Uphold and Propagate Atheism with a Clear Stand

The theoretical source and foundation of socialism with Chinese characteristics is Marxism, and the worldview of Marxism is dialectical materialism and historical materialism, with atheism being a foundational component of this worldview. Therefore, in upholding the theory and cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, it is only natural that we include upholding and developing Marxist atheism. The National Conference on Religious Work held in April [1]1 The National Conference on Religious Work was held in Beijing in April 2016, at which General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech outlining the Party’s policies on religious work in the New Era. clearly stated: Party members upholding Marxist atheism is a major principle. How to consistently maintain Marxist atheism as the mainstream ideology occupying a dominant position in the thinking of the people is a major issue we must confront. Party cadres, especially leading cadres and cadres in religious work, need to engage in deep reflection on this.

中国特色社会主义的理论源头和基础是马克思主义，而马克思主义的世界观是辩证唯物主义与历史唯物主义，无神论又是这一世界观的基础性组成部分。因此，我们坚持中国特色社会主义的理论和事业，理所当然包括坚持和发展马克思主义无神论。4月召开的全国宗教工作会议旗帜鲜明地指出：党员坚持马克思主义无神论是大原则。如何始终保持马克思主义无神论作为主流意识形态在人民群众思想中占据主导地位，是我们必须面对的重大课题。党的干部特别是领导干部、宗教工作干部，有必要对此进行深入思考。

Marxist Atheism Belongs to the Mainstream Ideology

马克思主义无神论属主流意识形态

Consistently maintaining Marxist atheism as the mainstream ideology occupying a dominant position in the thinking of the people is the result of our Party’s scientific analysis of religious phenomena in Chinese society using the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics on religion, and it is also an inevitable conclusion drawn from the great practice of the people’s revolution and socialist construction led by the Party. The ruling forces of old China used religious idealism to consolidate their ruling position, but their own existence was very “material” and could not be shaken by the “psychological adjustment” or “moral edification” functions of religion, especially since under these historical conditions religion was generally “adapting to” rather than resisting the then-colonial, semi-colonial, and semi-feudal society. Mao Zedong’s “Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan” [2]2 Mao Zedong’s “Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan” (March 1927) analyzed the revolutionary potential of the peasantry and identified the four types of authority (political, clan, theocratic, and the authority of the husband) that oppressed them. listed theocratic authority alongside political authority, clan authority, and the authority of the husband as the four cords binding the Chinese people, especially the peasants. Although some scholars later criticized this as “oversimplification,” it was a very real problem that the cause of Chinese people’s liberation faced from the very beginning. In China, Marxist atheism was never merely a doctrine from the start; it was also a powerful ideological weapon for the people to achieve liberation in both material and spiritual aspects. Supported by this theory, the Party did not guide the people to place their hopes and future in heaven or the afterlife, in divine protection or revelation, or in appeals to the ruling class for goodness and moral reform. Instead, it relied on the people’s own strength, on long and arduous “criticism of weapons” [3]3 “Criticism of weapons” is a phrase from Marx’s “Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction” (1844), referring to material force and revolutionary practice as opposed to theoretical critique., and on the deepening understanding of the laws governing the Chinese revolution, to seize final victory step by step. The Party’s religious work has never been about seeking support from supernatural forces, but about uniting religious believers around the Party to strive for the realization of the Party’s political program. The influence of atheism on our cause is so direct and profound that our Party and army have often been directly called the “atheist Party” and the “atheist army.”

始终保持马克思主义无神论作为主流意识形态在人民群众思想中占据主导地位，是我们党运用中国特色社会主义宗教理论对我国社会宗教现象进行科学分析的结果，也是由党领导的人民革命和社会主义建设伟大实践得出的必然结论。旧中国的统治势力利用宗教唯心主义巩固其统治地位，但其自身存在却是非常“物质”的，根本不是宗教的“心理调适”“道德教化”功能所能撼动，更何况在这种历史条件下宗教总体上是“适应”而不是反抗当时的殖民地、半殖民地半封建社会。毛泽东《湖南农民运动考察报告》中把神权同政权、族权、夫权一起并列为束缚中国人民特别是农民的四条绳索，虽然后来被有的学者指为“简单化”，但却是中国人民解放事业从一开始就面临的非常现实的问题。在中国，马克思主义无神论从一开始就不仅是一种学说，还是人民在物质和精神两方面求得解放的强大思想武器。在这一理论支撑下，党不是引导人民把希望与未来寄托于天国与来世、寄托于神灵护佑与启示、寄托于向统治阶级的向善劝化，而是依靠人民自己的力量，依靠长期艰苦的“武器的批判”，依靠对中国革命规律性的认识深化，一步一步夺取最后的胜利。党的宗教工作，从来不是为了从超自然力量那里获得什么支持，而是为了把信教群众团结到党的周围，为实现党的政治纲领而奋斗。无神论对我们事业的影响如此之直接与深刻，以至我们党和军队经常被直接称为“无神论的党”“无神论的军队”。

Facing the long-term and arduous task of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, atheism remains the theoretical cornerstone and ideological weapon of the Party and the people’s cause. There is no doubt that religion will continue to exist in China for a long time, and the vast majority of religious believers are also a positive force in building the country and an important foundation for the Party’s governance. We cannot equate the opposition between theism and atheism with political opposition. However, as a socialist country led by the Communist Party, whether from the perspective of the ruling party’s worldview, from the practice of building a modern country, from resisting foreign infiltration through religion to ensure national security, or from consolidating the Party’s broadest mass base, we cannot abandon atheism and turn to religion for spiritual support. We cannot adopt a neutral or conciliatory stance between atheism and theism, nor can we allow theism to spread without limit and become the mainstream ideology. To this end, the Party must not only uphold atheism itself but also clearly and unequivocally propagate Marxist atheism to society, popularize scientific and cultural knowledge, help and guide people to draw clear distinctions between materialism and idealism, atheism and theism, science and superstition, civilization and ignorance, and especially strengthen the education and propaganda of a scientific worldview, including atheism, among young people, guiding them to believe in science, learn science, and disseminate science.

面对建设中国特色社会主义的长期艰巨任务，无神论仍然是党和人民事业的理论基石和思想武器。毫无疑问，宗教在我国仍将长期存在，广大信教群众同样是建设国家的积极力量，是我们党执政的重要基础，我们不能把有神论和无神论的对立等同于政治上的对立。但是，作为共产党领导的社会主义国家，无论是从执政党的世界观出发，从正在进行中的建设现代化国家的实践出发，从抵御境外利用宗教进行渗透、保证国家安全出发，还是从巩固党最广大的群众基础出发，我们都不能放弃无神论而转向宗教寻找精神支柱，不能在无神论和有神论之间持中立、调和态度，不能任由有神论无限制地蔓延，变成主流意识形态。为此，党不仅要自身坚持而且要旗帜鲜明地向社会宣传马克思主义无神论，普及科学文化知识，帮助和引导人们划清唯物论和唯心论、无神论和有神论、科学和迷信、文明和愚昧的界限，特别是加强对青少年的科学世界观包括无神论的宣传教育，引导他们相信科学、学习科学、传播科学。

Upholding Marxist Atheism Is a Prerequisite for Doing Religious Work Well

坚持马克思主义无神论是做好宗教工作的前提性条件

Upholding the major principle of Marxist atheism is also a prerequisite for doing the Party’s religious work well. As an ancient social phenomenon, religion has complex class roots, social roots, natural roots, and cognitive roots. These roots, as well as issues such as the emergence, development, and disappearance of religion, and the social functions of religion, cannot be clearly explained by religious believers, and in many cases are simply taboo. It was only with the emergence of the dialectical materialist worldview, which “explains all historical events and ideas, all politics, philosophy, and religion from the material-economic conditions of life in a given historical period” (Engels) [4]4 The quotation is from Engels’s “Anti-Dühring” (1878), where he argues that the ultimate causes of social and political changes are to be sought in changes in the mode of production and exchange, not in philosophy or religion., that the mysterious veil of religion was lifted, enabling people to understand religious phenomena and handle religious issues with a scientific attitude. Under China’s national conditions, with its long history of religion, numerous types of religion, and a huge population of believers, the reason our Party’s religious work has been able, on the whole, to maximize the positive role of religion and minimize its negative role, to unite the vast majority of religious believers around the Party and the government, and to gradually guide religion to adapt to socialist society, is not because we have abandoned atheism and made unprincipled compromises and concessions to religion, but because we have upheld Marxist atheism, provided a scientific theoretical explanation of religious phenomena, and formulated correct religious policies based on this.

坚持马克思主义无神论的大原则，也是做好党的宗教工作的前提性条件。宗教作为一种古老的社会现象，有其复杂的阶级根源、社会根源、自然根源和认识根源，这些根源及宗教的产生、发展、消亡，宗教的社会功能等问题，在宗教信仰者那里是无法说清楚的，在很多情况下干脆就是禁区。只是由于辩证唯物主义世界观出现，“以一定历史时期的物质经济生活条件来说明一切历史事件和观念，一切政治、哲学和宗教的”(恩格斯)，宗教的神秘面纱才被揭开，人们才可能以科学的态度认识宗教现象和处理宗教问题。在中国这样宗教历史悠久、宗教种类众多、信教人数庞大的国情下，我们党的宗教工作之所以总体上能够最大限度发挥宗教的积极作用、消解其消极作用，之所以能把广大信教群众团结在党和政府周围，之所以能够引领宗教逐步与社会主义社会相适应，不是因为我们放弃了无神论，对宗教无原则地妥协迁就，而是因为我们坚持了马克思主义无神论，对宗教现象作出科学的理论说明并据此制订了正确的宗教政策。

The Party’s religious work involves atheists working with theists, which raises the question of who leads whom and who influences whom in the united front. In our view, it should naturally be atheists who politically lead and influence theists, not the other way around. The leadership and influence referred to here are not personal actions, nor are they attempts to change the other side’s worldview. Rather, they involve upholding the Party’s leadership in the field of religious work, establishing harmonious religious relations, and building and developing political consensus. The Party’s religious workers must, in the united front, firmly stand on the atheist position and actively play a role in political guidance and leadership. If they confuse their worldview with that of religion, or even become adherents of religion, the result can only be a loss of advantage and inadvertently acting as a tail to religion.

党的宗教工作是无神论者做有神论者的工作，这就有了一个统一战线谁领导谁、谁影响谁的问题。在我们看来，当然应当是无神论者政治上领导、影响有神论者而不是相反。这里讲的领导、影响，不是个人行为，也不是去试图改变对方的世界观，而是在宗教工作领域坚持党的领导，建立和谐的宗教关系，建立和发展政治共识。党的宗教工作者在统一战线中尤其要坚定站在无神论的立场，积极发挥政治导向、引领作用，如果在世界观上与宗教相混淆，甚至成为宗教的服膺者，其结果只能是丧失优势，有意无意充当宗教的尾巴。

Since the new period [5]5 The “new period” (新时期) refers to the period of reform and opening up initiated in 1978, as distinct from the “New Era” (新时代) that began with the 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012., great changes have taken place in the religious field. We must not only study the current trends in religious phenomena but also consider what changes the development of religion might bring to our society in the future. Although different religions have been active in Chinese history, China has never been a religious country but a secular one. Although Chinese culture contains rich elements of religious culture, it is overall not a religious culture but a secular culture. The majority of Chinese people do not believe in religion or hold any fixed religious belief. Influenced by Chinese culture, religious believers have many distinct Chinese characteristics in their beliefs, and foreign religions tend to “sinicize” quickly or slowly. These constitute part of China’s national conditions. The fact that our Party, as a materialist and atheist party, could emerge from the people and receive broad, long-term, and firm support from them, and that after the Party came to power, its ruling position could be so consolidated, is inseparable from these national conditions. If theism is allowed to rapidly expand in China’s ideological field and even become the mainstream ideology, or if certain forces are allowed to engage in the “de-sinicization” or “extremism” of religion, what impact this will ultimately have on our Party’s guiding ideology and ruling foundation cannot but provoke our reflection. The significance and urgency of upholding and propagating atheism have already far exceeded the scope of religious work.

新时期以来，宗教领域发生了很大变化，我们不仅要研究当前宗教现象的走向，也需要考虑到，宗教的发展在未来会给我国社会带来什么变化。中国历史上虽然活跃着不同宗教，但从来不是一个宗教国家，而是世俗国家;中华文化虽然包含着丰富的宗教文化因素，但总体不是一种宗教文化，而是世俗文化;中国老百姓大多数不信教或不持某种固定宗教信仰;受中华文化的浸濡，信教群众在信仰上具有许多鲜明的中国特点，外来宗教或快或慢趋于“中国化”。这些构成了中国国情一部分。我们党作为一个唯物主义、无神论的党能够从人民中生长出来而且得到人民广泛、长期、坚定的支持，我们党执政后，执政地位能够如此巩固，与这些国情是分不开的。如果任凭有神论在我国意识形态领域迅速扩大甚至成为主流意识形态，如果任凭有些势力搞宗教“去中国化”“极端化”，最终会对我们党的指导思想、执政基础产生什么样的影响，不能不引起我们的思索。坚持和宣传无神论，其意义和紧迫性已经远远超出宗教工作范围。

Party Members Not Believing in Religion Is a Political Discipline

共产党员不能信教是政治纪律

The key to maintaining Marxist atheism as the mainstream ideology that occupies a dominant position among the people lies in the Party’s correct theoretical orientation and policy implementation, as well as in the Party’s demands on the worldview of its members. Since its founding, our Party has consistently adhered to and publicly declared its atheist worldview, conducted atheist education among Party members, and implemented the principle that Party members must not believe in religion. Comrade Mao Zedong, during the most difficult stage of the War of Resistance Against Japan, publicly stated: “Communists may form an anti-imperialist and anti-feudal united front in political action with certain idealists and even religious believers, but they can never approve of their idealism or religious doctrines.” [6]6 Mao Zedong, “On New Democracy” (January 1940), a key text outlining the political and cultural program of the Chinese Communist Party during the War of Resistance Against Japan. This not only demonstrates the firmness of the Party’s worldview but also serves as a declaration of the Party’s political independence and leading position within the united front. For some time, some Party members have believed that with the opening of the market, the principle that Party members cannot believe in religion could also be “lifted.” Some Party organizations have lowered their demands for the purity of their members’ worldviews, allowing religious influence to penetrate the minds of some Party members. The various negative phenomena in the religious sphere in recent years are inseparable from the fact that some Party members, especially leading cadres, have bent the knee to religion in terms of worldview, seeking their own values and beliefs from religion to fill their spiritual emptiness. It must be particularly pointed out that some scholars, using their status and influence, have concocted various reasons to justify Party members believing in religion. Recently, some have even “cleverly” proposed the idea that “believing in religion can qualify one for Party membership” in order to circumvent the repeatedly reiterated principle of “Party members cannot believe in religion” by the Party Central Committee. The logic here is as strange as saying, “Smoking is not allowed indoors, but one may enter after smoking.” In carrying out Marxist atheist education for society, the fields of religious studies and teaching cannot be exceptions; at the same time, they should better assume the responsibility of researching, propagating, and popularizing atheism.

始终保持马克思主义无神论作为主流意识形态在人民群众中占据主导地位，关键在于党的正确理论导向和政策实施，也在于党对党员世界观上的要求。我们党建党至今，始终坚持并公开申明自己的无神论世界观，对党员进行无神论教育，并实行党员不能信教的原则。毛泽东同志在抗日战争最艰苦阶段公开申明“共产党员可以和某些唯心论者甚至宗教徒建立在政治行动上的反帝反封建的统一战线，但是决不能赞同他们的唯心论或宗教教义。”(《新民主主义论》)这不仅表明党的世界观的坚定性，同时也是党在统一战线中必须坚持政治上独立性和领导地位的一种宣示。一个时期以来，有些党员以为市场开放了，党员不能信教的原则也可以“开禁”了，一些党的组织对党员世界观纯洁性的要求也降低了，宗教的影响渗透进一些党员的头脑。这些年宗教领域种种消极现象，与一些党员特别是领导干部在世界观上向宗教屈膝，向宗教寻求自己的价值和信念、填补精神空虚是分不开的。需要特别指出的是，有些学者利用自己的地位和影响，以各种方式开具党员可以信教的种种理由。最近还有人为了绕过中央多次重申的“党员不能信教”原则，“巧妙”提出“信教可以入党”的主张。此中逻辑，就如同“室内不许吸烟，吸烟可以入内”一样奇怪。向社会开展马克思主义无神论教育，宗教学科研、教学领域不能是例外，同时应更好承担起研究、宣传、普及无神论的责任。

The high degree of consistency between the political program and the worldview, and the fact that Party members do not believe in any religion, is a major characteristic and also a major advantage of our Party that distinguishes it from most political parties at home and abroad. It enables the Party’s political program, organizational system, and mode of thinking to be uniformly based on the worldview of dialectical materialism, thereby gaining strong cohesion and combat effectiveness; it enables the Party to understand religious phenomena from a scientific perspective, make scientific judgments and decisions, and implement correct political guidance; it also enables religious work cadres to avoid the inevitable favoritism that comes with religious belief and to truly implement the principle that “all religions are equal, and the state does not use administrative power to promote or suppress any religion.” If the “ban” on Party members believing in religion were lifted, it would fundamentally undermine the unified foundation of the Party’s worldview, turn the Party into a loose organization rife with internal religious factions, and make at least part of the Party’s religious work a matter of religious believers dealing with religious believers. In the Party’s ideological education work, atheist education and the political discipline requirement that Party members cannot believe in religion should not only not be neglected but should be a hard task.

政治纲领同世界观高度一致，党员不信仰任何宗教，是我们党区别于国内外多数政党的一大特点，也是一大优势。它使党的政治纲领、组织体系、思想方式统一建立在辩证唯物主义世界观基础上，从而获得强大的凝聚力、战斗力;使党得以从科学的角度认识宗教现象，做出科学的判断、决策，实行正确的政治引导;也使宗教工作干部能够避免信教必然带来的亲疏有别，真正执行“各宗教一律平等，国家不使用行政力量扶持或压制某种宗教”的原则。如果对党员信教“开禁”，将从根本上瓦解党的世界观统一性基础，将使党成为内部宗教派别林立的松散组织，将使党的宗教工作至少一部分成为宗教徒对宗教徒的工作。在党的思想教育工作中，无神论的教育和党员不能信教的政治纪律要求，不仅不应被忽视，而且应当是一项硬任务。

(The author is the director of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference’s Committee on Ethnic and Religious Affairs)

(作者是全国政协民族和宗教委员会主任)

Online editor: Rainbow

网络编辑：彩虹