The Historical Status and Academic Principles of Marxist Religious Studies

I. Marxist Religious Studies Is the Science of Studying Religion Guided by Marxism

一、马克思主义宗教学是以马克思主义为指导研究宗教的科学

Religious studies is the science that studies religion. Marxist religious studies is the science that studies religion guided by Marxism. The research of the founders of Marxism on religious issues laid the foundation of Marxist religious studies. After the deaths of Marx and Engels, outstanding Marxists in the new historical period inherited and developed Marxist religious studies. Among them were Marxist political parties and their wise leaders, as well as renowned Marxist scholars.

宗教学就是研究宗教的科学。马克思主义宗教学是以马克思主义为指导研究宗教的科学。马克思主义创始人对宗教问题的研究，奠定了马克思主义宗教学的基础。马克思、恩格斯逝世以后，优秀的马克思主义者在新的历史时期，继承和发展了马克思主义的宗教学。其中有马克思主义政党和党的英明领袖，也有著名的马克思主义学者。

Chinese Marxist religious studies began in the 1950s. Comrade Ren Jiyu, guided by Marxism, studied Buddhism and received affirmation from Mao Zedong. In October 1963, Comrade Ren Jiyu compiled his Buddhist research papers into the collection *Collected Essays on Chinese Buddhist Thought in the Han and Tang Dynasties* and published it. On December 30, 1963, Mao Zedong gave the following instruction in an intra-Party document:

中国马克思主义宗教学开始于20世纪50年代。任继愈先生以马克思主义为指导研究佛教，得到了毛泽东的肯定。1963年10月，任继愈先生将自己的佛教研究论文结为《汉唐中国佛教思想论集》出版。1963年12月30日，毛泽东在党内文件中批示：

This document is very good. But it does not mention religious research. The three major world religions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism) still influence a vast population, yet we have no knowledge of them. Domestically, there is not a single research institution led by Marxists, nor a single readable journal on this subject. *Modern Buddhism* is not led by Marxists, and the level of its articles is very low. In other journals, articles written from the perspective of historical materialism are also very rare. For example, the few articles Ren Jiyu has published on Buddhist studies are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, and articles on Christianity or Islam have never been seen. Without criticizing theology, it is impossible to write a good history of philosophy, nor a good history of literature or world history. Please have the comrades in the Propaganda Department consider this.

这个文件很好。但未提及宗教研究。对世界三大宗教(耶稣教、回教、佛教)，至今影响着广大人口，我们却没有知识，国内没有一个由马克思主义者领导的研究机构，没有一本可看的这方面的刊物。《现代佛学》不是由马克思主义者领导的，文章的水平也很低。其他刊物上，用历史唯物主义的观点写的文章也很少，例如任继愈发表的几篇谈佛学的文章，已如凤毛麟角，谈耶稣教、回教的没有见过。不批判神学就不能写好哲学史，也不能写好文学史或世界史。这点请宣传部同志们考虑一下。

This instruction was later published publicly under the title *Strengthen Research on Religious Issues*.

这个批示后来以《加强宗教问题的研究》公开发表。

Mao Zedong’s instruction and the publication of Comrade Ren Jiyu’s *Collected Essays on Chinese Buddhist Thought in the Han and Tang Dynasties* are the landmark events marking the birth of Chinese Marxist religious studies.

毛泽东的批示和任继愈先生《汉唐中国佛教思想论集》的出版，是中国马克思主义宗教学诞生的标志性事件。

II. Marxist Religious Studies and Marxist Philosophy Share a Relationship of Co-Genesis

二、马克思主义宗教学和马克思主义哲学是同根共生的关系

The direct precursor of Marxist religious studies is German classical philosophy, especially Feuerbach’s *The Essence of Christianity* and *The Essence of Religion*.

马克思宗教学的直接前驱，是德国的古典哲学，特别是费尔巴哈的《基督教的本质》和《宗教的本质》。

German classical philosophy was born in the critique of religious concepts and also ended in the critique of religious concepts. The critique of religious concepts runs through the entire process of German classical philosophy. Therefore, German classical philosophy was also the religious studies of Germany at that time. The founders of Marxism, Marx and Engels, in the process of criticizing German classical philosophy, ended German classical philosophy and founded Marxist philosophy. At the same time, they also ended the religious studies of Germany at that time and founded Marxist religious studies. Marxist philosophy and Marxist religious studies share a relationship of co-genesis; their theoretical foundations are completely identical. It is only because of their different tasks that, in the course of further development and when addressing their respective specific issues, they split into two ideological systems.

德国古典哲学是在批判宗教观念中诞生的，也是在批判宗教观念中结束的。对宗教观念的批判，贯彻了德国古典哲学的全过程。因此，德国古典哲学，也是德国当时的宗教学。马克思主义的创始人，马克思和恩格斯在批判德国古典哲学的过程中，结束了德国古典哲学，创立了马克思主义哲学。同时也结束了德国当时的宗教学，创立了马克思主义宗教学。马克思主义哲学和马克思主义宗教学是同根共生的关系，二者的理论基础完全一致。只是由于各自的任务不同，在进一步发展、涉及各自具体问题时，分成了两个思想体系。

The first sentence of the first article, *Introduction to a Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right*, in the latest 2012 edition of the first volume of *Selected Works of Marx and Engels* is: “For Germany, the critique of religion is essentially complete, and the critique of religion is the prerequisite of all critique.” It is in this classic work that Marx points out:

《马克思恩格斯选集》2012年最新版第一卷第一篇《〈黑格尔法哲学批判〉导言》的第一句话就是：“就德国来说，对宗教的批判基本上已经结束；而对宗教的批判，是其他一切批判的前提。”正是在这一经典著作中，马克思指出：

Religious suffering is at the same time the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of spiritless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

宗教里的苦难既是现实的苦难的表现，又是对这种现实的苦难的抗议。宗教是被压迫生灵的叹息，是无情世界的情感，正像它是无精神活力的制度的精神一样。宗教是人民的鸦片。

Therefore, *Introduction to a Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right* is a classic philosophical work by Marx and also a classic work of religious studies by Marx. Similar works to *Introduction to a Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right* include *The German Ideology*, *Theses on Feuerbach*, *Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy*, and others. These classic philosophical works of Marx and Engels are also their classic works of religious studies. The classic theses of Marx and Engels on philosophical issues are often also classic theses on religious issues:

因此，《〈黑格尔法哲学批判〉导言》，是马克思的经典哲学著作，也是马克思的经典宗教学著作。类似《〈黑格尔法哲学批判〉导言》的著作，还有《德意志意识形态》《关于费尔巴哈的提纲》《路德维希·费尔巴哈和德国古典哲学的终结》等，马克思、恩格斯这些经典的哲学著作，同时也是他们的经典宗教学著作。马克思、恩格斯关于哲学问题的那些经典论断，往往也是关于宗教问题的经典论断：

Feuerbach resolves the essence of religion into the essence of man. But the essence of man is no abstraction inherent in each single individual. In its actuality it is the ensemble of social relations.

费尔巴哈把宗教的本质归结于人的本质。但是，人的本质不是单个人所固有的抽象物，在其现实性上，它是一切社会关系的总和。

The fundamental question of all philosophy, especially of modern philosophy, is the relation of thinking to being.

全部哲学，特别是近代哲学的重大的基本问题，是思维和存在的关系问题。

What is primary, spirit or nature? — this question, in its sharpest form, was posed against the church: Did God create the world, or has the world existed eternally?

什么是本原的，是精神，还是自然界？——这个问题以尖锐的形式针对着教会提了出来：世界是神创造的呢，还是从来就有的？

Philosophers are divided into two great camps according to how they answer this question.

哲学家依照他们如何回答这个问题而分成了两大阵营。

Therefore, to deeply understand Marxist philosophy, one must deeply understand Marxist religious studies. And to deeply understand Marxist religious studies, one must deeply study religious issues, first and foremost by deeply studying the research results of the precursors of Marxist religious studies on religious issues.

因此，要深刻理解马克思主义哲学，必须深刻理解马克思主义的宗教学。而要深刻理解马克思主义的宗教学，必须深入研究宗教问题，首先要深入研究马克思主义宗教学的前驱者关于宗教问题的研究成果。

III. German Classical Philosophy Is the Direct Precursor of Marxist Religious Studies

三、德国古典哲学是马克思主义宗教学的直接先驱

The direct precursor of Marxist religious studies is the critique of religion by German classical philosophy. Tracing further back, it is the eighteenth-century French materialist philosophy.

马克思主义宗教学的直接先驱，是德国古典哲学对宗教的批判。再向上追溯，就是十八世纪法国唯物主义哲学。

Eighteenth-century French philosophy was a thoroughgoing materialist philosophy and also a thoroughgoing atheist thought. “The eighteenth-century French Enlightenment, especially French materialism, was not only a struggle against the existing political system but also a struggle against the existing religion and theology.” [1]1 "man proposes and man disposes": A paraphrase of the Chinese idiom "谋事在人，成事在天" (man proposes, heaven disposes), here altered to "谋事在人，成事也在人" (man proposes, and man also disposes) to express the Marxist vision of humanity gaining full control over its own destiny, eliminating the role of alien forces (including gods). Materialist philosophers represented by Diderot and Holbach mercilessly exposed the hypocrisy and greed of Christian priests and revealed that the so-called existence of God and the will of God were merely lies fabricated by theologians. Believing these lies was due to the ignorance of the masses.

十八世纪法国哲学是彻底的唯物主义哲学，也是彻底的无神论思想。“18世纪的法国启蒙运动，特别是法国唯物主义，不仅是反对现存政治制度的斗争，同时是反对现存宗教和神学的斗争。”以狄德罗、霍尔巴赫为代表的唯物主义哲学家，毫不留情地揭露基督教神父的虚伪和贪婪，揭露所谓神的存在和神的意志不过是神学家们编造的谎言。而相信这些谎言，乃是由于人民大众的愚昧。

These conclusions of the French materialists were the result of their in-depth study of religion, mainly Christianity. They used the unity of matter to negate the existence of God; they used matter in motion to negate God as the prime mover of motion. They used the natural formation of a diverse world from matter to negate God’s creation of the world and his role as its ruler. They used “spiritual thinking is a function of the brain, just as taste is a function of the tongue” to negate the religious doctrine of the immortality of the soul after death. These were their philosophical achievements and also their achievements in religious studies. These achievements became the starting point for later critiques of religion.

法国唯物主义者的这些结论，是他们深入研究宗教、主要是研究基督教的结果。他们用物质的统一性否定了上帝的存在；用运动的物质否定了上帝是运动的第一推动力。他们用物质自然形成多样性的世界否定了上帝创造世界和对世界的主宰作用。他们用“精神思维是脑髓的功能，如同味觉是舌头的功能一样”，否定了人死灵魂不死的宗教教义。这是他们的哲学成就，同时也是他们的宗教学成就。他们的这些成就，成了后世宗教批判的出发点。

French materialist philosophy was the ideological precursor of the political revolution in France in the late eighteenth century. Just as the French Revolution was unfolding vigorously, German classical philosophy, beginning with Kant, was born. Although German philosophers did not engage in open struggle against the church or even the state as French philosophers did, German classical philosophy likewise served as a precursor to political revolution. Most German philosophers were not materialists but idealists, yet on the issue of criticizing religion, they followed the same line as French materialist philosophy. Building on the foundation of the French philosophical critique of religion, German classical philosophy, while correcting the shortcomings of the French philosophical critique of religion, continued to deepen the critique of religion.

法国唯物主义哲学，是法国十八世纪后期政治革命的思想先导。就在法国革命轰轰烈烈进行的时候，从康德开始的德国古典哲学诞生了。德国哲学家们虽然没有像法国哲学家那样，同教会、甚至同国家进行公开的斗争，但是德国古典哲学同样做了政治革命的先导。德国哲学家们大多数也不是唯物主义者，而是唯心主义者，但在批判宗教这个问题上，却和法国唯物主义哲学一脉相承。在法国哲学宗教批判的基础上，德国古典哲学一面纠正着法国哲学宗教批判的缺点，一面继续深入地开展了对宗教的批判。

First was Kant, who used his transcendental critical philosophy to prove that there is no possibility of God’s existence in either human a priori reason or a posteriori experience. He refuted all previous proofs of the existence of God and declared them invalid. The famous German poet Heine commented that Kant “stormed heaven, put the whole garrison to the sword,” and left the supreme ruler of the world “lying in the blood, unproven.” [2]2 *Kulturkampf*: German for "culture struggle"; refers to the conflict between the German state under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and the Catholic Church from 1871 to the late 1870s, involving state restrictions on church authority. Hegel, with his dialectical thinking possessing a “great sense of history,” produced a group of thinkers who “in politics and religion could belong to the most extreme opposition.” [3]3 "On Strengthening the Study of Religion": A directive written by Mao Zedong on December 30, 1963, criticizing the neglect of religious studies within the CPC and calling for the establishment of research institutions to study religion from a Marxist perspective. Moreover, Hegel provided a philosophical summary of the words and deeds that had exposed the dark rule of the Christian church since the eighteenth century. He pointed out that the corruption of the church was due to the fact that the churches themselves were also a secular group; they had property, treasures, and coarse passions, theoretically explaining the causes of church corruption.

首先是康德，他用自己的先验批判哲学证明，无论在人类的先天理性还是后天经验中，都没有上帝（God）存在的可能。他驳斥了以前关于上帝存在的所有证明，宣布这些证明都是无效的。以致德国著名的诗人海涅评论说，康德“袭击了天国，杀死了天国全体守备部队”， 使世界的最高主宰“未经证明便倒在血泊中”。黑格尔则以自己具有“巨大的历史感”的辩证思维，成就了一批“在政治上和宗教上都可能属于最极端的反对派”的思想家。不仅如此，黑格尔还对十八世纪以来揭露基督教会黑暗统治的言行进行了哲学总结。他指出教会的腐败，其原因在于那些教会本身也是一个世俗的群体，他们有财产，有宝物，也有粗糙的情欲，从理论上解释了教会腐败的原因。

After Hegel’s death, his disciple David Friedrich Strauss wrote *The Life of Jesus*, discovering that the stories and miracles concerning Jesus in the Christian scriptures were nothing but myths fabricated by people. The reason these myths could circulate so widely and persistently was that they expressed wishes already present but unspoken in many people’s hearts, not merely the result of swindlers encountering fools. Bruno Bauer, a contemporary, did not regard the stories in the Gospels as people’s unconscious fabrications but as the conscious creations of Christian communities. He also proved that “Philo of Alexandria, a Jew who was still alive at an advanced age in the year 40, was the real father of Christianity, while Seneca, the Roman Stoic, can be called its uncle.” [4]4 Engels, “Bruno Bauer and Early Christianity,” *Marx-Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 25, p. 445. Engels considered this Bauer’s “most outstanding research achievement.”

黑格尔死后，他的弟子施特劳斯写出了《耶稣传》，发现基督教经典中有关耶稣的故事和神迹，不过是人们虚构的神话。这些神话之所以能够广泛而持久的流行，乃是因为它表达了许多人心里已经存在、但未能说出的愿望，而不仅是骗子遇到傻子的结果。同时代的布鲁诺·鲍威尔不认为福音书里那些故事是人们无意识的虚构，而是基督教团体有意识的创造。他还证明，“公元40年还以高龄活着的亚历山大里亚的犹太人斐洛是基督教的真正父亲，而罗马的斯多亚派塞涅卡可以说是基督教的叔父。”恩格斯认为，这是鲍威尔“最卓越的研究成果”。

Feuerbach was the last philosopher of classical German philosophy. His *The Essence of Christianity* made classical German philosophy leap out of Hegel’s idealist system of “pure spirit,” “straightforwardly reinstating materialism on the throne.” Feuerbach held that the human being is a unity of soul and intellect, matter and spirit. Our consciousness is a product of the human brain. Religious ideas are products of fantasy. The highest god, who creates and rules the world, is the result of human thought externalizing the infinity of consciousness itself. Therefore, the essence of god is nothing but the essence of the human being. People’s worship of god is nothing but the worship of the human essence. And such worship is harmful. Humanity should restore the essence of god to the essence of the human being, and restore the life of the imaginary heavenly kingdom to the real life of actual people. People should not believe in god but in themselves, striving for real happiness.

费尔巴哈是德国古典哲学最后一位哲学家。他的《基督教的本质》使德国古典哲学跳出了黑格尔“纯粹精神”的唯心主义体系，“直截了当地使唯物主义重新登上王座”。费尔巴哈认为，人，是一个有灵魂、能思维、物质和精神的统一体。我们的意识，是人脑的产物。宗教观念，是幻想的产物。创造世界、主宰世界的最高神，乃是人类的思维把意识自身的无限性外化的结果。因此，神的本质，不过是人的本质。人们对神的崇拜，不过是对人的本质的崇拜。而这样的崇拜，是有害的。人类应该把神的本质还原为人的本质，把幻想中天国的生活还原为现实的人的生活。人们不要相信神，而要相信自己，为追求现实的幸福而奋斗。

From Kant to Feuerbach, classical German philosophy had its distinction between idealism and materialism, and its dispute between agnosticism and knowability. But in criticizing religion, the direction was consistent. On this issue, they were also consistent with French materialism. This was the attitude of the bourgeoisie during its revolutionary period toward religion; it was a progressive ideology. It was on the basis of this progressive, critical study of religion that Marx and Engels founded Marxist religious studies, laying the theoretical foundation for Marxist religious studies.

从康德到费尔巴哈，德国古典哲学有唯心主义和唯物主义之别，有可知论与不可知论之争。但在批判宗教方面，方向则是一致的。在这个问题上，他们和法国唯物主义也是一致的。这是正处于革命时期的资产阶级对宗教的态度，是进步的意识形态。正是在这种进步的、批判的宗教学的基础上，马克思、恩格斯创建了马克思主义宗教学，奠定了马克思主义宗教学的理论基础。

Although classical German philosophy exposed the essence of religion more profoundly than French materialism and elucidated a series of theoretical questions from the origin to the development of religion, and was therefore a deeper study of religion—a progressive study of religion from the bourgeois revolutionary period—it was inferior to French materialism in that almost all these philosophers retained a religious tail. Kant abolished god in rational knowledge but created another god in the sphere of moral practice. Hegel’s dialectics negated a fixed and unchanging world, and therefore also negated divine creation. But his absolute idea itself was nothing but a phantom remnant of belief in god, a philosophized deity. As for Feuerbach, he too wanted to establish a religion without god, only “love,” to satisfy people’s need for dependence.

虽然德国古典哲学比法国唯物主义更深刻地揭露了宗教的本质，阐明了宗教从起源到发展的一系列理论问题，因此，它是一种更加深刻的宗教学——资产阶级革命时期的进步的宗教学。但是德国古典哲学不如法国唯物主义的地方，是这些哲学家几乎都保留着一条宗教的尾巴。康德在理性认识上废除了上帝，但在道德实践领域又创造了一个上帝。黑格尔的辩证法否定了固定不变的世界，因此也否定了上帝的创造。但他的绝对观念本身，却不过是上帝信仰的虚幻残余，一个哲学化了的神。至于费尔巴哈，他也要创立一个没有神只有“爱”的宗教，以满足人们的依赖心理的需要。

The critique of religion by classical German philosophy should be inherited. The religious tail they retained must be excised. The ones who accomplished this work were Marx and Engels.

德国古典哲学对宗教的批判，应该继承。他们保留的那条宗教的尾巴，则必须切除。完成这项工作的，是马克思和恩格斯。

IV. “Abolishing religion as the illusory happiness of the people” is the ultimate goal of Marxist religious studies

四、“废除作为人民的虚幻幸福的宗教”是马克思主义宗教学的终极目的

The founders of Marxism inherited the critical spirit toward religion from classical German philosophy, that is, from the classical German study of religion, but negated their religious tail. In his “Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction,” Marx affirmed at the outset the correctness and historical significance of the classical German philosophical critique of religion, while at the same time clearly stating:

马克思主义的chuangshiren继承了德国古典哲学、也就是德国古典宗教学对宗教的批判精神，但是否定了他们的宗教尾巴。马克思在《〈黑格尔法哲学批判〉导言》中，一上来就肯定了德国古典哲学批判宗教的正确性和历史意义，同时又明确指出：

The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusions about their condition is the demand to give up a condition that needs illusions. … This criticism tears up the imaginary flowers from the chain, not so that man shall bear the chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall cast off the chain and pluck the living flower.

废除作为人民的虚幻幸福的宗教，就是要求人民的现实幸福。要求抛弃关于人民处境的幻觉，就是要求抛弃那需要幻觉的处境。…… 这种批判撕碎锁链上那些虚幻的花朵，不是要人依旧戴上没有幻想没有慰藉的锁链，而是要人扔掉它，采摘新鲜的花朵。

Therefore, the new philosophy or study of religion must not only invert Hegel’s topsy-turvy dialectics and leap out of Hegel’s system of “pure spirit,” but also has no need for Kant’s god of practical reason or Feuerbach’s religion of love. It must adhere to a thoroughgoing atheist position, taking “the abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people,” “the demand to give up the illusions about their condition,” and “tearing up the imaginary flowers from the chain” as its goal and purpose in dealing with religion. This is also the essence of Marxist religious studies.

因此，新的哲学或者宗教学，不仅要把黑格尔的头脚倒置的辩证法颠倒过来，跳出黑格尔“纯粹精神”的思想体系，也不需要康德实践理性的上帝和费尔巴哈的爱的宗教，坚持彻底的无神论立场，把“废除作为人民的虚幻幸福的宗教”，“抛弃关于人民处境的幻觉”，“撕碎锁链上那些虚幻的花朵”，作为对待宗教的目标和宗旨。这也是马克思主义宗教学的本质。

V. Explaining religion through history is the basic theoretical principle of Marxist religious studies

五、用历史说明宗教，是马克思主义宗教学的基本理论原则

Classical German philosophy “received its most systematic, richest, and final expression” in Hegel’s philosophical works. In Hegel’s view, human history, and even the history of nature, was nothing but the history of the unfolding of the absolute idea’s own contradictions; it was people’s ideas, even merely religious ideas, that drove historical development. They did not know that the driving force behind the development of ideas, including religious ideas, was the actual conditions of material life:

德国古典哲学在黑格尔哲学著作中“得到了最系统、最丰富和最终的表述”。在黑格尔哲学看来，人类的历史，也包括自然界的历史，不过都是绝对观念自身矛盾展开的历史；是人们的观念，甚至仅仅是宗教观念，在推动着历史的发展。他们不知道，推动观念、包括宗教观念发展的动力，乃是现实的物质生活条件：

This thought process, which occurs in people’s minds, is in the final analysis determined by the conditions of their material life. This fact must necessarily have remained unconscious to these people; otherwise, the entire ideology would have come to an end.

人们头脑中发生的这一思想过程，归根到底是由人们的物质生活条件决定的，这一事实，对这些人来说必然是没有意识到的，否则，全部意识形态就完结了。

This is a new, materialist conception of history. The characteristic of this conception of history is:

这是一种新的、唯物主义的历史观。这种历史观的特点是：

It proceeds from the material production of immediate life to expound the real process of production, and comprehends the form of intercourse connected with and created by this mode of production, i.e., civil society in its various stages, as the foundation of all history; it describes civil society in its activity as the state, and also explains from civil society all the various theoretical products and forms of consciousness, such as religion, philosophy, morality, etc., etc., and traces their process of coming into being.

从直接生活的物质生产出发阐述现实的生产过程，把同这种生产方式相联系的、它所产生的交往形式即各个不同阶段上的市民社会理解为整个历史的基础，从市民社会作为国家的活动描述市民社会，同时从市民社会出发阐明意识的所有各种不同的理论产物和形式，如宗教、哲学、道德等等，而且追溯它们产生的过程。

In short, it is to explain the changes in ideologies such as religion and philosophy from the changes in the development and evolution of people’s conditions of material life, and not the reverse. Before Marx, all conceptions of history always turned secular questions into religious ones, using religion to explain history; Marxist religious studies, on the contrary, turn religious questions into secular ones, using history to explain religion.

简而言之，也就是从人们物质生活条件发生发展的变迁去说明宗教、哲学等意识形态的变迁，而不是相反。在马克思以前的历史观，总是把世俗的问题化为宗教问题，用宗教来说明历史；马克思主义宗教学，则是把宗教问题化为世俗问题，用历史说明宗教。

Using the changes in real conditions of life to explain changes in religion, that is, using history to explain religion, is the basic method and theoretical principle of Marxist religious studies.

用现实生活条件的变迁去说明宗教的变迁，也就是用历史去说明宗教，是马克思主义宗教学的基本方法和理论原则。

VI. Only when the real conditions of life reflected by religion disappear will religion disappear

六、只有当宗教反映的现实生活条件消失，宗教才会消失

Because the emergence and development of ideology are determined by people’s conditions of material life, the fate of ideology is directly related to the conditions of material life it reflects. The fate of religious ideas is determined by the social reality they reflect:

因为意识形态的发生发展决定于人们的物质生活条件，那么意识形态的命运如何，就与它们所反映的物质生活条件直接相关。宗教观念的命运，就决定于它所反映的社会现实状况：

The religious reflection of the real world can disappear only when the relations of practical everyday life present themselves to people in a transparent and rational form in their mutual relations and in their relation to nature. … The veil of mystery over the social life process, i.e., over the process of material production, will be lifted only when it becomes the product of freely associated people, standing under their conscious and planned control. But this requires a certain material foundation of society, or a series of material conditions of existence, which themselves are the natural product of a long and painful process of development.

只有当实际日常生活的关系，在人们面前表现为人与人之间和人与自然之间极明白而合理的关系的时候，现实世界的宗教反映才会消失，……只有当社会生活过程即物质生产过程的形态，作为自由联合的人的产物，处于人的有意识有计划的控制之下的时候，它才会把自己的神秘的纱幕揭掉。但是，这需要有一定的社会物质基础或一系列物质生存条件，而这些条件本身又是长期的、痛苦的发展史的自然产物。

To achieve this goal, social action is first necessary, so that society takes possession of and places under its planned control all the means of production:

要实现这个目标，首先必须有社会的行动，使社会占有和有计划的控制使用全部生产资料：

For this, social action is first necessary. When this action is accomplished, when society, by taking possession of and placing under its planned control all the means of production, frees itself and all its members from the state of servitude in which they are now held by these means of production, which they themselves have produced but which confront them as an irresistible alien force; when man plans and acts, then the last alien force which is still reflected in religion will also vanish, and with it the religious reflection itself will also disappear. For the simple reason that there will then be nothing left to reflect.

为此首先需要有社会的行动。当这种行动完成的时候，当社会通过占有和有计划地使用全部生产资料而使自己和一切社会成员摆脱奴役状态的时候（现在，人们正被这些由他们自己所生产的、但作为不可抗拒的异己力量而同自己相对立的生产资料所奴役），当谋事在人，成事也在人的时候，现在还在宗教中反映出来的最后的异己力量才会消失，因而宗教反映本身也就随着消失。原因很简单，这就是那时再没有什么东西可以反映了。

Naturally, for society to be able to take possession of all the means of production, and then to use them in a planned way, and then to achieve the state where "man proposes and man disposes," is a long process, and one that will pass through many painful historical developments. However, this is the only path towards the extinction of religion. In this sense, religion is not eliminated, nor can it be artificially eliminated; rather, it naturally withers away along with the development of social history. In the process of religion's extinction, society does not directly wage war against religion, but rather fights against the material basis and the series of material conditions of existence that give rise to religion and religious reflection; it does not abolish or discard religion by coercive means; on the contrary, it implements a policy of freedom of belief. The reason for implementing a policy of freedom of religious belief is that religion, as an ideology, has the material basis of life on which it depends for its survival.

自然，要能够使社会占有全部生产资料，进而有计划地使用它，再进而达到谋事在人，成事也在人，是一个长期的过程，并且会经过许多痛苦的历史发展过程。然而，这是使宗教归于消灭的唯一的路。从这个意义上说，宗教不是被消灭的，它也不可能被人为的加以消灭，而是随着社会历史的发展而自然消亡的。在宗教消亡的过程中，社会不是直接同宗教作战，而是同产生宗教和宗教反映的物质基础和一系列物质生存条件作战；不是用强制的手段废除或者抛弃宗教，相反，而是实行信仰自由的政策。而要实行宗教信仰自由的政策，乃是因为宗教作为一种意识形态，有它赖以生存的物质生活基础。

VII. Adhere to the Principle of Freedom of Religious Belief, But Not Forget the Ultimate Goal of "Emancipating Belief from the Sorcery of Religion"

七、坚持宗教信仰自由原则，但不能忘记“把信仰从宗教的妖术中解放出来”的终极目标

In the European Middle Ages, under the rule of the Christian church headed by the Roman Church, the people of Europe at that time had no freedom of belief. If one raised doubts about the religious beliefs of the time, they would be considered a religious heretic or even an atheist. At the least, they would suffer criminal penalties such as flogging and imprisonment; at the worst, they would be burned at the stake. In the 16th century, the German Luther opposed the Roman Church, reformed doctrine, and founded Protestantism. Thereafter, the Frenchman Calvin and others, following Luther, reformed doctrine and founded different Protestant denominations. Protestantism suffered suppression from the old religion headed by the Roman Church, and Europe experienced decades of religious wars and a series of revolutionary movements. Through these revolutionary movements, Europeans won for themselves the freedom of belief to believe in the old religion or in a certain denomination of Protestantism. A series of revolutionary movements in Britain, France, and elsewhere made the principle of freedom of religious belief one of the important achievements of the bourgeois revolution. The American slogan "Give me liberty, or give me death" was precisely the freedom to believe in different religions.

欧洲中世纪，在以罗马教会为首的基督教会统治下，当时的欧洲人没有信仰的自由。如果对当时的宗教信仰提出疑义，就会被认为是宗教异端甚至无神论者。轻则遭受鞭打监禁等刑事处罚，重则被处以火刑。16世纪，德国人路德反对罗马教会，改革教义，创立新教。此后又有法国人加尔文等，继路德之后，改革教义，创立不同的新教教派。新教遭受以罗马教会为首的旧教的镇压，欧洲经历了数十年的宗教战争和一系列的革命运动。经过这些革命运动，欧洲人为自己挣得了可以信仰旧教，也可以信仰新教某个教派的信仰自由。英国、法国等一连串的革命运动，使宗教信仰自由的原则成为资产阶级革命的重要成果之一。美国人“不自由，毋宁死”的口号，就是可以信仰不同宗教的自由。

Marx highly evaluated the policy of freedom of belief, believing that freedom of belief was a fundamental right of man:

马克思高度评价了信仰自由的政策，认为信仰自由乃是人的一种基本权利：

This kind of human right is partly a political right, a right that is exercised only in community with others. The content of this right is participation in the community, more precisely, participation in the political community, participation in the state. These rights belong to the category of political freedom, to the category of civil rights; and civil rights, as mentioned above, by no means presuppose the unquestioning and practical abolition of religion, and therefore do not presuppose the abolition of Judaism. ...

这种人权一部分是政治权利，只是与别人共同行使的权利。这种权利的内容就是参加共同体，确切地说，就是参加政治共同体，参加国家。这些权利属于政治自由的范畴，属于公民权利的范畴；而公民权利，如上所述，决不以毫无异议地和实际地废除宗教为前提，因此也不以废除犹太教为前提。……

Freedom of belief belongs among these rights, that is, the right to practice any form of worship.

信仰自由就属于这些权利之列，即履行任何一种礼拜的权利。

In the concept of human rights, there is no implication that religion and human rights are incompatible. On the contrary, the right to profess religion, to profess religion in any way, and to practice the worship of one's own particular religion, is explicitly included among human rights. The privilege of belief is a universal human right.

在人权这一概念中并没有宗教和人权互不相容的含义。相反，信奉宗教、用任何方式信奉宗教、履行自己特殊宗教的礼拜的权利，都被明确列入人权。信仰的特权是普遍的人权。

The reason Marxist religious studies advocates freedom of religious belief is that, in bourgeois society, people are still dominated by alien economic and political forces, and the factual basis of religious reflection and religious reflection itself still exist together. Under these circumstances, forcing people not to believe in religion would instead expand religion's influence, "helping God":

马克思主义宗教学之所以主张宗教信仰自由，在资产阶级社会中，人们依然受着异己的经济、政治力量的支配，宗教反映活动的事实基础和宗教反映本身也还一起存在。在这种情况下强制人们不信宗教，反而会扩大宗教的影响，“替神帮忙”：

One thing is certain: the only thing that can help God in our time is to declare atheism a compulsory dogma and to surpass Bismarck's anti-church decrees in the *Kulturkampf* by prohibiting all religion.

有一点是毫无疑义的：在我们的时代唯一能替神帮点忙的事情，就是把无神论宣布为强制性的信条，并以禁止一切宗教来超越俾斯麦的文化斗争中的反教会法令。

Therefore, under the capitalist system, a policy of freedom of religious belief must be implemented. Even for a period after the proletariat has seized political power, alien social forces and natural forces will continue to exist, so the proletarian party that has seized power must also implement a policy of freedom of belief for a considerable period.

因此，在资本主义制度下，必须实行宗教信仰自由的政策。即使在无产阶级取得政权以后的一段时期里，异己的社会力量和自然力量，也还继续存在，所以取得政权的无产阶级政党，在一个相当长的时期内，也还是要实行信仰自由的政策。

However, the freedom of belief advocated by the proletarian party differs from the freedom of belief of the bourgeoisie:

但是，无产阶级政党主张的信仰自由不同于资产阶级的信仰自由：

The bourgeoisie's "freedom of belief" is nothing more than tolerating the freedom of various religious beliefs, while the workers' party strives to emancipate belief from the sorcery of religion.

资产阶级的“信仰自由”不过是容忍各种各样的宗教信仰自由而已，工人党则力求把信仰从宗教的妖术中解放出来。

That is to say, the proletarian party inherits the policy of freedom of belief won by the bourgeois revolution, but does not forget its ultimate mission regarding the religious question: to abandon belief in deities, to "abolish" religion. The historical mission of the proletarian party is also the historical mission of Marxist religious studies.

也就是说，无产阶级政党继承了资产阶级革命争来的信仰自由政策，但是不忘记自己对待宗教问题的终极使命：抛弃对神祇的信仰，“废除”宗教。无产阶级政党的历史使命，也是马克思主义宗教学的历史使命。

That is to say, Marxist religious studies adheres to the principle of freedom of religious belief, but cannot forget the ultimate goal of "emancipating belief from the sorcery of religion."

也就是说，马克思主义宗教学坚持宗教信仰自由原则，但不能忘记“把信仰从宗教的妖术中解放出来”的终极目标。

VIII. To Emancipate Belief "from the Sorcery of Religion," It Is Necessary to Criticize Theology and Propagate Atheism

八、把信仰“从宗教的妖术中解放出来”就必须批判神学，宣传无神论

To achieve "emancipating belief from the sorcery of religion," the fundamental method is practical social action, creating "a certain material basis or a series of material conditions of existence," and reaching the goal of "man proposes and man disposes." On this issue, "the weapon of criticism cannot, of course, replace criticism by weapons; material force must be overthrown by material force." However, "theory, once it grasps the masses, also becomes material force." The critique of religion and the propaganda of atheist thought can help people recognize the illusory and absurd nature of religion, thereby inspiring their fighting spirit to actively participate in social action and create their own happy lives, which is conducive to creating the material conditions of existence for escaping religious reflection. This is a spiritual weapon, and it will also become a material force.

要实现“把信仰从宗教的妖术中解放出来”，根本办法是实际的社会行动，创造出“一定的物质基础或一系列物质生存条件”，达到“谋事在人，成事也在人”的目标。在这个问题上“批判的武器当然不能代替武器的批判，物质力量只能用物质力量来摧毁”。然而“理论一经掌握群众，也会变成物质力量”。对宗教的批判，无神论思想的宣传，可以帮助人们认清宗教虚幻性、荒谬性的本质，从而激发起人们积极参与社会行动、创造自己幸福生活的斗志，有利于创造摆脱宗教反映的物质生存条件。这是精神的武器，也会变成物质的力量。

Therefore, the proletarian party not only requires its members to firmly establish a scientific atheist worldview and not believe in religion, but also uses the scientific atheist worldview to educate the masses, enabling them to emancipate their minds and shake off spiritual shackles. Engels said in "The Literature of the Émigrés: The Program of the Blanquist Commune Refugees": "In our time, it is fortunately not difficult to be an atheist. Atheism has become a matter of course in the workers' parties of Europe," "As for the vast majority of German Social Democratic workers, it can even be said that atheism is a thing of the past for them; this purely negative term is no longer applicable to them, because they no longer believe in God, not only in theory but also in practice; they simply knock God down, they live and think in the real world, and therefore they are materialists." Not only in Germany, but also in France. If this were not the case, that is, if members of a workers' party still believed in religion, they would need to be educated. And the best textbook for atheist education, in Engels's view, is the literature of the 18th-century French materialists:

因此无产阶级政党，不仅要求自己的党员要牢固树立科学无神论的世界观，不能信仰宗教，同时也要用科学无神论的世界观教育群众，使他们解放思想，摆脱精神枷锁。恩格斯在《流亡者文献·公社的布朗基派流亡者纲领》中说：“在我们的时代，当个无神论者幸而并不困难。在欧洲各工人政党中无神论已经成为不言而喻的事，”“至于德国绝大多数的社会民主党工人，则甚至可以说，无神论在他们那里已成了往事；这个纯粹否定性的术语对他们已经不适用了，因为他们已经不只是在理论上，而且在实践上根本不相信神了；他们干脆把神打倒，他们在现实世界中生活和思考，因此他们是唯物主义者。”不仅在德国，在法国也是如此。假如不是这样，也就是说，假如有的工人政党的党员还相信宗教，就要对他们进行教育。而进行无神论教育的最好教材，在恩格斯看来，就是十八世纪法国唯物主义者的文献：

If this is not the case, then the simplest thing to do would be to try to widely disseminate among the workers the outstanding French materialist literature of the last century. This literature, both in form and content, is to this day the highest achievement of the French spirit; considering the scientific level of the time, its content still has extremely high value even today, and its form remains an unsurpassable model.

如果不是这样，那么最简单的做法莫过于设法在工人中广泛传播上一世纪卓越的法国唯物主义文献。这些文献迄今为止不仅按形式，而且按内容来说都是法兰西精神的最高成就；考虑到当时的科学水平，在今天看来它们的内容也仍然有极高的价值，它们的形式仍然是不可企及的典范。

Decades later, Lenin again raised Engels's opinion, hoping that the Soviet Communists of the time would follow Engels's teachings, retranslate the works of the 18th-century French materialists, and widely disseminate them among the masses. He said that because the broad masses of the people were left ignorant and prejudiced by the old social system, various atheist materials should be supplied to the masses, facts from all aspects of real life should be told to the masses, and various methods should be used to influence them, enabling them to shake off the concept of ghosts and gods, cheer up, and strive for their own good life.

几十年后，列宁又重提恩格斯的意见，他希望当时的苏联共产党人遵照恩格斯的教导，把十八世纪法国唯物主义者的著作重新翻译，向人民群众广泛传播。他说，由于广大人民群众被旧的社会制度置于愚昧无知和囿于偏见的地步，所以应该把各种无神论的材料供给人民群众，把实际生活中各个方面的事实告诉群众，用各种方法影响他们，使他们摆脱鬼神观念，振作起来，争取自己美好的生活。

From the early days of its founding, the Communist Party of China attached importance to atheist propaganda among the masses. At the end of 1963, Mao Zedong, in his instruction "On Strengthening the Study of Religion," pointed out the necessity for Communists to study religion and more precisely positioned Marxist religious critique as "criticizing theology." This pointed the way forward for Marxist religious studies in China.

中国共产党成立初期，就重视对人民群众的无神论宣传。1963年底，毛泽东在《加强宗教问题的研究》批示中，指出共产党人研究宗教的必要性，并把马克思主义的宗教批判更加准确地定位于“批判神学”。这就给中国的马克思宗教学指明了前进的方向。

IX. The Transformation of the Bourgeoisie's Attitude towards Religion and the Vulgarization Tendency of Religious Studies

九、资产阶级对待宗教态度的转变和宗教学的庸俗化倾向

From the seventeenth and eighteenth through the nineteenth centuries, England, France, and Germany successively experienced bourgeois revolutionary movements in different forms. Particularly in the eighteenth century, the French Revolution not only realized a thorough democratic republic; during the revolution, all church property was confiscated and nationalized, and church assets were auctioned off. Clergy had to obey government decrees and swear allegiance to the new regime, or else they were exiled, imprisoned, or even executed. For a period, in order to eradicate religious fanaticism, all churches were even closed and religious sacred objects were destroyed. Before the revolution, the clergy were the first estate among the three estates of French society. After the revolution, this estate ceased to exist. The state abolished the status of Roman Catholic Christianity as the state religion, declared equality among all religions, and granted the people freedom of belief. French politics fundamentally broke free from religious interference and bondage. From the late eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century, German classical philosophy, which succeeded French materialist philosophy, criticized religion more profoundly and comprehensively, reflecting the basic attitude of the German bourgeoisie toward religion during the revolutionary period.

十七、十八到十九世纪，英国、法国、德国，先后发生了形式不同的资产阶级革命运动。特别是十八世纪法国的革命，不仅实现了彻底的民主共和制度；革命中，所有教会的财产全部被没收充公，教产被拍卖；教士必须遵守政府法令，宣誓效忠新政权，否则就被流放、监禁甚至处死。有一个时期，为了清除宗教狂热，甚至关闭所有教堂，捣毁宗教圣物。革命以前，教士是法国社会三大等级中的第一等级。革命以后，这一等级就不复存在。国家废除了罗马教廷系统的天主教的国教地位，宣布各种宗教一律平等，人民信仰自由。法国政治根本上摆脱了宗教的干涉和束缚。十八世纪末到十九世纪初，继法国唯物主义哲学之后的德国古典哲学，对宗教的批判更加深刻，也更加全面，反映了德国资产阶级在革命时期对待宗教的基本态度。

When the bourgeoisie carried out revolutionary movements, they were the lower estate, and the broad masses of producers, primarily the peasant class, provided them with the army of combatants. After the bourgeois revolution succeeded, with the development of large-scale industry, it not only created a class of large industrial capitalists but also created a class of industrial workers far outnumbering the capitalists in size. As their numbers increased, the strength of the working class also grew. And in the mid-nineteenth century, during the revolutionary movements that broke out on the European continent in 1848, the working class not only played a very important role but also put forward some "demands that, from the standpoint of capitalist society, could never be allowed."

资产阶级在进行革命运动的时候，是下层等级，广大生产者大众，主要是农民阶级，为他们提供了战斗大军。资产阶级革命成功，随着大工业的发展，不仅创造了一个大工业资本家阶级，也创造了一个人数远远超过资本家的产业工人的阶级。随着人数的增加，工人阶级的力量也增强了。而在十九世纪中叶，1848年欧洲大陆发生的革命运动中，工人阶级不仅发生了很重要的作用，而且提出了一些“从资本主义社会的观点看来决不能允许的要求”。

The English bourgeoisie had long since discovered that they shared common interests with the ruling class in oppressing the broad masses of working people at home. In order to make their clerks, workers, and servants provide as much and as good labor as possible, they had to train them to be docile and obedient. The primary spiritual means for this was to manipulate their souls with religion. After the rise of the materialist trend of thought on the European continent in the eighteenth century and the fierce revolutionary movements that followed, the English working class grew in size and began to awaken politically, and the English bourgeoisie felt even more strongly that "the common people must be kept in a religious frame of mind." The bourgeoisie on the European continent initially mocked the superstition and ignorance of the English bourgeoisie, but when they discovered that the working class, growing ever larger behind them, was putting forward its own demands, the bourgeoisie of France and Germany, one after another, turned from "those who mocked religion" into "those who devoutly believed in religion." Their slogan was: "Religion must be preserved for the people" ("Die Religion muss dem Volk erhalten werden"). Thus, the study of religion that emerged after the mid-nineteenth century not only almost completely lost the critical edge that French materialist philosophy and German classical philosophy had directed against religion but even became a spiritual tool for flattering religion.

英国资产阶级早就发现，在压迫国内广大劳动群众方面，他们和统治阶级有共同的利益。为了让他们的伙计、工人和仆役们提供尽量多和尽量好的劳动，就必须把他们训练得驯服顺从。而其首要的精神手段，就是用宗教来操纵他们的灵魂。经过了十八世纪欧洲大陆唯物主义思潮的兴起以及此后发生的激烈的革命运动，英国工人阶级队伍日益壮大并开始了政治上的觉醒，英国资产阶级更加强烈地感到，“必须使普通人民保持宗教情绪”。欧洲大陆的资产阶级起初还嘲笑英国资产阶级的迷信和愚昧，但是当他们发现站在他们背后日益壮大起来的工人阶级提出自己需求的时候，法国、德国的资产阶级，也都一个又一个地从“嘲笑宗教的人”变成了“笃信宗教的人”。他们的口号是：“必须为人民保存宗教”（“Die Religion muss dem Volk erhalten werden”）。所以从十九世纪中叶以后产生的宗教学，不仅几乎完全失去了法国唯物主义哲学和德国古典哲学对宗教批判的锋芒，甚至成为向宗教献媚的精神工具。

Friedrich Max Müller (1823–1900), known as the "father of religious studies," founded "comparative religious studies" in the 1870s. He attempted to place Christianity and other religions on an equal footing for study and proposed that "he who knows one religion knows none," which, compared with the theological tradition in which Christianity regarded only itself as a religion and other religions as not religions at all or even mere idolatry, was indeed a step forward. However, he believed: "Religion is an inner instinct... It is a longing, a striving to know the unknowable, to speak the unspeakable, a longing for the love of God and the divine." This is clearly flattering religion, presenting religious belief as an innate human nature.

被称为“宗教学之父”的麦克斯·缪勒（Friedrich Max Muller,1823-1900），于十九世纪七十年代创立“比较宗教学”。他企图把基督教和其他宗教都放在一个平等的地位上进行研究，并且提出“只懂得一种宗教就是不懂宗教”，这相对于基督教只认为自己是宗教，其他宗教都不是宗教甚至仅仅是偶像崇拜的神学传统，确实是一种进步。然而他认为：“宗教是一种内心的本能。……这是一种渴望，力图要认识那不可认识的，说出那说不出的，渴望得到神和上帝的爱。”这又显然是向宗教献媚，把信仰宗教说成是人与生俱来的本性。

Following comparative religious studies, a series of separately named sub-disciplines of religious studies emerged: religious anthropology, religious psychology, religious sociology, religious phenomenology, and so on. The early representatives of these disciplines could still oppose the scientific study of religion to church theology. But the further things went, the more the tradition of religious criticism was lost.

继比较宗教学之后，又诞生了一系列被单独命名的宗教学学科：宗教人类学、宗教心理学、宗教社会学、宗教现象学等等。这些学科早期的代表人物，还能够把科学的宗教研究同教会神学对立起来。但是越到后来，以往的宗教批判传统就丢失得越多。

Religious psychology regards religion as a product of pathological psychology but holds that this psychology is common to human nature, transcending time and space. Thus, religious ideas are a need of human psychology and should exist forever. Religious sociology and religious phenomenology advocate value neutrality and oppose criticism of religion. Religious sociology believes that religion has an integrative function for social groups and a compensatory function for social life, so it should be preserved forever. Its representative, Max Weber, even argued that the ethics of Protestant Christianity provided the spiritual driving force for capitalist production, completely ignoring the fact that countries where the old Catholic Christianity predominated also developed capitalism. Religious phenomenology bases its research on the self-reports of believers, claiming that otherwise one does not understand religion. Its conclusions are also often based on the premise that believers are always correct.

宗教心理学把宗教看作是病态心理的产物，但认为这种心理是超越时空的人性所共有的。所以宗教观念是人类心理的需要，应该永远存在。宗教社会学和宗教现象学主张价值中立，反对批判宗教。宗教社会学认为，宗教有对社会群体的整合作用，对社会生活的补偿作用，所以应该永远保留。其代表人物马克斯·韦伯甚至认为，是基督教新教的伦理为资本主义生产提供了精神动力，完全不顾信仰基督教旧教占优势的国家，也同样发展了资本主义的事实。宗教现象学把研究建立在信仰者自述的基础上，否则就是不懂宗教。其结论，也往往建立在信仰者都是正确的基础之上。

The numerous schools of religious studies represented by and beginning with Max Müller are called "modern bourgeois religious studies" by Soviet scholars. The characteristics of this religious studies are, first, acknowledging the existence of God in various obscure forms; second, arguing from various angles that religious ideas arise from a human nature that transcends time and space; and its conclusion is that religion should endure forever.

以麦克斯·缪勒为代表、从麦克斯·缪勒开始的众多宗教学派，被苏联学者称为“现代资产阶级宗教学”。这种宗教学的特点，第一是以各种隐晦的形式承认神的存在，第二是从各个不同的角度认为宗教观念产生于超越时空的人的本性，其结论是，宗教应该长存。

Modern bourgeois religious studies adapted to the change in the bourgeoisie's attitude toward religion and took a developmental direction opposite to that of French materialist philosophy and German classical philosophy during the bourgeois revolutionary period. This kind of religious studies does not help the people to cast aside illusory happiness and "reach out to pluck the real flower," but rather makes the people put on the chains of thought once again, gazing at the illusory flowers promised by theologians in search of comfort.

现代资产阶级宗教学适应了资产阶级对待宗教态度的转变，和资产阶级革命时期的法国唯物主义哲学、德国古典哲学，走上了相反的发展方向。这种宗教学不是帮助人民抛弃幻想的幸福，“伸手摘取现实的花朵”，而是要人民重新戴上思想的锁链，望着神学家们许诺的虚幻的花朵寻求安慰。

10. The General Trend of Religious Development and the Imperialist Strategy of Religious Infiltration

十、宗教发展的总趋势以及帝国主义的宗教渗透战略

Engels said: "Neither the religious zeal of the English bourgeois nor the post festum conversion of the continental bourgeois will stem the rising proletarian tide." [5]5 Friedrich Engels, "The Condition of the Working Class in England," in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *Collected Works*, vol. 4 (Beijing: People's Publishing House, 2009), p. 497. [Translator's note: This is a back-translation from the Chinese text; the original English source should be verified.] Of course, it will not stop the trend of religion's continuous decline either.

恩格斯说：“无论英国资产者的宗教执迷，还是大陆资产者的事后皈依宗教，恐怕都阻挡不了日益高涨的无产阶级的潮流。”当然，也阻止不了宗教不断衰落的趋势。

Around the time Engels wrote these words, in those countries where bourgeois revolution had succeeded, although their bourgeoisie tried every means to convert to religion, when they discovered that religion was "the only and ultimate means of salvation to prevent (their) society from total destruction," [6]6 Friedrich Engels, "The Condition of the Working Class in England," in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *Collected Works*, vol. 4 (Beijing: People's Publishing House, 2009), p. 497. [Translator's note: This is a back-translation from the Chinese text; the original English source should be verified.] "they had already used every effort to destroy religion forever." [7]7 Friedrich Engels, "The Condition of the Working Class in England," in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *Collected Works*, vol. 4 (Beijing: People's Publishing House, 2009), p. 497. [Translator's note: This is a back-translation from the Chinese text; the original English source should be verified.]

就在恩格斯写下这段话的前后，那些资产阶级革命成功的国家，尽管他们的资产阶级都想方设法地皈依宗教，但是当他们发现宗教是“使（他们的）社会不致完全毁灭的唯一的和最后的拯救手段”的时候，“他们已经用尽一切力量把宗教永远破坏了”。

To restore religion to its former glory is as impossible as trying to gather up water that has been spilled on the ground. In these countries where revolution succeeded, first came the separation of church and state, meaning religion could no longer interfere in politics; then came the separation of religion and education, meaning religion could no longer interfere in education either. Moreover, these two separations became the founding principles of modern states in general. In this way, religion lost its two most important social functions and retreated to become an ordinary civil organization.

要想让宗教恢复昔日的辉煌，如同需要回收泼在地上的水，已经完全不可能了。在这些革命成功的国家，先是实行政教分离，即宗教不得干预政治；接着就是宗教和教育分离，宗教也不得再干涉教育。而且这两个分离也成了一般现代国家的立国原则。这样，宗教就失去了两个最重要的社会功能，退居成为一般的民间团体。

From the religious side, especially the supreme gods of the three major world religions, each considers itself the ruler of the world and takes the salvation of all humanity as its religious goal. For them to simply live like other civil organizations, constrained by state laws and the norms of social life, is something they are unwilling to accept. Therefore, over the past century and more, wave after wave of attempts to revive religion have been constantly made, but according to the observation of the famous philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead:

从宗教方面来说，特别是三大世界宗教各自的至上神，都认为自己是世界的主宰，都把拯救整个人类作为自己的宗教目标。要他们就这样地和其他民间团体一样，过着受国家法律、社会生活规范约束的日子，他们是不会心甘情愿的。因此，近一个多世纪以来，一波又一波复兴宗教的企图总是不断地在进行，但是据著名哲学家和数学家怀特海的观察：

Ideas are always changing, and no one can stop them. The present religious situation of the European peoples proves the proposition I have put forward. The phenomenon here is quite chaotic. At times there are religious reactions and revivals, but the general trend over many generations is that the power of religion in European culture has been steadily declining. Each revival reaches only a lower peak than its predecessor, and each period of relaxation sinks into a deeper abyss than its predecessor. [8]8 Alfred North Whitehead, *Science and the Modern World* (Beijing: Commercial Press, 1989), p. 181. [Translator's note: This is a back-translation from the Chinese text; the original English source should be verified.]

观念总在变，谁也挡不住。欧洲各民族现在的宗教情况，证明了我所提出的说法。这里的现象是相当混乱的。有些时候有宗教的反作用和复兴，但许多世代的总趋势是欧洲文化中的宗教势力已经日见衰退了。每一次复兴都只能达到比前人低一筹的高峰，而每一个松懈时期则陷入一个比前人更低的深渊。

Europe is the stronghold of Christianity. The decline of religion that Whitehead spoke of refers primarily to the decline of Christianity. As for Buddhism, after a period of flourishing in our country, it began to decline at least from the Song dynasty onward. By the time of the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty, some again proposed “weeding out monks and Taoists.” [9]9 The Qianlong reign (1735–1796) of the Qing dynasty. The phrase “weeding out monks and Taoists” refers to proposals to reduce the number of Buddhist and Taoist clergy, seen as unproductive. Emperor Qianlong said that weeding them out would be easy, even abolishing them entirely would require only a single imperial edict, but the monks and Taoists of today are already far inferior to those of the past; keeping such a group could still serve to settle displaced persons; otherwise, how would so many idle and unemployed people be settled? For this reason, Qianlong even wrote a poem:

欧洲是基督教的大本营。怀特海说的宗教衰落，主要是指基督教的衰落。至于佛教，在我国兴盛了一段以后，至少从宋朝开始，就衰落下去了。以致到了清朝乾隆年间，又有人建议“沙汰僧道”。乾隆皇帝说，沙汰容易，甚至全部取消，也只消一道圣旨，不过今天的僧道已经大不如前了，留着这样一批人，还可以安置流民；不然，那么多游手好闲者如何安置。为此，乾隆还写了一首诗：

The declining waves daily fall—how can they turn back? / The Two Schools [Buddhism and Taoism] are now pitiable as well. / Why must we cling to the past in rejecting heresy? / Leave them as material for landscape paintings and poetic inspiration.

颓波日下讵能回，二氏于今亦可哀。何必辟邪犹泥古，留资画景与诗材。

Islam, also a world religion, has likewise lost its former glory. The Ottoman Empire, which spanned three continents—Europe, Asia, and Africa—no longer exists. Many of the states formed from the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire have adopted modern democratic systems. Even in those countries that still declare Islam their state religion, their political systems have undergone major changes. The general trend of religious decline is already unstoppable. The resurgence of religion in certain countries and regions during certain periods is merely a minor twist within the great current, and, as Whitehead noted, it manifests as a phenomenon of waves each lower than the last.

同为世界宗教的伊斯兰教，也失去了昔日的辉煌。横跨欧亚非三大洲的奥斯曼帝国不存在了。由奥斯曼帝国分裂而形成的国家，不少实行了现代的民主制度。即使在那些宣称仍然以伊斯兰教为国教的国家，其政治制度也发生了重大变化。宗教衰落的大趋势已经无法阻挡。在某些国家和地区的某个时期的宗教回潮，不过是大潮流中的小曲折，而且如同怀特海所说，呈现出一浪低于一浪的现象。

In view of the increasing decline of world religions in their places of origin or traditional strongholds, some religious theological forces have pinned their hopes for revival on countries and regions where their religions have not yet spread widely, primarily the Third World countries of Africa and Latin America. According to relevant statistics, the number of Christians in Africa and Latin America today has even surpassed that in the traditional European and American regions. Islam has also seen significant growth. Next is mainland China, which has become a new region where Christianity and Islam are striving to spread and expand. This is what our government constantly warns about as the problem of “religious infiltration.” The U.S. government has established a “United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF),” which specializes in concerning itself with the state of religious freedom in other countries. They issue a report every year, doing their utmost to distort and slander the state of religious freedom in other countries, especially our China, making it a tool for the U.S. government to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. Since our country’s reform and opening up, the resurgence and revival of religious forces have been closely related to the infiltration of foreign religious forces with ill intentions, posing a significant hidden danger to the security of our country’s ideology.

鉴于世界宗教在自己的原产地或原驻地日益衰落，一些宗教神学势力就把他们复兴的希望寄托于其宗教传播尚不广泛的国家和地区，首先是非洲和拉丁美洲的第三世界国家。据有关统计，当前非洲和拉丁美洲信仰基督教的人数甚至超过了传统的欧美地区。伊斯兰教也有很大发展。其次就是中国大陆，是基督教和伊斯兰教致力传播和扩张的新的地区。这就是我国政府不断提醒的所谓“宗教渗透”问题。美国政府成立了一个“国际宗教自由委员会（United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, USCIRF）”，专门关心其他国家的宗教自由状况。他们每年出台一个报告，极尽对别国、特别是我们中国宗教信仰自由状况的歪曲、污蔑之能事，成为美国政府干涉别国内政的工具。我国改革开放以来，宗教势力的回潮和复兴，与国外不怀好意的宗教势力的渗透密切相关，是危害我国意识形态安全的重要隐患。

Criticizing theology, spreading atheism, resisting religious infiltration, safeguarding national ideological security, helping the masses free themselves from the shackles of theism, and achieving their own real happiness through their own efforts—these are the goals of Marxist religious studies and the glorious responsibility of scholars engaged in research on Marxist religious studies.

批判神学，传播无神论，抵制宗教渗透，捍卫国家意识形态安全，帮助人民群众摆脱有神论束缚，通过自己的努力，实现自己现实的幸福，是马克思主义宗教学的目标，也是从事马克思主义宗教学研究的学者的光荣责任。

Online editor: Tongxin

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