scientific spirit and understanding. In this sense, atheism is not merely negative, not limited to opposing various forms of theism; more importantly, it is positive. It aims to establish a correct mode of thinking and attitude toward life, and to construct a way of life different from religious life—one in which people use their own minds and hands, adopting scientific and educational methods, to create a healthy, beautiful, happy, harmonious, and freely developing way of life, one that is also full of human care and embodies the warmth of human feeling. In this way, scientific atheism inevitably becomes an organic component of the scientific socialist movement, linked to the future communist ideal.

有神论是主观精神世界问题，从唯物史观看，必须从滋生它的社会根源上寻找原因和解决的出路。因此，马克思主义无神论必须建立在相信和依靠人民大众的基础上，在实际地改善人民群众的物质与文化的条件和提高科学精神与认识水平上，发挥作用。就此而言，无神论不是消极的，不限于反对种种有神论：更重要的是积极的，是为了建立一种正确的思维方式与生活态度的，是为了建设一种与宗教生活不同的生活方式的——用人自己的头脑和双手，采取科学与教育的方法，创造一种健康美好、幸福和谐、自由发展的，同时也是充满着人性关怀、体现着人情温馨的生活方式。这样，科学无神论必然成为科学社会主义运动的有机成分，与未来的共产主义理想衔接在一起。

Online editor: Jia Fei

网络编辑：嘉扉