On Issues Concerning the Theoretical Construction of Marxist Religious Studies

At the 2021 National Conference on Religious Work, General Secretary Xi Jinping explicitly called for “strengthening the disciplinary construction of Marxist religious studies.” This is both an affirmation of the status and role of Marxist religious studies and a demand regarding its developmental direction and shortcomings. Disciplinary construction encompasses multiple aspects, which can be summarized into three components: personnel, material conditions, and scholarship. Personnel refers to talent, the primary factor, with team building and talent cultivation as its concrete content. Material conditions refer to the physical environment, i.e., external circumstances, including research facilities, teaching equipment, and so on. Scholarship refers to doctrine and theory, including the disciplinary system, theoretical system, knowledge system, and practical application; it is the central content of disciplinary construction. Strengthening the disciplinary construction of Marxist religious studies means strengthening all three aspects—personnel, material conditions, and scholarship—of Marxist religious studies, with the construction of personnel being the most core element.

2021年全国宗教工作会议上习近平总书记明确提出要“加强马克思主义宗教学学科建设”，这既是对马克思主义宗教学地位及其作用的肯定，也是对马克思主义宗教学发展方向及其不足提出的要求。学科建设包含多方面内容，概括起来不外乎人、物、学三大构件。人就是人才，是首要因素，队伍建设和人才培养是其具体内容。物就是物质环境，即外在条件，包括研究场所、教学设备等。学就是学说、理论，包括学科体系、理论体系、知识系统、实际运用等，是学科建设的中心内容。加强马克思主义宗教学学科建设，就是在马克思主义宗教学的人、物、学三个方面都要加强，其中最核心的是人的建设。

At the National Conference on Religious Work, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed cultivating three teams for religious work, including teams of Party and government cadres, teams of representative figures from religious circles, and teams of religious studies researchers. For the team of religious studies researchers, the primary requirement is firmness in ideological and political stance. This is a requirement for the talent themselves: ideologically, they must be guided by Marxism; politically, they must be loyal to the Communist Party of China and the interests of the broad masses of the people. Where there are “personnel,” there must be “scholarship”; the purpose of “personnel” lies in “scholarship.” In terms of “scholarship,” both the team of Party and government cadres and the team of religious studies researchers are required to possess a Marxist view on religion. The former must be “proficient” in it; without proficiency, they cannot carry out practical work innovatively and cannot do the Party’s religious work well. The latter must “adhere to” it; without adherence, they will deviate from the correct track of Marxism and slide into non-Marxist doctrines such as Western religious studies and the theory of religion as culture, and religious studies will fail to play its role as a “supporting discipline” within philosophy and social sciences. However, how to strengthen the discipline of Marxist religious studies and what kind of Marxist religious studies to adhere to involves certain cognitive issues that have emerged in the development of Marxist religious studies in China. This article explores the concepts and relationships between the discipline “Marxist religious studies” that needs to be strengthened and the “Marxist view on religion” that needs to be adhered to, attempting to offer reference opinions for strengthening the theoretical construction of Marxist religious studies.

习近平总书记在全国宗教工作会议上提出要培养宗教工作的三支队伍，包括党政干部队伍、宗教界代表人士队伍和宗教学研究队伍，其中对宗教学研究队伍首先要求思想政治坚定，这是作为人才本身的要求，在思想上必须以马克思主义为指导，政治上必须忠诚于中国共产党和广大人民的利益。有“人”就得有“学”，“人”的目的在于“学”，而在“学”上对党政干部队伍和宗教学研究队伍都有马克思主义宗教观的要求，前者要“精通”，不精通无法创新性地开展实际工作，做不好党的宗教工作；后者要“坚持”，不坚持就会脱离马克思主义正确轨道，滑向西方宗教学以及宗教文化论等非马克思主义学说，宗教学起不到哲学社会科学中“支撑学科”的作用。然而如何加强马克思主义宗教学学科，坚持什么样的马克思主义宗教学，涉及到我国马克思主义宗教学发展过程中存在的一些认识问题，本文就围绕要加强的学科“马克思主义宗教学”和要坚持的“马克思主义宗教观”的概念及其关系作一探讨，试图为加强马克思主义宗教学的理论建设提出参考意见。

I. The Scientific Nature of Marxist Religious Studies

一、马克思主义宗教学的科学性

Marxist religious studies is a doctrine and a theoretical system of Marxism concerning religious issues, and it is also a disciplinary category and a disciplinary system within religious studies. Marxist religious studies can be divided into narrow and broad senses. In the narrow sense, it refers to the doctrine of the classical Marxist writers on religious issues. In the broad sense, it refers to the doctrinal system and disciplinary system formed by studying religious issues from the Marxist standpoint, viewpoint, and method, or the doctrinal system, disciplinary system, and their schools further elaborated on the basis of the classical Marxist writers’ doctrine on religious issues. Among these are Soviet Marxist religious studies and Chinese Marxist religious studies.

马克思主义宗教学是马克思主义关于宗教问题的一种学说、一种理论体系，也是宗教学的一个学科门类、一个学科体系。马克思主义宗教学有狭义、广义之分，狭义上指马克思主义经典作家关于宗教问题的学说。广义上则指以马克思主义立场、观点和方法研究宗教问题所形成的学说体系及其学科体系，或者说以马克思主义经典作家关于宗教问题的学说为基础进一步阐发而形成的学说体系和学科体系及其派别，其中有苏联马克思主义宗教学，也有中国马克思主义宗教学。

Regarding the concept of Marxist religious studies, it is said to have been proposed as early as the Soviet period. In China, in 1979, Mr. Ren Jiyu published “Strive to Develop Marxist Religious Studies,” explicitly proposing and defining Marxist religious studies, marking the formation of the theoretical system of Chinese Marxist religious studies. However, ten years later, when *A General Theory of Religious Studies* (hereinafter referred to as *General Theory*) was published, even the term “religious studies” seemed unfamiliar to many. “As for the formulation ‘Marxist religious studies,’ it was still a rather controversial issue; whether this field of learning actually existed was still being explored and debated.” Another ten years later, when *A New Edition of A General Theory of Religious Studies* (hereinafter referred to as *New Edition*) was published, there was still doubt about “whether such a field of learning actually exists, which remains a rather controversial issue in Chinese academic circles requiring serious exploration.” For a long time, people had criticized religious studies as a bourgeois pseudoscience, and once the task of establishing religious studies was set, they often treated Marxist theory on religion as an existing system of religious studies. This statement clearly does not conform to the actual situation. At that time, not only had the doctrinal system and academic system of religious studies been established, but religious studies as an independent disciplinary category had also been incorporated into the national standard disciplinary classification and the Ministry of Education’s specialty catalog. It can be said that an institutional disciplinary system of religious studies had already taken shape.

关于马克思主义宗教学的概念，据说早在苏联时期就已提出，在我国则于1979年任继愈先生发表《为发展马克思主义的宗教学而奋斗》，明确提出并定义马克思主义宗教学，作为中国马克思主义宗教学理论体系形成的标志。但过了十年之后，《宗教学通论》（以下简称《通论》）出版时，连“宗教学”似乎大家觉得比较陌生，“至于‘马克思主义宗教学’的提法，则还是颇有争议的问题，究竟有没有这门学问，仍在探索和讨论之中。”又过了十年之后，《宗教学通论新编》（以下简称《新编》）出版时，仍然怀疑“究竟有没有这样一门学问，在我国学术界中仍是一个颇有争议、需要认真探索的问题”。而长期以来人们把宗教学当作资产阶级伪科学予以批判，一旦建立宗教学任务时又往往把马克思主义关于宗教的理论当作现存的宗教学体系。这种说法显然不符合实际情况，当时不要说宗教学的学说体系、学术体系已经建立起来，就是宗教学作为独立学科门类也已编入国家标准的学科分类、教育部的专业目录，可以说体制性的宗教学学科业已形成。

Since 1963, when Ren Jiyu published *Collected Essays on Buddhist Thought in the Han and Tang Dynasties* and Chairman Mao issued “Instructions on Strengthening Research on Religious Issues,” China began to build the disciplinary system of Marxist religious studies: establishing research institutions, organizing research teams, launching journals on religious studies, establishing the “Religious Studies Society,” setting up religious studies majors, offering religious studies courses, and compiling religious studies textbooks. It should be said that “religious studies” was a fashionable concept, and a doctrinal system and disciplinary system had already taken shape. Marxist religious studies was an inherent part of this. Chairman Mao explicitly instructed the establishment of religious studies led by Marxists, and everything was to be constructed according to Marxist religious studies. As for the theoretical system of religious studies, *A General Theory of Religious Studies* was initially planned and designed according to the Marxist *Principles of Religious Studies*. Religious studies courses offered at Peking University were also taught according to Marxist religious studies. Even when later scholars continued to teach this course, its doctrinal system largely followed the line of thought in Ren Jiyu’s papers on Marxist religious studies and his *Lecture Notes on Religious Studies*. For example, the first major part covered principles of religious studies (including scientific atheism), the second major part covered the origin and development of religion, the third major part covered the relationship between religion and other social ideologies, and the fourth major part covered the religious policy of the proletarian party. *General Theory* and its *New Edition* merely expanded, systematized, refined, deepened, or deleted content on this basis. For instance, although the definition of religious studies in the principles section incorporated the four-element theory (already proposed by Soviet scholars) and cultural theory, it still defined religion around Engels’ theory of illusion. Although Western religious studies was revered as the true religious studies, in demonstrating key issues such as the concept, essence, function, laws, and history of religion, not much “borrowing” was made from Western religious studies viewpoints; instead, Marxist doctrine was frequently applied. Therefore, people still regarded *General Theory* and its *New Edition* as works of Marxist religious studies. Another example is the section on the relationship between religion and other social ideologies. Besides religion and philosophy, aesthetics, and morality, it also included research on religion and history, politics, literature, art, science, etc. *General Theory* eliminated the content on religion and philosophy, history, literature, and aesthetics, retaining religion and politics, art, and science. *New Edition* changed the title of this section to “Religion and Culture.” As for the section on the religious policy of the proletarian party, *General Theory* titled it “Religion and Socialism,” while *New Edition* directly deleted it. Of course, the innovation of *General Theory*, especially *New Edition*, is also very distinct, characterized by the introduction of Western religious studies and the theory of religion as culture, claiming to “take truth as the teacher,” thereby implicitly abandoning Marxism as the guiding ideology, although objectively they had no choice but to use Marxist religious theory. It can be seen that *General Theory* and *New Edition* questioned the existence of religious studies in China, merely refusing to acknowledge the Chinese Marxist religious studies pioneered by Ren Jiyu. They believed that the true Chinese religious studies was one established by “taking truth as the teacher,” drawing on Western religious studies and the theory of religion as culture, and combining Marxist religious theory.

自从1963年任继愈出版《汉唐佛教思想论集》、毛主席作出“关于加强宗教问题研究的批示”后，我国就开始建设马克思主义宗教学学科体系，成立研究机构，组织研究队伍，创刊宗教学刊物，成立“宗教学学会”，设立宗教学专业，开设宗教学课程，编写宗教学教材，应该说“宗教学”是一个时兴的概念，也已形成学说体系和学科体系。而马克思主义宗教学是题中应有之义，毛主席明确批示要建立马克思主义者领导的宗教学，一切都按马克思主义宗教学来建设。就宗教学理论体系而言，《宗教学通论》最初是按马克思主义的《宗教学原理》来规划设计的。在北京大学开设宗教学课程，也都按马克思主义宗教学来讲授，即便后来学者接着讲授这门课，其学说体系大致仍按任继愈有关马克思主义宗教学的论文和《宗教学讲义》的思路。如第一大部分讲宗教学原理（包括科学无神论），第二大部分讲宗教的起源和发展，第三大部分讲宗教与其他社会意识形态的关系，第四大部分讲无产阶级政党的宗教政策。《通论》及其《新编》只是在此基础上扩展、系统、细化、深化、删减而已，如原理部分的宗教学定义尽管加入四要素论（苏联学者早就提出）和文化论，但仍围绕恩格斯的幻想论而定义。尽管推崇西方宗教学为真正的宗教学，但论证宗教的观念、本质、作用、规律、历史等关键问题上并没有“借鉴”多少西方宗教学观点，反而频繁运用马克思主义学说，故此人们仍然把《通论》及其《新编》看作马克思主义宗教学著作。又如宗教与其他社会意识形态的关系部分，除了宗教与哲学、美学、道德之外，还包括宗教与历史、政治、文学、艺术、科学等问题的研究，《通论》取消了宗教与哲学、历史、文学、美学的内容，保留了宗教与政治、艺术、科学，《新编》则改其编名为“宗教与文化”。无产阶级政党的宗教政策部分，《通论》作“宗教与社会主义”，《新编》则直接删除。当然，《通论》尤其《新编》的创新性也非常鲜明，以引入西方宗教学以及宗教文化论为其特色，声称“以真理为师”，也就宣告FQ马克思主义作为指导思想，尽管客观上不得不用马克思主义的宗教理论。由此可见，《通论》和《新编》质疑宗教学在中国的存在，只是不承认任继愈开创的中国马克思主义宗教学而已，自认为“以真理为师”、借鉴西方宗教学以及宗教文化论、结合马克思主义宗教理论建立起来的才是真正的中国宗教学。

The Chinese Marxist religious studies established by Ren Jiyu in accordance with Chairman Mao’s directives can continue to be explored and debated, and even “considerable controversy” may be permitted, but the doctrines on religious issues from the classical Marxist writers on which he relied cannot be denied. Hence, *General Theory* and its *New Edition* assert that the classical Marxist writers only had a view of religion, not a science of religion. This is a perspective that restricts its systematic and disciplinary character, suggesting that the religious theories of the classical Marxist writers do not constitute a “science,” let alone that later attempts to establish a so-called Marxist religious studies are highly questionable. *General Theory* states: “People generally acknowledge that the basic principles of the Marxist view of religion are truly scientific religious theory, but whether these theories can be called ‘Marxist religious studies’ makes one feel quite hesitant and indecisive. When ‘religious studies’ is mentioned, people often think of Max Müller, Tylor, Frazer… as if only the Western religious research they represent is the true religious studies.” Thus, what exactly is the difference between religious studies and a view of religion? *General Theory* proposes two criteria: first, in disciplinary terms, religious studies has independence, while a view of religion has only subordination; second, in content, religious studies has systematicity, while a view of religion has only fragmentariness and particularity. Measured by these, *New Edition* believes that the religious theories of the classical Marxist writers are merely appendages to Marxist philosophy and lack the independence of a humanities discipline. At the same time, these discussions are relatively scattered and have not been systematized into a system of religious studies. Its conclusion is that “in Marx and Engels there are only ‘views of religion’ scattered throughout various works, not a ready-made system of ‘religious studies’ that can be copied and applied directly.”

任继愈根据毛主席指示建立的中国马克思主义宗教学可以继续探索和讨论，乃至允许“颇有争议”，但他所依据的马克思主义经典作家关于宗教问题的学说则无法否认，故《通论》及其《新编》提出马克思主义经典作家只有宗教观，没有宗教学。这是一种限制其体系性、学科性的观点，以为马克思主义经典作家的宗教理论都不成“学”，更何况后人试图建立所谓马克思主义宗教学，就颇值得怀疑了。《通论》说：“人们一般承认马克思主义宗教观的基本原理是真正科学的宗教理论，但是否可以把这些理论称之为‘马克思主义宗教学’，就感到颇为踌躇难决了。一提到‘宗教学’，人们往往就会联想到麦克斯·缪勒、泰勒、弗雷泽……似乎只有他们所代表的西方宗教研究，才是真正的宗教学。”如此，究竟宗教学与宗教观有何区别呢？《通论》提出两个标准，一是学科上宗教学具有独立性，宗教观则只有从属性；二是内容上宗教学具有系统性，宗教观则只有零散性、个别性。以此衡量，《新编》认为马克思主义经典作家的宗教理论只是马克思主义哲学的附属物，不具备人文学科的独立性。同时这些论述比较分散，没有系统化为宗教学体系。其结论就是“在马克思、恩格斯那里只有散见于各篇论著中的‘宗教观’，没有现成的‘宗教学’体系可以照搬照抄，拿来就用。”

But these two criteria for measurement are themselves problematic. Take the criterion of independence: when observing a social phenomenon, in philosophy it is either materialist or idealist; there is no third method of observation. Marxism uses historical materialism and dialectical materialism to observe religious phenomena, hence it is called Marxist religious studies. Marxism uses dialectical materialism and historical materialism to observe the economic phenomena of capitalist society, constituting Marxist political economy. Similarly, observing the phenomena of the socialist movement in this way forms scientific socialism. But from this we cannot say that political economy is an appendage of Marxist philosophy, or that scientific socialism is an appendage of Marxist philosophy. The three major components of Marxism are merely constituent parts of Marxism, not meant in a disciplinary sense. In a disciplinary sense, Marxist philosophy is still a type of philosophy, political economy still belongs to the category of economics, and scientific socialism belongs to the category of social formations. But precisely because Marxism is composed of doctrines of heterogeneous natures, coupled with its guiding status, it is treated as an independent disciplinary category in China’s new disciplinary classification. Marxist religious studies is Marxist in nature, but belongs to religious studies in disciplinary classification. The independence of religious studies does not mean it has already formed a complete discipline; it is often a taxonomic discipline, that is, a designated discipline. Because of this misunderstanding, some scholars assert that the West has an independent religious studies, from which numerous sub-disciplines have differentiated. In fact, Western religious studies to this day does not have a general religious studies, let alone sub-disciplines; so-called sub-disciplines are all research fields of other disciplines. Marxist religious studies does not mean independence from religious studies, and an independent humanities discipline does not mean it has an independent third philosophical method of observation. The independence of a discipline lies in the specialized research methods of the discipline itself; a discipline in the modern sense possesses modernity, that is, scientificity, before it can be called a discipline.

但这两个衡量的标准本身就有问题，如其独立性标准，观察一种社会现象，在哲学上不是唯物主义的就是唯心主义的，不存在第三种观察方法，马克思主义用历史唯物主义和辩证唯物主义观察宗教现象，故称马克思主义宗教学。马克思主义用辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义观察资本主义社会经济现象，构成马克思主义政治经济学。同样，以此观察社会主义运动现象，形成科学社会主义。但由此我们不能说政治经济学是马克思主义哲学的附属物，科学社会主义是马克思主义哲学的附属物。而马克思主义的三大组成部分，只是马克思主义的构成部分，不是在学科意义上所说的。在学科意义上，马克思主义哲学仍然是哲学的一个种类，政治经济学仍属于经济学范畴，科学社会主义属于社会形态范畴。但正因为马克思主义由非同属性的学说构成，加之其指导地位，在我国新学科分类中作为一个独立的学科门类。马克思主义宗教学性质上属于马克思主义，但学科分类上属于宗教学。宗教学的独立性也并不意味着已形成一个完整的学科，它往往是一种分类学上的学科，也就是设定的学科。正因为有这种误解，一些学者就认定西方有一个独立的宗教学，从中分化出诸多分支学科。其实西方宗教学至今都没有一个一般宗教学，更谈不上有什么分支学科，所谓分支学科都是其他学科的研究领域。马克思主义宗教学并不意味着独立于宗教学，独立的人文学科也并不意味着有独立的第三种哲学观察方法，学科的独立性在于学科本身的专门性研究方法，现代意义上的学科具备现代性即科学性才称之为学科。

The criterion of systematicity is merely a “quantitative” measure; scattered discussions versus concentrated discussions, particular viewpoints versus universal viewpoints, are merely differences in quantity and degree. The main factor for a discipline to take independent shape lies in “quality,” that is, the ability to point out the nature, characteristics, laws, functions, etc., of its research object, and to possess principles, practicality, and methodology. If measured by this quality standard, Marxist religious studies may not necessarily be invalid, whereas comparative religious studies may not necessarily be valid!

系统性标准，只是一个“量”的衡量标准，分散论述与集中论述，个别性观点与普遍性观点，都不过是数量和程度的不同而已。一个学科独立成形的主要因素在于“质”，也就是能够指出其研究对象的性质、特征、规律、作用等，具备原理性、实践性、方法论。如果用这种质量标准衡量，马克思主义宗教学未必不成立，比较宗教学倒未必能成立！

Furthermore, the formation of a discipline has a process of origin, formation, and development, with a starting point and an end point. The same is true for Marxist religious studies. From the perspective of Marxist religious studies in a narrow sense, Marx and Engels represent only the end point of its formation; its starting point and sources lie in the Young Hegelians, Feuerbach, 19th-century European history of religions, and early anthropology, among others. From the perspective of Marxist religious studies in a broad sense, Marx and Engels represent the beginning of Marxist religious studies, which developed under Lenin and Stalin, and further developed after being introduced into China. It not only inherited the principles of religious studies and scientific atheism from the classical Marxist writers, but also enriched and developed the theories and policies of the proletarian party on religious work, forming religious theories and policies with Chinese characteristics. More importantly, it uses the positions, viewpoints, and methods of Marxist religious studies to study various religious phenomena, forming a general religious research field with certain characteristics and a relatively complete institutional discipline.

又，一个学科的形成有一个起源、形成、发展过程，有起点，也有终点。马克思主义宗教学同样如此，从狭义的马克思主义宗教学来说，马克思、恩格斯那里只是形成的终点，它的起点和来源在于青年黑格尔派、费尔巴哈、19世纪欧洲宗教史学以及早期人类学等等。从广义的马克思主义宗教学来说，马克思、恩格斯那里又是马克思主义宗教学的开端，在列宁以及斯大林那里得到发展，传入我国后得到进一步发展，不仅继承了马克思主义经典作家的宗教学原理以及科学无神论，还丰富和发展了无产阶级政党关于宗教工作的理论与政策，形成具有中国特色社会主义宗教理论与政策，而更多的是以马克思主义宗教学的立场、观点和方法研究各种宗教现象，形成具有一定特色的一般宗教研究领域，形成比较完善的体制性学科。

In China, the first to propose and define Marxist religious studies was Mr. Ren Jiyu. In a paper published in 1979, he titled it precisely with Marxist religious studies: “Strive to Develop Marxist Religious Studies.” In the paper, he provides a concise summary of Marxist religious studies, stating: “The founders of Marxism used the scientific worldview of dialectical materialism and historical materialism to conduct extensive research on religious issues, summarized the achievements of previous research on religion, critically inherited the legacy of various forms of atheism in history, and laid the foundation for Marxist religious studies, thereby making religious studies a science. Marxist religious studies is an important aspect of the entire scientific system of Marxism.” This means that the founders of Marxism used the scientific worldview of dialectical materialism and historical materialism to study religious issues and adopted a scientific atheist attitude toward religious concepts, thereby making religious studies a science.

在我国最早提出并定义马克思主义宗教学的是任继愈先生，他在1979年发表的论文即以马克思主义宗教学为名，标其题《为发展马克思主义的宗教学而奋斗》。文中对马克思主义宗教学有一个精辟的概括，指出：“马克思主义的奠基人用辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义的科学世界观对宗教问题进行了大量的研究，总结了前人关于宗教研究的成果，批判地继承了历史上各种无神论的遗产，奠定了马克思主义宗教学的基础，从此宗教学成为一门科学。马克思主义宗教学是马克思主义整个科学体系的一个重要方面”。这就是说马克思主义奠基人以辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义的科学世界观研究宗教问题，对宗教观念采取科学无神论态度，才使宗教学成为一门科学。

Here, there are two points in the definition of Marxist religious studies. First, the founders of Marxism “laid the foundation for Marxist religious studies,” and this foundation is the principles of Marxist religious studies. If Marxist religious studies is a building, the principles of Marxist religious studies are its foundation; the foundation determines the height and structure of the superstructure. The relationship between foundation and building is not only hierarchical but also structural, both being part of a single construction system. The theoretical edifice of Marxist religious studies is also composed of its principles, specific theories, and knowledge. Where there is theory, there is a theoretical system; where there is a theoretical system, it indicates a knowledge system.

这里对马克思主义宗教学的规定有两点，第一，马克思主义奠基人“奠定了马克思主义宗教学的基础”，这个基础就是马克思主义宗教学原理。如果说马克思主义宗教学是一座大厦，马克思主义宗教学原理就是大厦的基础，基础决定上层建筑的高度和结构，基础和大厦不仅有阶层性关系，还有结构性关系，同是一个构筑体系。马克思主义宗教学的理论大厦，也由其原理和具体理论以及知识构成，有理论便有理论体系，有理论体系就说明有知识系统。

Second, religious studies thereafter became a science. This religious studies refers to Marxist religious studies; it is a “science,” not a so-called humanities discipline in the general sense. Science is the fundamental characteristic of a modern discipline. In the narrow sense, science refers to the natural sciences. Applying the general principles and methods of the natural sciences to the study of social phenomena constitutes the social sciences; applying them to the study of ideology and thought constitutes materialist philosophy, collectively referred to as philosophy and social sciences, which is science in the broad sense. The so-called humanities in the West are primarily based on knowledge construction and do not necessarily possess scientificity. For example, comparative religious studies remains neutral toward religious theology, does not base itself on scientific critique, and runs counter to the critical spirit of scientific atheism in Marxist religious studies. This is the result of its emergence from religious theology, and therefore it cannot be a modern discipline with scientific criticality.

第二，宗教学从此成为一门科学，这个宗教学就是指马克思主义宗教学，它是一门“科学”，而非一般所谓的人文学科。科学是现代学科的根本特征，狭义的科学指自然科学，以自然科学的一般原理和方法运用于社会现象的研究，就是社会科学；运用于意识形态以及思维的研究，就是唯物主义哲学，统称哲学社会科学，这是广义的科学。西方所谓人文学科，以知识建构为主，并不一定具有科学性，如比较宗教学对宗教神学保持中立，不以科学批判为基础，与马克思主义宗教学的科学无神论批判精神背道而驰，这是它从宗教神学脱胎出来的结果，因而不可能是一种具有科学批判性的现代学科。

Proceeding from the nature of religious studies, Mr. Ren Jiyu defines it as follows: “Marxist religious studies is a science that, under the guidance of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, studies the laws of the emergence, development, and eventual extinction of various religions.” This definition manifests another characteristic of why Marxist religious studies is a science—the study of the objective laws of things, that is, the study of the objective laws of the emergence, development, and eventual extinction of religions. He also says: “The thoroughness of Marxist religious studies on the issue of atheism lies not in the resoluteness with which it advocates scientific atheism, but in the fact that it scientifically reveals the essence of religion and the objective laws of its emergence, development, and eventual extinction, demonstrating the historical inevitability of religion as a social phenomenon arising and perishing. In comparison, all other theories of religious studies, whether due to class prejudice in refusing to acknowledge the existence of such objective laws, or due to the limitations of their worldview in being unable to recognize these objectively existing laws, are therefore not scientific religious studies. Only Marxist religious studies is truly scientific.” Scientifically revealing the essence of religious phenomena and their objective laws is a characteristic of Marxist religious studies. This is because Marxists are historical materialists, holding that all things and phenomena have objective laws of emergence, development, and eventual extinction. Religion, as a social and historical phenomenon of humanity, is the same; it only appears at a certain stage of human development, evolves with the development of human society, and will ultimately perish.

由宗教学的性质出发，任继愈先生定义说：“马克思主义宗教学是在辩证唯物主义与历史唯物主义指导下，研究各种宗教的产生、发展及其走向消亡的规律的科学。”这一定义表现马克思主义宗教学之所以为科学的另一个特点——研究事物的客观规律，就是研究宗教产生、发展及其走向消亡的客观规律。他又说：“马克思主义宗教学在无神论问题上的彻底性，并不在于它主张科学无神论的坚决性，而是在于它科学地揭示了宗教的本质及其发生、发展和走向消亡的客观规律，论证了宗教这一社会现象历史地产生和消亡的必然性。与此相比较，其他一切宗教学说，或者由于阶级的偏见而拒绝承认这种客观规律的存在，或者由于世界观的局限而不能认识这种客观存在的规律，因而它们都不是科学的宗教学，只有马克思主义的宗教学才是真正的科学。”科学揭示宗教现象的本质及其客观规律，是马克思主义宗教学的特征，这是因为马克思主义者是历史唯物主义者，认为任何事物和现象都有产生、发展以及走向消亡的客观规律，宗教作为人类的一种社会历史现象同样如此，它是人类发展到一定阶段才出现，也随着人类社会的发展而演变，乃至最终消亡。

The scientific nature of Marxist religious studies is not only embodied in its guidance by the philosophy of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, but also in the worldview of scientific atheism. This is because the object of religious studies—religion—is not only an inverted idealist worldview but also a distorted idealist worldview; only scientific atheists can conduct critical scientific research on it. Later, in his *Lectures on Religious Studies*, Mr. Ren Jiyu defined it from the perspective of the research object of religious studies, stating: “Religion is a social phenomenon that appears at a certain stage of human social development. Religious studies is the science that studies the laws of the emergence, development, and extinction of religion.” He also said: “Religion itself is not science; it stands in opposition to science and opposes science. But using the standpoint, viewpoint, and method of historical materialism to study religion makes this research scientific.” It can be seen that Mr. Ren Jiyu believed that the Marxist classical writers’ study of religion was a scientific study, sharing common characteristics with modern science. This distinguishes it not only from old atheism but also from other bourgeois religious studies. He said: “The Western bourgeoisie also has the name ‘religious studies,’ which is inherited from medieval theology. Theology examines this issue from a religious standpoint. They share the same name as Marxist religious studies, but they are not the same thing; there is an essential difference.” This means that Marxist religious studies is essentially different from Western bourgeois religious studies. The former inherits the theological tradition and retains religious belief, while the latter is built on the foundation of science and atheism, adopting a critical attitude toward religious theology.

马克思主义宗教学的科学性不仅体现在以辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义哲学为指导，还在于科学无神论的世界观。因为宗教学针对的对象——宗教，不仅是一种颠倒的唯心主义世界观，而且还是一种歪曲的唯心主义世界观，只有科学无神论者才能对其进行批判性的科学研究。任继愈先生后来在其《宗教学讲义》中就从宗教学的研究对象出发作了定义，说：“宗教是人类社会发展到一定阶段的一种社会现象，宗教学是研究宗教产生、发展及其消亡的规律的科学”。并说：“宗教本身不是科学，它是站在科学的对立面，是反对科学的。但是用历史唯物主义的立场、观点、方法来研究宗教，这种研究就是科学。”可知任继愈先生认为马克思主义经典作家研究宗教是一种科学研究，具有现代科学的共同特征，这就不仅与旧无神论有所区别，更与其他资产阶级宗教学有所区别。他说：“西方资产阶级也有宗教学这个名称，这是从中世纪神学沿袭下来的。神学是从宗教立场上来看这个问题，他们和马克思主义的宗教学名称一样，但不是一回事，有本质的不同”。这就是说，马克思主义宗教学与西方资产阶级宗教学有本质的不同，前者沿袭神学传统，保留了宗教信仰，后者建立在科学与无神论的基础上，对宗教神学采取批判态度。

The greatest characteristic of an academic system in the modern sense that qualifies as a discipline is its scientific nature. The fundamental reason why the religious research of the founders of Marxism became Marxist religious studies also lies in its scientific nature, scientifically revealing the essence of religion and the objective laws of its emergence, development, and eventual extinction. Similarly, the fundamental reason why the results of the religious critique of the founders of Marxism are called the Marxist view on religion is that it is a scientific worldview, and its atheistic concepts are based on science.

现代意义上的学术体系足以成为学科者，其最大的特点是具有科学性。马克思主义奠基人的宗教研究之所以成为马克思主义宗教学，其根本原因也在于其科学性，科学地揭示了宗教的本质及其产生、发展和走向消亡的客观规律。同样，马克思主义奠基人的宗教批判成果之所以称为马克思主义宗教观，其根本原因也在于它是一种科学世界观，其无神论观念以科学为依据。

II. The Worldview Significance of the Marxist View on Religion

二、马克思主义宗教观的世界观意义

The view that Marxism has only a view on religion, not religious studies, also appeared in the discussions on compiling the textbook on “Religious Studies” for the Marxist Theory Research and Development Project [7]7 The Marxist Theory Research and Development Project (马克思主义理论研究与建设工程) is a major national academic and ideological initiative launched by the CPC Central Committee in 2004 to develop a system of textbooks and research grounded in Marxism for use in Chinese higher education.. From beginning to end, from topic selection and review to the compilation process, from two changes of editors to three revisions of the manuscript, a tone denying Marxist religious studies and promoting Western religious studies and the theory of religious culture pervaded the process. Its actual intention was to use the Marxist view on religion to negate Marxist religious studies and oppose using the theoretical system of Marxist religious studies to compile the religious studies textbook. This is because the Marxist view on religion consists of the basic ideas and specific views of the Marxist classical writers and even the proletarian party on religious issues. It is mainly used by Party and government cadres and in theoretical circles, leaving some room for interpretation and elaboration. In contrast, Marxist religious studies has theoretical rigor and academic systematicity; it is a concept used in academia. As an already formed disciplinary system, it is difficult to find opportunities for theoretical breakthroughs.

认为马克思主义只有宗教观、没有宗教学的观点，也出现在马克思主义理论研究与建设工程之“宗教学”教材的编写讨论中，从始至终，从选题评审到编写过程，从两移其主到三移其稿，一种否定马克思主义宗教学、推行西方宗教学以及宗教文化论的论调充斥其间，其实际用意就是借用马克思主义宗教观来否定马克思主义宗教学，反对用马克思主义宗教学理论体系来编写宗教学教材。因为马克思主义宗教观是马克思主义经典作家乃至无产阶级政党对有关宗教问题的基本思想和具体观点，主要在党政干部和理论界使用，有一定的阐释、解读的回旋余地。而马克思主义宗教学具有学理严密性和学术体系性，是学术界使用的概念，作为业已形成的学科体系，难有理论突破的机会。

There is no difference in the inherent meaning between the Marxist view on religion and Marxist religious studies itself; both are the basic stance, viewpoint, and method that Marxism holds on religious issues. The former is expressed in the sense of “view”—viewpoint and concept—and its meaning is relatively specialized. In terms of worldview, it is applicable to theoretical circles and the societal level. The latter is expressed in the sense of “studies”—academic discipline—and its meaning is relatively broad, applicable to academia and the disciplinary level. But why did these concepts, which differ only in expression, become different viewpoints and methods in the compilation of the “Marxist Theory Research and Development Project” textbook? This must be examined from the background of the use of the concept of the Marxist view on religion.

马克思主义宗教观与马克思主义宗教学本身的意涵并没有差别，都是马克思主义对宗教问题所持的基本立场、观点和方法，只是前者以“观”——观点、观念意义上来表述，其含义比较专门，就世界观而言，适用于理论界以及社会层面。后者以“学”——学术、学科意义上来表述，其含义比较宽泛，适用于学术界以及学科层面。但这种只有表述差异的概念为何成为“马工程”教材编写中的不同观点和方法呢？这就不能不从马克思主义宗教观概念的使用背景来说。

The concept of the Marxist view on religion was already in use in the 1980s, but it was a general term referring to the views of the Marxist classical writers on religious issues. By the 1990s, this term had risen to become a specific concept with ideological significance. In contrast to the idealist worldview of religion, it referred to the Marxist materialist worldview, that is, the scientific atheist worldview. This concept was first used in the propaganda and education of the Marxist view on religion, starting from border ethnic minority areas and gradually spreading nationwide; starting from the education of Party members and cadres and spreading to school education. This was because in March-April 1990, the Barin Township riot occurred in Akto County, southern Xinjiang [8]8 The Barin Township riot (巴仁乡暴乱事件) occurred in April 1990 in Akto County, Xinjiang, when a group of armed separatists and religious extremists attacked local government and police forces; it is considered a key early event in the wave of “East Turkistan” terrorism in the region.. This was a violent terrorist act by “East Turkistan” religious extremists, who, under the banner of religion, attempted to overthrow the local people’s political power. Although this terrorist activity was promptly dealt with, it marked the beginning of a series of “East Turkistan” religious extremist terrorist activities in the Xinjiang region that lasted for eighteen years, aimed at undermining ethnic unity and splitting national unity, causing extremely adverse effects. In December of that year, the National Conference on Religious Work was held. Premier Li Peng emphasized that correctly understanding and handling religious issues was an important topic in China’s socialist construction and an important part of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. To do religious work well, Premier Li Peng specifically proposed conducting propaganda and education on the Marxist view on religion and the Party’s religious policy among the entire Party and cadres at all levels nationwide. Consequently, scholars and theoretical workers in border ethnic minority areas actively responded, cooperating with the propaganda and education activities by publishing papers one after another. Among them, scholars from the Xinjiang region were the earliest and most frequent users of the concept of the Marxist view on religion.

马克思主义宗教观的概念，1980年代就已见使用，不过是个一般性用语，指马克思主义经典作家关于宗教问题的观点。至1990年代，这一用语上升为一个特定的具有意识形态意义的概念，相对于宗教唯心主义世界观而言，指称马克思主义的唯物主义世界观，即科学无神论世界观。此概念首先用于马克思主义宗教观的宣传教育，从边疆民族地区开始，逐渐普及于全国；从党员干部教育开始，普及到学校教育。这是因为1990年3-4月间新疆南部阿克陶县发生巴仁乡暴乱事件，这是一起“东突”宗教极端主义分子打着宗教旗号、企图推翻当地人民政权的暴力恐怖行径。这一恐怖活动虽被及时处置，但由此开始，新疆地区出现了为时十八年之久的力图破坏民族团结、分裂祖国统一的一系列“东突”宗教极端主义恐怖活动，造成极其恶劣的影响。是年12月召开全国宗教工作会议，李鹏总理强调指出，正确对待和处理宗教问题，是我国社会主义建设事业中的一个重要课题，也是建设有中国特色的社会主义的一个重要内容。为了做好宗教工作，李鹏总理特别提出要在全党和全国各级干部中进行一次马克思主义宗教观和党的宗教政策的宣传教育。于是边疆民族地区的学者和理论工作者积极响应，配合宣传教育活动，纷纷发表论文，其中新疆地区学者最早也最多使用马克思主义宗教观的概念。

For example, Tang Shimin, in his article “The Marxist View on Religion and the Party’s Religious Policy” published that year, explained: “The Marxist view on religion is an important component of Marxist philosophy and the theoretical foundation for the proletarian party and the socialist state it leads to formulate religious policy.” He also said that Marx and Engels “established the Marxist theory on religious issues, formulated the policy principles of the working-class party towards religion, thereby establishing a scientific and complete Marxist view on religion, forming the Marxist religious studies system.” He further stated that the Marxist view on religion consists of three basic theories: first, religion is created by humans when society develops to a certain stage; second, religion is an inverted worldview and the opium of the people; third, with the development and progress of society, religious concepts gradually fade, and religion will eventually disappear on its own.

如唐世民当年发表的《马克思主义宗教观和党的宗教政策》一文解释说：“马克思主义宗教观是马克思主义哲学的重要组成部分，是无产阶级政党及其领导的社会主义国家制定宗教政策的理论基础”。并说马克思、恩格斯“创立了马克思主义关于宗教问题的理论，制定了工人阶级政党对待宗教的政策原则，从而建立了科学的、完整的马克思主义宗教观，形成了马克思主义宗教学体系”。又说马克思主义宗教观由三个基本理论构成，一为宗教是人类社会发展到一定阶段时由人创造的；二为宗教是颠倒了的世界观，是麻醉人民的鸦片；三为随着社会的发展和进步，宗教观念逐渐淡化，宗教最终将自行消亡。

Guo Zhengli also gave a definition in his paper written that year, "On Adhering to the Marxist View on Religion and Comprehensively Implementing the Party's Religious Policy": "The so-called Marxist view on religion is the complete worldview of Marxism on the issue of religion, that is, the scientific and complete doctrine on religion." "The Marxist view on religion for the first time scientifically revealed the laws of religion's emergence, development, and extinction, providing a solid scientific theoretical basis for the Chinese Communist Party's policy of freedom of religious belief. It is of great significance that we have always adhered to this correct view on religion in the past, present, and even in the future." He particularly emphasized that "the Marxist view on religion always upholds the basic view that religion is the opium of the people. We disagree with so-called 'outdated theories,' 'theories of inheriting predecessors,' and 'theories of complete harmony between socialism and religion' and other liberalization views." "We must never believe that the essence of religion in socialist society has undergone a fundamental change, that religion is no longer the opium of the people."

郭正礼也在当年写的论文《论坚持马克思主义宗教观 全面贯彻党的宗教政策》中也给出定义：“所谓马克思主义宗教观，也就是马克思主义在对宗教问题上的全部世界观，即科学的完整的关于宗教的学说。”“马克思主义的宗教观第一次科学揭示了宗教及其发展消亡的规律，为中国共产党的宗教信仰自由政策提供了坚实的科学的理论依据，我们过去、现在，乃至将来始终坚持这一正确的宗教观，具有重大的意义。”他特别强调“马克思主义的宗教观始终坚持关于宗教是人民的鸦片的基本观点，我们不同意所谓的‘过时论’‘承袭前人论’和‘社会主义与宗教完全协调论’等自由化观点。”“我们决不能认为社会主义社会的宗教本质发生根本变化了，宗教不再是人民的鸦片了。”

Sakda Dongsheng published "Some Insights from Studying Lenin's Theory on Religion" the following year, also pointing out: "The Marxist worldview on the issue of religion is the basis for the proletarian party to clarify and formulate its correct attitude and policy toward religion. Its content is very rich, and of course cannot be summarized in one sentence. But the statement 'religion is the opium that intoxicates the people' is an important component of the Marxist view on religion, a 'cornerstone.' The cornerstone absolutely cannot be shaken. If the cornerstone is shaken, the entire Marxist worldview on the issue of religion is shaken, and denying the negative social role of religion is not the Marxist view on religion." He also said, "In the past few years, due to the spread of bourgeois liberalization, the Marxist view on religion was impacted, and the view that 'religion is the opium that intoxicates the people' bore the brunt." Not only is the negative role of religion in history undeniable, "we look at reality: foreign forces use religion to infiltrate and sabotage our country, a very small number of ethnic separatists use religion to incite riots and disturbances, and even launch counter-revolutionary armed rebellions under the banner of religion, precisely because religion has a negative side. If we deny the negative role of religion and one-sidedly emphasize the so-called positive role of religion, it will inevitably lead to errors in guiding religious work and loss of control in management."

萨克达·东晟于翌年发表《学习列宁宗教问题理论的几点体会》，同样指出：“马克思主义在宗教问题上的世界观是无产阶级政党阐明和制定对待宗教问题的正确态度和政策的依据，内容十分丰富，当然不是一句话可以概括的。但‘宗教是麻醉人民的鸦片’这句话，却是马克思主义宗教观的重要组成部分，是‘基石’，基石是绝对不能动摇的，动摇了基石，就动摇了马克思主义在宗教问题上全部世界观，否定宗教消极的社会作用，就不是马克思主义的宗教观”。并说“前几年由于资产阶级自由化泛滥，马克思主义宗教观受到冲击，而‘宗教是麻醉人民的鸦片’的观点首当其冲”。不仅历史上的宗教消极作用不可否认，“我们看看现实：境外所以要利用宗教对我国进行渗透和破坏活动，极少数民族分裂主义分子利用宗教煽动骚乱闹事，乃至打着宗教的旗号发动反革命武装暴乱，也正是因为宗教有消极的一面。如果否定宗教的消极作用，片面强调宗教的所谓积极作用，必然会出现对宗教工作指导上的失误和管理上的失控。”

The papers on the Marxist view on religion by scholars and theoretical workers in the Xinjiang region were used for propaganda and education, aiming to establish a correct scientific worldview among Party and government cadres, so as to accurately implement the Party's religious work and eliminate the harm of religious extremist ideology. Therefore, the connotation of their Marxist view on religion must have definite content, different from academic discussion papers that mainly express personal views; it must also be based on the Party Central Committee's stipulations on the educational content of the Marxist view on religion, not merely exploring the Marxist view on religion from a theoretical or academic perspective. Later, judging from the content of Marxist worldview education conducted within the education system, the theories concerning religious issues did not change; there were no major changes before and after due to different views in academia. Moreover, because Xinjiang scholars and theoretical workers are located in a region where practical religious issues arise, the propaganda and educational significance of their papers is significant and highly sensitive. Once published, they will have social repercussions and must undergo repeated review. Therefore, the papers of Xinjiang scholars in the 1990s can be said to reflect the mainstream thinking of the academic and theoretical circles at that time.

新疆地区学者和理论工作者关于马克思主义宗教观的论文是用来进行宣传教育的，以党政干部树立正确的科学世界观为目的，以便准确贯彻执行党的宗教工作，消除宗教极端主义思想危害。故其马克思主义宗教观的内涵必定有确定的内容，不同于学术研讨论文以发表个人观点为主；也必定依据党中央对马克思主义宗教观教育内容的规定，不是仅从学理、学术出发来探讨马克思主义宗教观。后来从教育系统进行马克思主义世界观教育内容来看，涉及宗教问题的理论并没有变化，没有因为学术界有不同看法而出现前后有大的变化情况。又因新疆学者及理论工作者处在宗教现实问题发生的地区，其论文的宣传教育关系重大，敏感性强，一经发表就会有社会反响，必经反复审核，故此1990年代新疆地区学者的论文应该说反映了当时学术界理论界的主流思想。

From the initial use and definition of the Marxist view on religion by Xinjiang scholars, it can be seen: First, the connotation of the Marxist view on religion is completely consistent with that of Marxist religious studies, only with some differences in extension. The Marxist view on religion emphasizes worldview education, mainly targeting Party members, cadres, and youth. Second, the Marxist view on religion refers to the complete worldview of the Marxist classical writers Marx, Engels, and Lenin on the issue of religion; therefore, it is the theoretical basis for the proletarian party and the socialist state under its leadership to formulate religious policy. Third, denying the basic views of the Marxist classical writers, such as religion being the opium that intoxicates the people, is a manifestation of bourgeois liberalization in the academic field, which will lead to errors in guiding religious work and loss of control in management, producing negative effects.

从新疆学者最初使用并定义马克思主义宗教观可以看出：其一，马克思主义宗教观与马克思主义宗教学的内涵完全一致，只是其外延有些差别，马克思主义宗教观重在世界观教育，主要针对党员、干部和青少年。其二，马克思主义宗教观是指马克思主义经典作家马克思、恩格斯以及列宁关于宗教问题上的全部世界观，因而它是无产阶级政党及其领导的社会主义国家制定宗教政策的理论根据。其三，否定马克思主义经典作家关于宗教是麻醉人民的鸦片等基本观点，是学术领域资产阶级自由化思想的表现，将会导致对宗教工作指导上的失误和管理上的失控，产生不良影响。

From this, it can also be seen that Marxist religious studies is not a scholarship confined to the study; it is closely related to practical religious issues and religious work, and also generally involves people's worldviews—whether to adhere to a scientific worldview or cling to a religious worldview. Religion, unwilling to withdraw from people's social life, attempts to continue developing and existing long-term in socialist society. Therefore, it not only controls the worldview of religious believers but also tries to seize control of the ideological field, especially interfering in the field of religious research, attempting to damage the young Chinese Marxist religious studies. The period when the field of religious studies stirred up debates on the opium theory of religion, promoted Western religious studies and the theory of religious culture, and infiltrated research on the Marxist view on religion, coincided with the occurrence of violent terrorist activities of religious extremism in Xinjiang, "Tibetan independence" incidents, and overseas religious infiltration activities in several populous provinces. This makes it impossible not to suspect that this is related to religion and its agents confronting Marxist ideology in the field of religious research and theory, and is also a manifestation of religious extremism's behavior in undermining socialist national unity, national unification, and social stability.

由此也可以看出，马克思主义宗教学并不是书斋里的学问，与现实宗教问题和宗教工作有密切相关，还普遍涉及人们的世界观——是坚持科学世界观还是固守宗教世界观。而宗教也不甘心退出人们的社会生活，试图在社会主义社会继续发展、长期存在下去，因此不仅控制信教群众的世界观，还试图争夺意识形态领域的控制权，尤其干涉宗教研究领域，试图损毁年轻的中国马克思主义宗教学。宗教学领域挑起宗教鸦片论争论、推行西方宗教学以及宗教文化论、渗透马克思主义宗教观研究之时，也正是发生新疆宗教极端主义暴力恐怖活动、“藏独”事件、多个人口大省发生境外宗教渗透活动之际，使人不能不怀疑这与宗教及其代理人在宗教研究和理论领域对抗马克思主义意识形态有关联，也是宗教极端主义破坏社会主义国家民族团结、祖国统一、社会稳定行为的表现。

Starting from the late 1990s, the propaganda and education of the Marxist view on religion gradually broke through the limitations of the Marxist classical writers, expanding to include the thoughts of Chinese Communist Party leaders on religious issues. The Party's religious work theory and policy during the period of socialism with Chinese characteristics were also incorporated into the category of the Marxist view on religion for discussion, completely exceeding the scope of propaganda and education on the two aspects of the Marxist view on religion and the Party's religious policy as stipulated by Premier Li Peng [9]9 Li Peng was Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China from 1988 to 1998. at the time. Later, the propaganda and education of the Marxist view on religion shifted from the fields of Party and government cadre and school education to the field of academic research. Not only did it exceed the specific connotation and scope of propaganda and education of the Marxist view on religion, but all research on theoretical issues of religious studies was conducted under the banner of the Marxist view on religion. Especially through the methods of academic exchange and free debate, the Marxist view on religion was dismembered, Marxist religious studies was replaced, and attempts were made to transform the Marxist view on religion into a large basket that collects Western religious studies, the theory of religious culture, and even religious thought.

从1990年后期开始，马克思主义宗教观的宣传教育逐渐突破马克思主义经典作家的限定，扩大到中国共产党的领导人关于宗教问题的思想，也把中国特色社会主义时期党的宗教工作理论与政策纳入到马克思主义宗教观范畴去讨论，完全超出李鹏总理当年规定的马克思主义宗教观与党的宗教政策两方面宣传教育的范围界定。再后来马克思主义宗教观的宣传教育从党政干部与学校教育领域转移到学术研究领域，不仅超出马克思主义宗教观的特定内涵以及宣传教育范围，而且凡宗教学理论问题研究都打着马克思主义宗教观旗号，尤其以学术交流和自由争鸣方式，肢解马克思主义宗教观，取代马克思主义宗教学，企图将马克思主义宗教观改造成一个收揽西方宗教学以及宗教文化论乃至宗教思想的大箩筐。

III. The Disciplinary System of Marxist Religious Studies

三、马克思主义宗教学的学科体系

Regarding the construction of the disciplinary system of Marxist religious studies, Mr. Ren Jiyu [10]10 Ren Jiyu (1916–2009) was a prominent Chinese philosopher and historian of religion, known for his work on Marxist religious studies and as the founder of the Institute of World Religions at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. pointed out early in his paper: "Religious studies must study the history, current situation, sects, doctrines, scriptures, and the role of religion in social history, as well as scientific atheism, the principles of Marxist religious studies, and the policies of the proletarian party towards religion." Here, the theoretical construction of Marxist religious studies is divided into four major aspects: first, general religious research; second, scientific atheism; third, the principles of Marxist religious studies; fourth, the policies of the proletarian party towards religion.

马克思主义宗教学的学科体系建设，任继愈先生早在其论文中指出：“宗教学既要研究各种宗教的历史、现状、教派、教义、经典以及宗教在社会历史上的作用，也要研究科学无神论、马克思主义宗教学原理、无产阶级对待宗教的政策等方面。”这里把马克思主义宗教学理论建设内容分为四大方面：一一般宗教研究，二科学无神论，三马克思主义宗教学原理，四无产阶级政党对待宗教的政策。

Among these, regarding the relationship between the principles of religious studies as the basis for exploring the commonality of religion and general religious studies separately investigating the particularities of specific religions, Mr. Ren Jiyu also said: “The content of Marxist religious studies is extremely rich. Since it must reveal the laws of the emergence, development, and eventual extinction of religion, it must concretely study the origins and historical development of various religions. Since it must explain the essence of religion and its role in social history, it must concretely study the history, doctrines, sects, scriptures, theories, and social significance of various religions, and concretely study the relationship between religion and social class struggle and other ideologies (such as philosophy, ethics, law, culture, art, and science). That is to say, in addition to conducting general research on the common essence of all religions and the common laws of their development, Marxist religious studies must also conduct concrete research on the special laws of different religions. Therefore, primitive religion, Buddhism, Daoism, Christianity, Islam, religious psychology, religious art, and other aspects should all be component parts of Marxist religious studies research.” [11]11 Ren Jiyu (1916–2009) was a prominent Chinese Marxist philosopher and historian of religion, known for his work on the history of Chinese Buddhism and for advocating a Marxist approach to the study of religion. Here, from the principles of Marxist religious studies, two other fields are further delineated: first, general religious history, that is, the historical process of the origin, development, evolution, and extinction of religion, specifically divided into four historical stages: primitive religion, ethnic-state religion, world religion, and contemporary new religions. Second, the relationship between religion and other social ideologies, that is, religion and philosophy, religion and morality, religion and aesthetics, religion and psychology, religion and law, religion and politics, religion and culture, religion and art, religion and science, etc.

其中由宗教学原理作为探讨宗教共同性与一般宗教研究分别探讨具体宗教特殊性的关系，任继愈先生又说：“马克思主义宗教学的内容是非常丰富的。它既要揭示宗教发生、发展和走向消亡的规律，就必须具体研究各种宗教产生的根源和发展的历史。它既要说明宗教的本质及其在社会历史中的作用，就必须具体研究各种宗教的历史、教义、教派、经典、理论及其社会意义，具体研究宗教与社会上的阶级斗争和其他意识形态（诸如哲学、伦理、法律、文化、艺术、科学）的关系。就是说，马克思主义宗教学除了对一切宗教的共同本质和发展的共同规律进行一般的研究以外，还要对各种不同的宗教的特殊规律进行具体的研究。因此，原始宗教、佛教、道教、基督教、伊斯兰教、宗教心理、宗教艺术等方面，都应该是马克思主义宗教学研究的一个组成部分。”这里从马克思主义宗教学原理又分出另外两个领域：一是一般宗教史，就是宗教起源和发展演变以及消亡的历史过程，具体分为原始宗教、民族-国家宗教、世界宗教以及当代新兴宗教等四个历史阶段。二是宗教与其他社会意识形态的关系，即宗教与哲学、宗教与道德、宗教与美学、宗教与心理、宗教与法律、宗教与政治、宗教与文化、宗教与艺术、宗教与科学等。

In 1993, the national standard for discipline classification and codes was promulgated, and a new national standard was promulgated in 2009, with further revisions in 2011 and 2016. However, the classification of religious studies has not changed much before and after; the 2009 edition added a new third-level discipline, “Buddhist Sectarian Studies.” [12]12 The national standard discipline classification (GB/T 13745) is a Chinese government system for categorizing academic fields for research, education, and statistical purposes. Here, religious studies, as a first-level discipline, comprises a total of 19 second-level disciplines, of which 8 second-level disciplines have 47 third-level disciplines. In this national standard discipline classification, the basic classification of religious studies is roughly set according to Ren Jiyu’s theoretical system. Among the 19 second-level disciplines, apart from “Other Subjects of Religious Studies,” “Religious Studies Theory” is equivalent to the principles of religious studies, “Atheism” is equivalent to scientific atheism, “Primitive Religion,” “Ancient Religion,” and “Contemporary Religion” are equivalent to religious history, and the studies of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Daoism, Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Sikhism, Jainism, Shinto, as well as Chinese folk religion and beliefs, and Chinese ethnic minority religions, are equivalent to general religious studies. Of course, the discipline classification does not include a category equivalent to the theory and policy of religious work of a proletarian party, but ethnology includes “Ethnic Issues and Ethnic Policies,” indicating that policy-type categories can also be included in the disciplines. These 47 third-level disciplines belong to 8 second-level disciplines, a large part of which falls under the categories of Western religious studies and even religion itself. In particular, among the third-level disciplines of religious studies theory, the first one explicitly marked is “Marxist Religious Studies,” indicating that the other disciplines are not within the scope of Marxist religious studies, and also that the first-level discipline of religious studies is not Marxist religious studies. It is no wonder that the second-level discipline “Atheism” is not called “Scientific Atheism”; besides being classified by China and foreign countries, it only includes the history of atheism, with no scientific atheism or theoretical categories. Under religious studies theory, there are 11 third-level disciplines. Apart from Marxist religious studies, mythology, other subjects of religious studies theory, and the collectively named “Religious Literature and Art,” the other 7 third-level disciplines—history of religion, philosophy of religion, sociology of religion, psychology of religion, comparative religious studies, geography of religion, and religious philology—all belong to the category of Western religious studies. However, judging from the fact that “Religious Literature and Art” is not called “Religious Literary Studies” or “Religious Art Studies,” its rationale probably comes from the relationship between religion and other social ideologies. Since religion is related to various fields, it is assumed that these should become sub-disciplines of religious studies. Not only are second-level disciplines named after religions, but some third-level disciplines also directly use religious subjects, such as Biblical Studies, Quranic Studies, Hadith Studies, Islamic Theology, and Islamic Jurisprudence, merely packaged with the word “studies.”

1993年颁布国家标准学科分类与代号，2009年颁布新的国家标准学科分类与代号，2011年和2016年又经两次修订，但宗教学的分类前后并没有多大变化，2009年版新增一个三级学科“佛教宗派学”。这里宗教学作为一级学科，共设19个二级学科，其中8个二级学科设有47个三级学科。这个国家标准的学科分类中，宗教学的基础分类大致按任继愈理论体系设置，19个二级学科中，除宗教学其他学科之外，宗教学理论相当于宗教学原理，无神论相当于科学无神论，原始宗教、古代宗教、当代宗教相当于宗教历史，佛教、基督教、伊斯兰教、道教、印度教、犹太教、袄教、摩尼教、锡克教、耆那教、神道教以及中国民间宗教与信仰、中国少数民族宗教等的研究，相当于一般宗教研究。当然，学科分类中没有设置相当于无产阶级政党的宗教工作理论与政策，但民族学中设置有民族问题与民族政策，说明政策一类也可列入学科。这47个三级学科隶属于8个二级学科，其中一大部分属于西方宗教学乃至宗教的科目，尤其是宗教学理论的三级学科中，第一个明确标明“马克思主义宗教学”，说明其他学科均非马克思主义宗教学范畴，也说明宗教学一级学科也并非马克思主义宗教学，无怪乎无神论二级学科不称科学无神论，其下除以中外分类外，也只有无神论史，并无科学无神论以及理论类别。宗教学理论下有11个三级学科，除了马克思主义宗教学、神话学、宗教学理论其他学科以及合称的“宗教文学艺术”之外，其他7个三级学科宗教史学、宗教哲学、宗教社会学、宗教心理学、比较宗教学、宗教地理学、宗教文献学等都属于西方宗教学范畴，但从“宗教文学艺术”不称“学”来看，其思路大概也来自于宗教与其他社会意识形态关系，宗教既与诸领域有关，就以为应该成为宗教学的分支学科。二级学科不仅以宗教命名学科，而且一些三级学科也直接用宗教科目，如圣经学、古兰学、圣训学、伊斯兰教义学、伊斯兰教法学等，只用“学”来包装而已。

The appearance of a large number of Western religious studies subjects in the discipline classification is because, for many years, the field of religious studies in China has been dominated by Western religious studies, which has been vigorously promoted, and a completely Westernized disciplinary setup has been proposed, directly influencing the national standard discipline classification. The early translations and introductions of Western religious studies were no more than a few types such as comparative religious studies, history of religion, philosophy of religion, sociology of religion, anthropology of religion, psychology of religion, and phenomenology of religion. Later, more and more were added, to the extent that religious studies was divided into two major categories: religious studies as a humanities discipline and religious studies as a social science discipline. The sub-disciplines belonging to the humanities include 11: history of religion, comparative religious studies, religious philology, religious archaeology, religious linguistics, philosophy of religion, phenomenology of religion, psychology of religion, religious literature and art, geography of religion, and religious ecology. The sub-disciplines belonging to the social sciences include 8: political science of religion, legal studies of religion, economics of religion, sociology of religion, anthropology of religion, ethnology of religion, criticism of religion, and communication studies of religion. The two categories of religious studies together set 19 second-level disciplines, more than double the number in the national standard. Some scholars divide religious literature and art into religious literature, religious art studies, religious musicology, and religious aesthetics, and also add religious ethics, religious cultural studies, religious mythology, and religious economics, and further propose religious management studies, religious pedagogy, and so on. Together with China’s self-created ethnic religious studies, the sub-disciplines of religious studies have reached as many as 29, exceeding the number of disciplines in any single field among all natural sciences and social sciences—truly a world record in discipline creation! What is more, after the National Conference on Religious Work in 2021 explicitly proposed strengthening the construction of the discipline of Marxist religious studies, [13]13 The National Conference on Religious Work, held in December 2021, was a high-level meeting convened by the Chinese Communist Party to set policy directions for religious affairs, including the promotion of Marxist religious studies. this type of Western religious studies was grafted onto the discipline of Marxist religious studies, resulting in the conspicuous appearance of Marxist history of religion, Marxist philosophy of religion, Marxist sociology of religion, Marxist political science of religion, Marxist cultural studies of religion, and so on.

学科分类中出现大量西方宗教学科目，是因为多年以来我国宗教学界被西方宗教学主导，大力推行西方宗教学，提出完全西方化的学科设置，直接影响了国家标准的学科分类。早年译介的西方宗教学也不过是比较宗教学、宗教史学、宗教哲学、宗教社会学、宗教人类学、宗教心理学、宗教现象学等数种，后来越来越多，以致于将宗教学分为人文科学的宗教学与社会科学的宗教学两大类，属人文学科的分支学科有宗教史学、比较宗教学、宗教文献学、宗教考古学、宗教语言学、宗教哲学、宗教现象学、宗教心理学、宗教文学艺术、宗教地理学、宗教生态学等11个，属社会科学的分支学科有宗教政治学、宗教法律学、宗教经济学、宗教社会学、宗教人类学、宗教民族学、宗教批评学、宗教传播学等8个，两类宗教学共设定19个二级学科，比国家标准增加了2倍多。有的学者将宗教文学艺术分为宗教文学、宗教艺术学、宗教音乐学、宗教美学，还分出宗教伦理学、宗教文化学、宗教神话学、宗教经济学，另提出宗教管理学、宗教教育学等等，加之中国自创的民族宗教学，宗教学的分支学科达到29个之多，超出所有自然科学、社会科学学科中任何一个学科的数量，可谓创世界学科之最！更有甚者，2021年全国宗教工作会议明确提出加强马克思主义宗教学学科建设之后，这类西方宗教学又被嫁接到马克思主义宗教学学科中，赫然出现马克思主义宗教史学、马克思主义宗教哲学、马克思主义宗教社会学、马克思主义宗教政治学、马克思主义宗教文化学等。

First of all, these so-called Western religious studies and their sub-disciplines are entirely pieced together and grafted in China. The West itself does not have a general religious studies, let alone various sub-disciplines of religious studies. If there is a parent discipline, it is religion, and certainly not religious studies! This religion is Christianity; comparative religious studies and philosophy of religion are precisely sub-disciplines of Christian theology. The fact that Christianity is called “religion,” that religion is called “studies,” that it is subjected to “comparative” research, and that theology is called “philosophy”—all these are modern academic labels and packaging for Christian theology, nothing more than new wine in old bottles. The reason Max Müller called his theology “comparative religious studies” was that his breakthrough lay in including Christianity within the category of “religion.” In the Western tradition, Christianity was the “holy religion,” while other religious phenomena were merely vulgar and ignorant “religions.” Thus, he said that knowing only one religion (Christianity) does not constitute religious studies; knowing two or more religions constitutes religious studies. Only when there are two or more religions can comparisons be made, and comparisons reveal the commonality of religion. Hence, he called his theology “comparative religious studies,” and that is all.

首先这些所谓西方宗教学及其分支学科，完全是在中国拼装嫁接出来的，西方并没有形成一个一般的宗教学，更不要说有什么宗教学的各种分支学科。如果说有一个母体学科，那就是宗教，而绝不是宗教学！这个宗教就是基督教，比较宗教学、宗教哲学正是基督教神学的分科。基督教之称“宗教”，宗教又称“学”者，并加以“比较”研究，又把神学叫作“哲学”，都是现代社会对基督教神学的学术标签和包装，是新瓶装旧酒而已。麦克斯·缪勒之所以称其神学为比较宗教学，其突破之处就是他把基督教也纳入到“宗教”的范畴，因为西方传统中基督教是“圣教”，其他宗教现象不过是低俗愚昧的“宗教”而已，由此他才说只懂一种宗教（基督教）不算宗教学，懂得两种以上宗教才是宗教学，只有两种以上的宗教可以作比较，有比较才会呈现出宗教的共同性，故称其神学为比较宗教学，仅此而已。

Secondly, most so-called sub-disciplines of religious studies are actually branches and research fields of other disciplines. The sociology of religion is a research field of sociology; the anthropology of religion is a research field of anthropology, specifically cultural anthropology; the psychology of religion is a research field of psychology; the phenomenology of religion belongs to the research field of phenomenology within philosophy. If one uses sociological methods to study religious phenomena, it is called the sociology of religion, not the reverse. If one were to use the methods of religious studies to study social phenomena, it should be called the religious study of society. In fact, no such discipline or research field exists, because religious studies cannot serve as a method for studying social phenomena; this holds true neither in terms of method nor object. According to Chinese expression, "religion" is a modifier, and "the study of X" is the headword, meaning that "religion" is the object of study for "the study of X," not the reverse.

其次，大部分所谓宗教学的分科，都是其他学科的分支和研究领域。宗教社会学是社会学的研究领域，宗教人类学是人类学分支文化人类学的研究领域，宗教心理学是心理学的研究领域，宗教现象学属于哲学类的现象学的研究领域。如用社会学方法研究宗教现象，就称宗教社会学，而不是相反。假如用宗教学方法研究社会现象，就应该称社会宗教学。其实没有这样一个学科和研究领域，因为宗教学不可能作为一种方法去研究社会现象，于方法于对象都不成立。按汉语的表达方式，“宗教”是修饰词，“某某学”是主词，就是说“宗教”是“某某学”的研究对象，而不是相反。

Looking at the representative figures of these sub-disciplines or research fields, general reference works almost never identify any of them as the founder of a particular branch of religious studies or its sub-disciplines. For example, Durkheim, a representative figure of the so-called sociology of religion, is identified as a French Jewish sociologist and anthropologist; Max Weber is a renowned German sociologist, political scientist, economist, philosopher, and thinker. Similarly, Tylor, a representative of the so-called anthropology of religion, is the founder of British cultural anthropology and a main representative of classical evolutionism; Frazer is a British anthropologist, ethnologist, and historian of religion. Wundt, a representative of the so-called psychology of religion, is a German physiologist, psychologist, philosopher, and father of experimental psychology; James is an American psychologist and philosopher; Freud is an Austrian psychologist and founder of the psychoanalytic school. From this, it is clear that the famous scholars drawn into the circle of representatives of religious studies sub-disciplines are almost all prominent figures in philosophy and social sciences; religion is merely one of their research fields. Even if their fields are consequently called the sociology of religion, anthropology of religion, or psychology of religion, these are sub-disciplines of sociology, anthropology, and psychology, by no means sub-disciplines of religious studies.

从这些分科或研究领域的代表人物来看，一般辞书中的定位中几乎没有一个人被认定为某某宗教学及其分支学科的创立者。如所谓宗教社会学的代表人物杜尔凯姆的定位是法国犹太裔社会学家、人类学家，马克斯·韦伯是德国著名社会学家、政治学家、经济学家、哲学家、思想家。又如所谓宗教人类学的代表人物泰勒是英国文化人类学的奠基人、古典进化论的主要代表人物，弗雷泽是英国人类学家、民族学家、宗教史学家。所谓宗教心理学的代表人物冯特是德国生理学家、心理学家、哲学家、实验心理学之父，詹姆斯是美国心理学家、哲学家，弗洛伊德是奥地利心理学家、精神分析学派创始人。由此可知，被圈入宗教学分支学科代表人物的著名学者几乎都是哲学社会科学著名学者，宗教只是他们的一个研究领域，即便由此称其领域为宗教社会学、宗教人类学、宗教心理学，也是社会学、人类学、心理学的分支学科，绝非宗教学的分支学科。

Thirdly, the fact that religious studies has so many sub-disciplines, covering almost all research fields of the humanities and social sciences, itself demonstrates that it is not a discipline, let alone a science. For modern disciplines are a scientific method of studying natural and social phenomena by dividing them into categories. Take a stone: physics studies its weight and mass, chemistry studies its chemical composition, mathematics studies its shape and data, anthropology studies its use as a tool, philosophy studies the subjectivity and objectivity of its existence, linguistics studies its name, and so on. Consider whether religious studies can study the concept of it being endowed with sacredness by people and the behavior of worshipping it, but it cannot study its weight, composition, shape, name, tool nature, subjectivity and objectivity, etc. Thus, it is not religious studies that can cover all fields of the humanities and social sciences, but religion itself! Only religion permeates all aspects of human society and culture, especially in Western traditional societies where religion infiltrates every area of people's lives; even in modern society, religion still influences all aspects of people's social life. Therefore, disregarding the scientific and academic nature of modern disciplinary classification and treating religious studies as religion by setting up sub-disciplines is not merely a disciplinary expansionism based on interest relations, but a living act of religious infiltration into the research and management fields of philosophy and social sciences. From this, it can also be imagined that although religious studies is already an independent discipline in the national standard disciplinary classification, scholars often harbor resentment that religious studies is placed as a second-level discipline under philosophy in the Ministry of Education's degree management catalog; their intention likely lies precisely here.

再次，宗教学有如此众多的分支学科，几乎涵盖人文学科和社会学科的研究领域，本身就说明它不是学科，更不是科学。因为现代学科就是对自然现象和社会现象进行分门别类研究的一种科学方法。如一块石头，物理学研究它的重量、质量，化学研究它的化学成分，数学研究它的形状及其数据，人类学研究它被用作工具的行为，哲学研究它存在的主客观性，语言学研究它的称谓，等等。试想宗教学可以研究它被人赋予圣物的观念以及对之顶礼膜拜的行为，但不可能研究它的重量、成分、形状、名称以及它的工具性、主客观性等。可见，能够涵盖人文学科和社会学科各领域的不是宗教学，而是宗教！只有宗教才会渗透到人类社会文化的各个方面，尤其西方传统社会中宗教渗透人们生活的各个领域，即便现代社会，宗教依然影响着人们社会生活的各方面。所以不顾现代学科分类的科学性和学术性，把宗教学当作宗教来设置分支学科，这不仅仅是一种基于利益关系的学科扩张主义，而是一种活脱脱的宗教渗透哲学社会科学研究领域和管理领域的行为。由此也可想见，国家标准的学科分类中宗教学已是独立学科，但常有学者对教育部学位管理目录中宗教学置于哲学二级学科耿耿于怀，其用意恐怕也在于此。

Finally, within the discipline of Marxist religious studies, setting up so-called Marxist history of religion, Marxist philosophy of religion, Marxist sociology of religion, Marxist political science of religion, Marxist cultural studies of religion, etc., the rationale is nothing more than that the Marxist founders' discussions on religious issues involve these disciplines and fields, or use the methods of these disciplines. But does this thereby form these sub-disciplines? In other words, can the fields studied by Marxist classical writers be called sub-disciplines like the sociology of religion? The answer is certainly no, because in terms of the logic of setting them up, it is exactly the same as constructing the sub-disciplines of Western religious studies mentioned above; it lacks scientificity and does not align with disciplinary facts. In terms of names and their logical relationships, Marxism consists of three major parts: its philosophy, political economy, and scientific socialism. Among them, Marxist historical materialism, or the materialist conception of history, is one of the two major components of Marxist philosophy. The materialist conception of history and history as a discipline are two different concepts. Marxism advocates that religion has a history of emergence, development, and extinction, but this does not mean Marxism has a history of religion as a discipline; it only means the Marxist founders had a historical view of religion. The history of religion is a sub-discipline of history, belonging to the field of specialized history, and is not a sub-discipline of religious studies.

最后，马克思主义宗教学学科中设置所谓马克思主义宗教史学、马克思主义宗教哲学、马克思主义宗教社会学、马克思主义宗教政治学、马克思主义宗教文化学等，其理由无非就是马克思主义奠基人有关宗教问题的论述中涉及这些学科和领域，或使用这些学科的方法。但是否由此形成了这些分支学科？或者说马克思主义经典作家研究的这些领域是否就可称为宗教社会学等分支学科呢？当然是否定的，因为从设置思路上来说，与以上所说建构西方宗教学分支学科如出一辙，并无科学性，也与学科事实不符。从名称及其逻辑关系来说，马克思主义由其哲学、政治经济学、科学社会主义三大部分组成，其中马克思主义历史唯物主义或称唯物史观，是马克思主义哲学的两大构成之一，唯物史观与历史学是两个概念，马克思主义主张宗教有产生、发展以及消亡的历史，并不意味着马克思主义有宗教史学，只能说马克思主义奠基人有宗教史观，宗教史学是历史学的一个分支学科，属于专门史领域，并不是宗教学的分支学科。

Another example is Marxist philosophy of religion. This concept is inherently self-contradictory. Marxism only has Marxist philosophy, namely dialectical materialism and historical materialism, which belongs to logical thinking. The philosophy of religion, however, belongs to idealism; its core is religious faith, which belongs to intuitive thinking, and is completely opposed to Marxist philosophy. Since it is philosophical, it cannot be faith-based. Since it is discursive, it cannot be intuitive. Since it is materialist, it cannot be idealist. Since it is Marxist philosophy, it cannot be the philosophy of religion. Even if there is discursive philosophy within religion, it serves theology, just as the famous saying goes that philosophy is the handmaiden of theology, but this does not change the different natures of philosophy and theology.

又如马克思主义宗教哲学，这个概念本身自相矛盾，马克思主义只有马克思主义哲学，即辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义，属于逻辑思维，而宗教哲学属于唯心主义，其核心是宗教信仰，属于直觉思维，与马克思主义哲学完全对立。既然哲学的，就不可能是信仰的。既然是思辨的，就不可能是直觉的。既然是唯物的，就不可能是唯心的。既然是马克思主义哲学的，就不可能是宗教哲学的。即便宗教中有思辨哲学，那也是为神学服务的，正如哲学是神学婢女的那句名言所说，但并不改变哲学和神学的不同性质。

Another example is Marxist sociology of religion. Although Marx is listed by Western academia as one of the three founders of sociology, what Marx studied and practiced was the movement of scientific socialism. This is vastly different from Western sociology, which only makes so-called purely objective descriptions of certain social phenomena, and even more so from its non-interventionist method. Conducting fieldwork and using statistical methods are not unique to sociology; they are methods commonly used by multiple disciplines.

再如马克思主义宗教社会学，马克思虽被西方学术界列入社会学三大奠基人之一，但马克思研究和实践的是科学社会主义运动，与西方社会学对某些社会现象只作所谓纯客观描述不同，更与其不介入方法天壤之别，而作田野调查、用统计学方法等并非社会学所独有，是多个学科共同使用的方法。

As for Marxist cultural studies of religion, it is entirely a grafting of the theory of religion as culture, using the theory of mastery as its basis. But Marx's statement that humanity masters the world in four ways refers to spiritual ways, not cultural ones; calling it by this name is a misnomer. Moreover, in Marx's discussion of the basic ways humanity masters the world spiritually, he mainly elaborates on the way of thinking; the artistic, religious, and practical ways are merely mentioned in passing, without any affirmation of these three forms. Art masters the world in the form of images, religion masters the world in the form of fantasy, and practice masters the world in the form of instinctive reaction. Marx merely says that three other forms exist; as to whether these three forms truly master the world, he does not continue to say, but the intent of his expression is clear: it is negative. From Marx's overall thought, the artistic, religious, and practical forms cannot correctly master the world, because these forms are not rational thinking. Only rational thinking can master the objectivity of the world; other forms—imagistic, fantastical, and perceptual—are more of a subjective, representational reflection of the world. Among them, religion adopts fantastical, distorted forms of reflection, and thus certainly cannot correctly master the objective world.

至于马克思主义宗教文化学，完全是宗教文化论的嫁接，以掌握论作为依据。但马克思所说人类掌握世界的四种方式指精神上的，并不是文化上的，以此来称，可谓名不符实。而马克思说人类在精神上掌握世界的基本方式中主要论述思维的方式，至于艺术的、宗教的、实践的顺便提及而已，并无肯定这三种形式的意味。艺术以形象的形式掌握世界，宗教以幻想的形式掌握世界，实践以本能反应的形式掌握世界，马克思无非是说另外还存在三种形式，至于这三种形式是否真的掌握了世界？并没有接着说，但其表述意图很明显，是否定性的。从马克思的整体思想来看，艺术的、宗教的、实践的形式不能正确的掌握世界，因为这些形式不是理性思维，只有理性思维才能掌握世界的客观性，其他形象的、幻想的、感性的更多的是一种主观的、表象的反映世界。其中宗教采用幻想的、歪曲的反映形式，则肯定不能正确掌握客观世界。

Strengthening the disciplinary construction of Marxist religious studies should take Marxist religious studies with Chinese characteristics as the standard, and be enriched and reinforced on the basis of the Marxist religious studies that have actually taken shape. Summing up the experience and lessons of the disciplinary construction of Marxist religious studies over the past 60 years, we should uphold what is correct and discard what is flawed on the basis of the disciplines that have already been formed. The four major research fields or sub-disciplines that have been formed are: first, the principles of Marxist religious studies; second, scientific atheism; third, the theory and policy of religious work of the proletarian party; and fourth, general religious studies. Among these, general religious studies is often similar to specialized religious studies and is easily confused with religion itself; it should no longer be set up as a discipline but should be incorporated into the first three disciplines respectively. In this way, the focus should be on strengthening the first three major disciplines. First, the theory of Marxist religious studies, including: 1. Principles of Marxist religious studies: (1) theory of religion (concept and definition); (2) theory of the essence of religion; (3) theory of the function of religion, etc.; 2. History of religion: (1) theory of the laws of religion; (2) primitive religion; (3) ethnic-state religion; (4) world religion, etc.; 3. Theory of religious belief: (1) religious belief; (2) religious doctrine; (3) history of religious thought, etc.; 4. Relationship between religion and other social ideologies: (1) religion and philosophy; (2) religion and ethics; (3) religion and aesthetics; (4) religion and literature and art; (5) religion and politics, etc. Second, scientific atheism, including: 1. Principles of scientific atheism; 2. History of atheism: (1) history of Chinese atheism; (2) history of foreign atheism; 3. Propaganda and education on atheism; 4. Study of cults: (1) study of cults; (2) new religious movements; (3) new theism. Third, the theory and policy of religious work of the proletarian party, including: 1. Theory of religious work of the proletarian party: (1) Marxist theory and policy on religious work; (2) theory of religious work of the Communist Party of China; (3) theory of religious work of foreign proletarian parties; 2. Policies and regulations on religious management in socialist countries: (1) Chinese policies and regulations on religious management; (2) policies and regulations on religious management in other countries; 3. History of religious management: (1) history of Chinese religious management; (2) history of foreign religious management; 4. Study of the current state of religion: (1) current state of religion in China; (2) current state of religion abroad.

加强马克思主义宗教学学科建设，应以中国特色马克思主义宗教学为准，以实际形成的马克思主义宗教学为基础加以充实和强化。总结60年来马克思主义宗教学学科建设的经验与教训，在现已形成的学科基础上，守正弃弊。已形成的四大研究领域或分支学科，其一马克思主义宗教学原理，其二科学无神论，其三无产阶级政党宗教工作理论与政策，其四一般宗教研究。其中一般宗教研究多与宗教专业相似，极易与宗教相混，不应再设置为学科，应分别包括到前三个学科中。如是，以加强前三大学科为准。一是马克思主义宗教学理论，包括1.马克思主义宗教学原理：（1）宗教论（概念与定义）（2）宗教本质论（3）宗教作用论等；2.宗教史（1）宗教规律论（2）原始宗教（3）民族-国家宗教（4）世界宗教等；3.宗教信仰论（1）宗教信仰（2）宗教教义（3）宗教思想史等；4.宗教与其他社会意识形态关系（1）宗教与哲学（2）宗教与伦理（3）宗教与美学（4）宗教与文学艺术（5）宗教与政治等。二是科学无神论，包括1.科学无神论原理；2.无神论史（1）中国无神论史（2）国外无神论史；3.无神论宣传教育；4.邪教研究（1）邪教研究（2）新兴宗教（3）新有神论。三是无产阶级政党宗教工作理论与政策，包括1.无产阶级政党宗教工作理论（1）马克思主义宗教工作理论与政策（2）中国共产党宗教工作理论（3）外国无产阶级政党宗教工作理论；2.社会主义国家宗教管理政策法规（1）中国宗教管理政策与法规（2）其他国家宗教管理政策与法规；3.宗教管理史（1）中国宗教管理史（2）外国宗教管理史；4.宗教现状研究（1）中国宗教现状（2）国外宗教现状。

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