The Formation and Development of Marx and Engels’ Thought on the Critique of Religion and Its Scientific Transcendence of Bourgeois Views of Religion

Marx and Engels’ thought on the critique of religion was gradually formed and developed in the process of their creation of dialectical materialism and historical materialism. For Marx and Engels, the theoretical foundation of their thought on the critique of religion was dialectical materialism and historical materialism. Marx and Engels’ thought on the critique of religion not only scientifically transcended bourgeois views of religion but also provided concrete plans for religious work in various countries. To this day, religion has become closely linked with different spheres of society, touching every aspect of daily life. Studying the historical development path of Marxist thought on the critique of religion and grasping its revolutionary and scientific character holds important theoretical and practical significance.

马克思恩格斯的宗教批判思想，是马克思和恩格斯在创立辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义的过程中，逐渐形成和发展起来的。对于马克思和恩格斯来说，其宗教批判思想的理论基础是辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义。马克思恩格斯的宗教批判思想不仅是对对资产阶级宗教观的科学超越，还为各国提供了宗教工作具体方案。时至今日，宗教已与社会不同的领域产生密切联系，涉及到日常生活方方面面。研读马克思主义宗教批判思想的历史发展路径，把握马克思主义宗教批判思想的革命性和科学性，具有重要的理论和现实意义。

01 The Formation Process of Marx and Engels’ Thought on the Critique of Religion

01马克思恩格斯宗教批判思想的形成过程

The Marxist view of religion is the sum total of views formed by taking historical materialism as the fundamental method for understanding religion and religious issues, constituting a component of Marxism. The formation of historical materialism is contained within Marxism’s critique of social phenomena including religion: religion is a historical category that provides a transcendent theological narrative to explain human suffering. Historical materialism reveals the real roots that sustain the existence and development of religion, roots that also underpin the injustice of the social order in which it is located. Hence, the purpose of Marx and Engels’ study and critique of religion was to pull religion down from heaven to the secular world, exploring the motives behind religious action from within social reality. Therefore, understanding religion itself on the basis of the material conditions and living conditions that give rise to it, and examining the history of religious development through the fundamental categories of historical materialism such as “matter,” “history,” and “productive forces and relations of production,” has always been the stance and principle of Marx and Engels’ thought on the critique of religion.

马克思主义宗教观是以唯物史观作为根本方法认识宗教以及宗教问题形成的观点总和，构成了马克思主义的一个组成部分。唯物史观的形成包含在马克思主义对宗教在内的社会现象的批判：宗教是一个历史范畴，提供了超验的神学叙事来解释人间的苦难。唯物史观揭示了维持宗教生存和发展的现实根源，这些根源同样支撑着其所在社会秩序的不公正。故而，马克思和恩格斯对宗教进行研究并加以批判的目的就是将宗教从天上拉回到世俗世界，从社会现实里探索宗教背后的行动动机。因此，立足于宗教产生的基础——物质条件和生活条件——去认识宗教本身，以“物质”、“历史”和“生产力与生产关系”等唯物史观的基本范畴考察宗教发展史，始终是马克思恩格斯宗教批判思想的立场和原则。

(I) From Theism to Atheism

（一）从有神论到无神论

The historical background in which Marx and Engels’ view of religion emerged was a religious world saturated and surrounded by religion. Influenced by his father, Marx expressed religious piety in an essay written for his school-leaving examination; as a 17-year-old high school student, his overall view of religion was positive and pragmatic. But this piety shifted after he entered the University of Bonn and the University of Berlin. In 1837, Marx devoted considerable energy and time to systematically studying Hegel’s works. The rationalism, absolute spirit, and doctrine of self-consciousness in Hegel’s philosophy left a deep impression on Marx. At the same time, Engels was also a follower of Hegel’s philosophy. From the outset, Hegel denied any ultimate opposition between the finite and the infinite. All the rise and fall of finite existence were seen as necessary appendages of the movement of spirit, that is, the process by which absolute spirit returns to self-realization through the finite consciousness that transcends itself. Hegel believed that the mode of thinking necessary to understand this dynamic process was dialectical. It was precisely this insight that had a major impact on Marx, opening up a line of thought from theism to pantheism and then to atheism.

马克思恩格斯宗教观产生的时代背景是一个被宗教浸染、环绕的宗教化世界。受父亲的影响，马克思在升学考试所写的作文中表达了对宗教的虔诚，作为17岁的中学生，他对对宗教的总体看法是积极实用的。但这份虔诚在他进入波恩大学和柏林大学之后发生了转变。1837年，马克思花费大量精力和时间系统研究黑格尔的著作。黑格尔哲学的理性主义、绝对精神以及自我意识学说给马克思留下了深刻的印象。同时，恩格斯也是黑格尔哲学的信奉者。黑格尔从一开始就否定了有限和无限的任何终极对立。有限存在的所有兴衰成败被视为精神运动的必要附属物，即绝对精神通过超越自我的有限意识回归到自我实现的过程。黑格尔认为理解这一动态过程所必要的思维方式是辩证的。正是这种见解对马克思产生了重要影响，开启了从有神论到泛神论再到无神论的思维进路。

Subsequently, Marx’s enthusiasm for Hegel shifted. The Young Hegelians’ emphasis on dialectics, their critique of religion, and their revolutionary tendencies aroused Marx’s keen interest. The Young Hegelians (especially Bauer) systematically criticized religion. In Bauer’s view, religion was a product of self-consciousness; he took self-consciousness as the essence and driving force of the world, thereby gradually degenerating into a nihilist. Marx pointed out that Bauer’s theory of religion did not solve the problem but was itself a new theology, an idolatry of spiritualism. “In Bauer’s critique, what we oppose is precisely the speculative reproduced in caricature form.” [1]1 Karl Marx, “The Holy Family,” MECW, vol. 4, p. 20. (The original Chinese text cites this passage; the English rendering follows the standard English edition.) Marx’s critique of Bauer displayed a clear materialist worldview, but it did not truly step into the real existing materialist world.

随后，马克思对黑格尔的热情发生了转变。青年黑格尔派对辩证法的重视，对宗教的批判以及革命倾向引起了马克思的浓厚兴趣。青年黑格尔派（特别是鲍威尔）对宗教进行了系统的批判。在鲍威尔看来，宗教是自我意识的产物，将自我意识看作世界的本质和动力，从而逐步沦为虚无主义者。马克思指出，鲍威尔的宗教理论并没有解决问题，本身而言是一种新的神学，是对唯灵论的偶像崇拜。“在鲍威尔的批判中，我们所反对的正是以漫画形式再现出来的思辨。”马克思对鲍威尔的批判展现出了明确的唯物主义世界观，但并未真正地踏入真实存在的唯物主义现实世界中。

With the completion of his doctoral dissertation (1841), Marx turned to journalism. In the course of his journalistic work, he became increasingly unable to tolerate the hollow rhetoric of most Young Hegelian commentaries. He thus turned to more empirical questions. In the following period, Marx devoted himself to the critique of Hegel’s philosophy. During this time, Engels also wrote several works on religion, and his critique of religion shifted from the ideological level to the perspective of social transformation. Around 1841, both Marx and Engels had already completed the transition from theism to atheism, but their atheist thought at this time was still in a stage of continuous development.

随着博士论文（1841）的通过，马克思转向了新闻业。他在介入新闻工作的过程中越来越无法忍受大多数青年黑格尔派评论的空洞论调。他由此转向更为实证的问题。在接下来的一段时间里，马克思致力于对黑格尔哲学的批判。在这期间，恩格斯也撰写了几篇有关宗教的论著，他对宗教的批判也从思想层面转变到了社会变革的角度。在1841年左右，马克思和恩格斯均已经实现了从有神论到无神论的转变，但他们此时的无神论思想处于不断发展的阶段。

(II) From Humanistic Psychology to Social Psychology

（二）从人本心理学到社会心理学

Feuerbach’s study of religion from a psychological perspective had a tremendous influence on later thinkers and promoted the transformation of Marx and Engels’ thought on the critique of religion. In the critique of religion, Feuerbach replaced Bauer as Marx’s mentor and friend. Hegel believed that man is self-alienated God, but Feuerbach overturned this view. He believed that God is self-alienated man, and that religion manifests the most beautiful parts of human nature in an alienated form. Feuerbach broke through the confines of Hegelian idealism, introducing German philosophy’s critique of religion into an entirely new stage, and provided Marx with an important source of materialism. Hence, between 1841 and 1843, Marx and Engels gradually broke free from idealism and rationalism, parting ways with the Young Hegelians in this process, and accelerating the rupture between Marx and Engels and Hegel’s philosophy.

费尔巴哈从心理学方面对宗教进行研究，对后代的思想家产生了巨大的影响，促进了马克思恩格斯宗教批判思想的转变进程。在宗教批判方面，费尔巴哈取代鲍威尔成为马克思的良师益友。黑格尔认为人是自我异化的上帝，而费尔巴哈却颠覆了这一观点。他认为上帝是自我异化的人，宗教以异化的形式展现了人性最美丽的部分。费尔巴哈突破了黑格尔唯心主义的窠臼，将德国哲学对宗教的批判引入到一个全新的阶段，并为马克思提供了唯物主义的重要来源。故而，在1841-1843年间，马克思恩格斯逐步摆脱唯心主义、理性主义，并在这过程中与青年黑格尔派分道扬镳，加速了马克思恩格斯与黑格尔哲学的决裂。

Marx’s “On the Jewish Question” marked the rupture between Marx and Bauer. In it, through the study of the Jewish question, Marx expounded the relationship between religion and the state, and explored human emancipation and political emancipation. Marx refuted Bauer’s treatment of Jewish emancipation as a religious question, and initiated the approach of starting from the relationship between religion and society to uncover the social roots of religion: “to turn theological questions into secular ones.” [2]2 Karl Marx, “On the Jewish Question,” MECW, vol. 3, p. 155. He also wrote that we should examine not the “Sabbath Jew” but the “everyday Jew.” [3]3 Ibid., p. 170. Starting from the common stereotype of Jews’ obsession with money, Marx described the Jew as a special manifestation of what he called the “civil society of Judaism,” namely, “money is the universal, independent value of all things.” [4]4 Ibid., p. 172. Bauer believed that the solution to the Jewish question was the complete secularization of German society. But in Marx’s view, this method could not completely break free from religion or achieve political emancipation. The general conclusion Marx drew was that human emancipation is the only solution to social problems, achieved by rejecting religion and political alienation and organizing their social forces in a public way. From Marx’s understanding of religion, the importance of this article lies in Marx’s treatment of economic factors, rather than religion, as the primary form of human alienation.

马克思《论犹太人问题》的诞生，标志着马克思与鲍威尔的决裂。其中，马克思通过犹太人解放问题的研究，阐述了宗教和国家的关系，探讨了人类解放和政治解放。马克思反驳了鲍威尔把犹太人的解放当作一个宗教问题来对待，并开启了从宗教和社会关系入手道出宗教社会根源的始端，“要把神学的问题化为世俗问题”。他还写道，我们应该考察的不是“安息日犹太人”而是“日常的犹太人”。马克思从犹太人痴迷于金钱的普遍刻板印象出发，将犹太人描述为他所谓的“犹太教市民社会”的一种特殊表现形式，即“金钱是一切事物的普遍的、独立自在的价值。”鲍威尔认为犹太人问题的解决就是使德国社会彻底世俗化。但在马克思看来，这种方法并不能够彻底挣脱宗教，实现政治解放。马克思所得出的一般结论就是：人类解放是社会问题的唯一解决方案，通过拒绝宗教和政治异化，并以公共的方式组织他们的社会力量。从马克思对宗教的理解来看，这篇文章的重要性在于马克思将经济因素而非宗教视为人类异化的主要形式。

How, then, could such an emancipation of “man” be realized? “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Introduction” (1843-1844) proclaimed the answer. In this article, Marx’s critique of religion began to shift from advocating self-consciousness to excavating the material reality hidden behind consciousness, forming a materialist view of religion integrated with his own thinking, and turning from humanism toward the fields of sociology, political science, and history.

这样一种“人”的解放到底怎样能够实现？《<黑格尔法哲学批判>导言》(1843-1844)宣告了答案。在该文章中，马克思的宗教批判开始从崇尚自我意识向挖掘隐藏在意识背后的物质现实转变，形成了融入自己思考的唯物主义的宗教观，在人本主义的基础上向着社会学、政治学以及历史学领域转变。

(III) From Economic Reality to Historical Materialism

（三）从经济现实到历史唯物主义

Between 1841 and 1844, Marx and Engels’s critique of religion still bore the stamp of the Feuerbachian school, but a new historical-materialist view of religion was gradually taking shape in their thought. The *Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844* (1844) is Marx’s first work turning to the study of political economy. In this work, Marx applied his Feuerbachian exposition of religious alienation to the field of political economy, deepening the discussion of alienation: religious alienation will disappear only with the disappearance of the alienating forces of society. He also discovered a similarity between religion and social economics: both are characterized by alienation. The former incubates religious alienation, the latter economic alienation. Marx then combined the two, expounding the non-contingent nature of this combination. Beyond this, Marx also discussed the determining role of the economy over politics and provided a more scientific materialist account of social consciousness.

1841-1844年间，马克思和恩格斯的宗教批判思想还带有费尔巴哈派的色彩，但一种新的历史唯物主义的宗教观正在他们的思想中逐步成型。《1844年经济学哲学手稿》（1844）是马克思转向政治经济学研究的第一部著作。在这篇著作中，马克思把他对费尔巴哈宗教异化的阐释应用于政治经济学领域，深化了对异化的论述：宗教异化只会随着社会异化力量的消失而消失。并发现了宗教和社会经济学的相似之处：都是以异化为特征。前者孵化了宗教异化，后者孵化了经济异化。马克思进而把两者结合起来，阐述了这一结合的非偶然性。除此之外，马克思还论述了经济对政治的决定作用，并对社会意识进行了更科学的唯物主义论述。

As Marx refined historical materialism, his thought underwent a crucial shift: previously alienation was the core concept; now it was ideology. The critique of Feuerbach best illustrates this. In the *Theses on Feuerbach* (1845), Marx criticized Feuerbach’s view of religion from three aspects: the world of religion, its essence, and its social character. Feuerbach’s humanist theory pushed the critique of religion to a new climax and brought forth a new atheism; he explicitly pointed out the connection between religious self-alienation and human self-alienation, reducing the religious world to its secular basis. However, he did not reveal why this secular basis is split into a religious fantasy world and the real world. In Marx’s view, the human being understood by Feuerbach is an abstract, isolated individual, ignoring human historicity and activity, and thus unable to see the social basis of religion. Feuerbach’s humanist view of religion is philosophically grounded in old materialism, so that “with him materialism and history diverge completely.” [5]5 Karl Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach,” in Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, *Collected Works*, vol. 5 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1976), p. 8. In this work, we can also see Marx and Engels striving to investigate social conflicts based on the secular basis and the possibility of resolving these conflicts in the ensuing practice. The publication of *The German Ideology* (1845) and the *Manifesto of the Communist Party* (1848) marks the final completion of the Marxist materialist conception of history.

随着马克思对历史唯物主义的细化，他的思想经历关键性的转变：之前是异化为核心概念，现在是意识形态。对费尔巴哈的批判最能说明这一点。马克思在《关于费尔巴哈提纲》（1845）中从宗教的世界、本质和社会性三个方面批判了费尔巴哈的宗教观。费尔巴哈的人本主义理论将宗教批判运动推向一个新高潮并带来了一个新的无神论，他明确指出了宗教的自我异化和人的自我异化的联系，将宗教世界归结于世俗基础，但是他没有揭示这个世俗基础被二重化为宗教幻想世界和现实世界的原因。在马克思看来，费尔巴哈所理解的人是抽象的、孤立的人，忽略了人的历史性以及活动性，不能看到宗教的社会基础。费尔巴哈的人本主义宗教观是以旧的唯物主义为哲学基础的，因此“在他那里，唯物主义和历史是彼此完全脱离的。”在该著作中，我们还可以看到马克思和恩格斯致力于探究基于世俗基础的社会冲突，以及在随之而来的实践中解决这些冲突的可能性。《德意志意识形态》（1845）和《共产党宣言》（1848）的发表，标志着马克思主义唯物史观的最后完成。

In sum, Marx’s critique of religion contributed more intellectual fruits during the foundational stage of the Marxist view of religion. Starting from historical materialism, Marx guided people to examine the development and changes of religion from the changes in economic and social reality, forming a scientific system. The Marxist critique of religion belongs to the sequence of atheism in the history of Western religious thought, and moreover is the most absolute and thoroughgoing atheism in that history.

总而言之，马克思的宗教批判思想在马克思主义宗教观的奠基阶段贡献了更多的智力成果。马克思从历史唯物主义出发，指导人们从经济社会现实的变化中考察宗教的发展变化，形成了科学的体系。马克思主义宗教批判思想属于西方宗教思想史中无神论的序列，更是西方宗教思想史上最绝对、最彻底的无神论思想。

02 Engels’s Adherence to and Development of Marx’s Critique of Religion in His Later Years

02恩格斯晚年对马克思宗教批判思想的坚持与发展

In his later years, Marx studied religion very little. At this time, Engels engaged more extensively with the critique of religion than Marx did. Among these, the relationship between religion and science was an important aspect of his critique of religion and also a unique contribution of Engels to the Marxist view of religion. In Engels’s later years, the powerful and rapid development of natural science propelled the advance of philosophy; dialectics was developing on the basis of natural science. Engels, in concise and precise language, revealed the natural and social roots of the emergence of religion and concluded that religion would wither away with the development of science and technology. In summary, in his later years Engels adhered to and developed the Marxist critique of religion, firmly consolidated the foundation of dialectical materialism, and sought to incorporate it into a set of universally applicable laws, into the processes of nature and history. Therefore, Engels spent most of his time gaining as comprehensive an understanding as possible of the latest developments in natural science, developments that would greatly influence Engels’s formulation of Marxism as a scientific worldview.

马克思晚年对宗教的研究甚少，这时，恩格斯相较于马克思，对宗教批判思想的涉猎更广。其中宗教与科学之间的关系问题是其宗教批判思想的一个重要方面，亦是恩格斯对马克思主义宗教观的独特贡献。在恩格斯晚年，自然科学强大而迅猛的发展推动了哲学的前进，辩证法正在自然科学的基础上发展。恩格斯以简练而精确的语言，揭示了宗教产生的自然根源和社会根源，并得出宗教将会随着科学技术的发展而消亡。概之，恩格斯在其晚年，坚持发展马克思主义宗教批判思想，牢固构筑辩证唯物主义的基础，寻求将其纳入一套普遍适用的规律之中，纳入自然的过程和历史的过程。因此，恩格斯花了大部分时间尽可能全面地了解自然科学的最新发展，自然科学的这些发展将极大地影响恩格斯将马克思主义作为科学世界观的表述。

(I) Systematic Exposition of His Critique of Religion through the Debate with Dühring

（一）通过与杜林的辩论系统阐述其宗教批判思想

In *Anti-Dühring* (1876–1878), Engels for the first time extensively evaluated primitive religion and refuted Dühring’s view that religion would be completely eliminated in a future socialist society. In this work, Engels discussed the matter in concise language from three aspects: first, revealing the essence of religion; second, revealing the law of development from nature gods to social gods, from polytheism to monotheism; third, proposing that religion would gradually wither away with the progress of science and technology and the development of society. This work not only applied Engels’s research results on the dialectics of nature but also elevated his research to the level of the dialectical-materialist worldview. Engels realized that the refutation of Dühring’s views gave him an important opportunity to further develop Marx’s critique of religion.

恩格斯在《反杜林论》（1876-1878）中，第一次广泛评价原始宗教，批驳了杜林关于在未来的社会主义社会中宗教将会被全面消灭的观点。在该著作中，恩格斯以简练的语言从三个方面进行论述：其一，揭示宗教的本质；其二，揭示了从自然神到社会神、从多神教到一神教的发展规律；其三，提出宗教将会随着科学技术的进步和社会的发展而逐渐走向消亡。该著作不单单是运用了恩格斯对于自然辩证法的研究成果，还把他的研究上升到辩证唯物主义世界观的层面。恩格斯意识到，对杜林观点的批驳给了他进一步发展马克思宗教批判思想的重要契机。

“All religion, however, is nothing but the fantastic reflection in men’s minds of those external forces which control their daily life.” [6]6 Frederick Engels, *Anti-Dühring*, in Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, *Collected Works*, vol. 25 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1987), p. 312. From the perspective of historical materialism, Engels expounded the fundamental difference between the Marxist view of religion and the idealist view of religion. As a “fantastic reflection,” religion often hides behind a mysterious veil, seemingly “aloof from worldly affairs,” but in fact is closely linked to people’s daily material life. Engels expounded the roots of religion’s existence from the perspective of human development and concluded that religion’s development underwent a process from nature gods to social gods, from polytheism to monotheism. In this work, Engels also, through a comprehensive exposition of the primacy of matter, brought the critique of religion into the deeper realm of ontology, thereby strengthening the Marxist critical stance on religion. In Engels’s view, only the “new” materialism that possesses the concept of “matter in motion” can escape the conclusion that the world requires a creator. If matter is not eternally moving but can exist at rest; if motion is not an integral attribute of matter, then we will encounter no contradiction in things, because “motion itself is a contradiction.” [7]7 Frederick Engels, *Anti-Dühring*, p. 117. Once we accept the modern scientific dynamic theory of matter, we will shed the cloak of religion and return to reality: “the last memory of a creator outside the world is also eliminated.” [8]8 Frederick Engels, *Dialectics of Nature*, in Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, *Collected Works*, vol. 25 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1987), p. 339. In Dühring’s doctrine, traces of a creator, a first mover, or “God” are everywhere; he is an incomplete materialist.

“一切宗教都不过是支配着人们日常生活的外部力量在人们头脑中的幻想的反映。”恩格斯从唯物史观视域，阐述了马克思主义宗教观与唯心主义宗教观的根本区别。作为“幻想的反映”，宗教时常以神秘面纱掩面，看似“不食人间烟火”，实则与人们的日常物质生活紧密相连。恩格斯从人类的发展方面阐述了宗教存在的根源，并得出宗教的发展经历了自然神到社会神、多神教到一神教的过程。恩格斯还在该著作中，通过物质第一性的全面陈述，将对宗教的批判带入本体论的更深领域，以此强化马克思主义的宗教批判立场。在恩格斯看来，只有具有“运动的物质”概念的“新”唯物主义才能逃避世界需要创造者的结论。如果物质不是永远运动的，而是可以静止存在的；如果运动不是物质的一个整体属性，那么我们在事物中将碰不到任何的矛盾，因为“运动本身就是矛盾”。一旦我们接受了现代科学的物质的动力学理论，那么我们将会摆脱宗教外衣，回归现实“对世界之外的造物主的最后记忆也消除了”。而在杜林的学说中，随处可见创世者、第一推动或者“上帝”的影子，是一个不彻底的唯物主义者。

(II) Demonstrating Historical Materialism through a Comparison of the History of Natural Science and the History of Religion

（二）通过对自然科学和宗教发展历史的比较论证历史唯物主义

In *Dialectics of Nature* (1873–1883), Engels profoundly analyzed the relationship between the development of modern natural science and religion: the development of natural science is closely related to the history of religious change; the laws governing nature and history are essentially the same; religious concepts change with the development of natural science. Religion is “an important way for people to explain the world and solve many of their own practical problems,” [9]9 This appears to be a paraphrase or summary by the authors; no direct source is provided in the original text. and the study of natural science originated in the era of the Reformation. In discussing the emergence of religion and the concept of gods, the understanding of natural forces played a decisive role. The emergence and development of science challenged the authority of the church and impacted the theological system of thought. Although natural scientists suffered religious persecution, natural science and the dialectical-materialist worldview expanded their territory in this struggle and became more systematic with the development of society and the times.

在《自然辩证法》（1873-1883）中，恩格斯深刻分析了现代自然科学的发展与宗教的关系：自然科学的发展和宗教变化的历史密切相关，支配自然和历史的规律基本上是相同的，宗教的观念随着自然科学的发展而发生变化。宗教是“人们解释世界和解决自身许多现实难题的重要途径”，自然科学的研究发端于宗教改革的时代。在论述宗教及神的观念产生时，对自然力的认识发挥了决定性的原因。科学的出现和发展挑战了教会的权威，冲击了神学的思想体系。尽管存在自然科学家受着宗教的迫害，但自然科学和辩证唯物主义世界观在这个斗争中为自己开疆扩土，并随着社会、时代的发展更加系统化。

In *Dialectics of Nature*, Engels also touched on the critique of pseudo-science. Engels sharply exposed the fantasy, credulity, and superstition (mainly manifested as spiritualism and spiritism under the reinforcement of empiricism) that result from relying solely on experience and despising dialectical thinking. In this process, Engels explained the important position of theoretical thinking for natural science and for understanding various natural and social phenomena, while also pointing out the illusory nature of various spiritual phenomena.

在《自然辩证法中》，恩格斯也涉及了对伪科学的批判。对于单凭经验、蔑视辩证思维，进而导致的幻想、盲从和迷信（主要表现为在经验主义的加持下所造成的招魂术和请神术），恩格斯进行了尖锐的揭露。在这个过程中，恩格斯说明了理论思维对于自然科学、认识各种自然社会现象的重要地位，同时也指明了各种神灵现象的虚幻性。

It can be seen that Engels consistently linked the development of natural science with its impact on theological narratives: the development of natural science and the dialectical materialist worldview continuously undermined the foundations of religious theology, transformed people’s view of nature, and, while breaking free from the constraints of that view of nature, also broke free from religious theology. Therefore, a comprehensive examination of the historical development of Marx and Engels’ thought on religious criticism reveals that constructing the religious question on the basis of historical materialism pointed out the dominant direction for the formation of Marx and Engels’ thought on religious criticism, and at the same time marked the fundamental distinction between the Marxist view of religion and all other forms of religious views.

可以看出，恩格斯始终把自然科学的发展与对神学叙事的冲击相联系：自然科学和辩证唯物主义世界观的发展，不断摧毁宗教神学的XX，改变了人们的自然观，并在摆脱自然观束缚的同时摆脱宗教神学。因此通过总体性梳理马克思恩格斯宗教批判思想的历史发展脉络可以发现，把宗教问题构筑在唯物史观基础之上，为马克思恩格斯宗教批判思想的形成路径指明主导方向，同时也标志着马克思主义宗教观与其他一切形式宗教观的根本区别。

In short, Engels in *Anti-Dühring* and *Dialectics of Nature* further developed Marx’s thought on religious criticism and contributed insights for future work on religion: religion should be appropriately guided, never prohibited by decree. Dühring regarded religion as a “naïve, primitive imagination,” and therefore believed that in a free society religion would be banned. But Engels, under certain conditions, acknowledged the reality of religion’s existence and defended freedom of religious belief; if the natural and social roots of religion are to be eliminated, it is necessary to grasp the laws of religious development and resolve the contradiction at its source.

简而言之，恩格斯在《反杜林论》和《自然辩证法》中进一步发展了马克思的宗教批判思想，并为未来宗教的工作贡献了启示意义：对于宗教应该适当引导，绝非明令禁止。杜林认为宗教是一种“幼稚的原始的想象”，因此在自由社会宗教将会被禁止。但恩格斯在一定条件下承认宗教的存在的现实性，捍卫宗教信仰自由；若要消除宗教产生的自然、社会根源，那需要掌握宗教的发展规律，从矛盾的根源上解决矛盾。

03 The Scientific Transcendence of Bourgeois Views on Religion by Marx and Engels’ Thought on Religious Criticism

03马克思恩格斯宗教批判思想对资产阶级宗教观的科学超越

Looking back at the historical development of the bourgeoisie, the bourgeoisie on the one hand promoted social development and progress, but on the other hand it also promoted the emergence of a new “theology.” Marx and Engels’ thought on religious criticism, building on Feuerbachian materialism, broke through the limitations of humanism, grounded itself in economic relations, revealed the origin of religion from the perspective of private ownership, and clearly pointed out the social basis for religion’s existence and the path to its eventual disappearance. This is the theoretical innovation of the Marxist view of religion and also its scientific transcendence of the bourgeois view of religion.

回溯资产阶级的历史发展，资产阶级在一方面促进了社会的发展进步，但在另一方面它同样促进了新“神学”的产生。马克思恩格斯的宗教批判思想在费尔巴哈式的唯物主义基础上突破人本主义的局限性，立足经济关系，从私有制的角度揭示宗教的起源，并明确指出宗教得以存在的社会基础和宗教消亡的途径，这是马克思主义宗教观的理论创新，也是对资产阶级宗教观的科学超越。

(I) A Profound Analysis of the Essence of Religion

（一）深刻剖析宗教的本质

Unlike bourgeois thinkers’ study of religion, Marx and Engels profoundly analyzed the essence of religion. For Marx and Engels, in the initial stage of human development, religion arose from fear, ignorance, and powerlessness in the face of natural phenomena. As Marx and Engels discussed in their early writings from the three dimensions of consciousness, worldview, and fantasy: first, humans are the creators of religion, and religion is the self-expression of those who have not yet gained themselves or have lost themselves again; second, religion is a general theory, compendium, logic, and general basis for seeking consolation of an inverted world, and is a form of consciousness; third, “religion is the fantastic realization of the human essence because the human essence possesses no true reality.” [10]10 Karl Marx, “Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Law: Introduction,” *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 1, p. 452. [This is a standard citation for Marx’s early work on religion; the quote is from the 1844 introduction.] This was the exploratory answer Marxism gave to the essence of religion at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. Its main ideological content includes two aspects.

与资产阶级思想家对宗教研究不同的是，马克思和恩格斯深刻剖析宗教的本质。对马克思和恩格斯来说，人类发展初始阶段，宗教产生于对自然现象的恐惧、无知和无力。正如马克思恩格斯在早期文章中从意识、世界观和幻想三种维度论述的那样：其一，人是宗教的创造者，宗教是那些没有获得自身亦或再度丧失自身的人的自我表达；其二，宗教是一种颠倒世界的总理论、纲要、逻辑、寻求慰藉的总根据等等，是一种意识；其三，“宗教是人的本质在幻想中的实现，因为人的本质不具有真正的现实性。”这是十九世纪末二十世纪初马克思主义对其宗教本质所做出的探索性回答。其主要思想内涵包括两个方面。

On the one hand, religion is the fantasy of alienated humans. Religion is characterized by faith, and is an inversion of the relationship between humans and gods, thereby exhibiting alienated characteristics. Bruno Bauer was the initiator within German classical philosophy who explicitly used the concept of alienation for religious criticism. As an inheritor of Hegel’s thought on alienation, he made alienation a critical weapon for analyzing the religious question. However, Bauer’s thought bore the color of bourgeois democracy. “In the history of modern thought, Feuerbach was the first thinker to discuss religious alienation on the basis of materialist humanism.” [11]11 This is a reference to Ludwig Feuerbach’s *The Essence of Christianity* (1841), which argued that God is a projection of human qualities. Feuerbach did not simply declare religion to be the result of ignorance and superstition; in his view, the roots of religious ideas should be sought in the real conditions of people’s lives. Therefore, he profoundly analyzed religion from the fields of cognition, psychology, and humanism, revealed the complex structure of religious psychology, reduced the content of the supernatural world to human thoughts, feelings, and desires, and uncovered the secret of religious fantasy. However, Feuerbach’s limitation lay in his failure to reveal the social character of humans. Marx and Engels took economic facts as their starting point, studied the inner connection between economic relations and religious phenomena, and realized the importance of basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and transportation for humanity, thereby enriching and developing the concept of “alienation.” In class society, alienation is linked to different classes in different ways. Therefore, for Marx and Engels, religion, as a manifestation of this alienated state, transforms the human essence into a fantastic reality.

一方面，宗教是被异化的人的幻想。宗教以信仰为特征，是人与神之间关系的颠倒，从而呈现出异化特征。布鲁诺•鲍威尔是在德国古典哲学中明确把异化思想用于宗教批判的肇始者。作为黑格尔异化思想的继承者，他把异化当成剖析宗教问题的批判武器。但是鲍威尔的思想带有资产阶级民主主义色彩。“在近代思想史上，费尔巴哈是第一个在唯物主义人本学基础上论述宗教异化的思想家。”费尔巴哈并没有简单地将宗教宣布为愚昧和迷信的结果，在他看来，宗教观念的根源应从人们生活的现实条件中寻找。因此他从认识、心理和人本学等领域中深刻剖析宗教，揭示了宗教心理的复杂机构，把超自然的世界的内容归结为人的思想、感情和愿望，揭示了宗教幻想的秘密。然而，费尔巴哈表现出来的局限性在于他未能揭示人的社会特质。马克思恩格斯以经济事实作为出发点，研究经济关系和宗教现象的内在联系，并意识到衣食住行等这些基本需求对于人类的重要性，丰富和发展了“异化”的概念。在阶级社会中，异化以不同的方式与不同的阶级相联系。因此，对于马克思和恩格斯来说，宗教作为这种异化状态的表现形式，把人的本质变成了幻想的现实。

On the other hand, religion is a special form of ideology. The ideological nature of religion is expressed very clearly in the relevant discussions of Marx and Engels’ thought on religious criticism, and it conforms to the laws of ideological development. For example, bourgeois ideology is not merely a set of beliefs that promote the interests of one class by proving the rationality of its claims; it is also a social phenomenon, expressing that the bourgeoisie can oppress and exploit the masses through forms such as law, institutions, philosophy, and religion. Therefore, for Marxists, religion is a special form of ideology.

另一方面，宗教是一种特殊的意识形态。宗教的意识形态性在马克思恩格斯宗教批判思想的有关论述中表达得非常明确，符合意识形态的发展规律。例如，资产阶级意识形态，不仅仅是一套通过证明其主张的合理性来促进一个阶级利益的信仰，也是一种社会现象，表达了资产阶级可以采取法律、制度、哲学、宗教等形式压迫和剥削人民群众。因此，对于马克思主义者来说，宗教是一种特殊的意识形态。

In summary, Marx and Engels asserted from the beginning of their research that religion is merely a social psychological tool regarded as a consolation for real human beings. In itself, religion can be exhaustively explained from the perspective of the pathology of the social organization that has constituted it up to the present. In a future society, there will exist correct forms of philosophy, art, literature, law, and so on, but there cannot exist a correct form of religion. By placing religion within the historical social reality they observed, Marx and Engels provided a methodological foundation for understanding the role of religion in history from the perspective of historical materialism.

概言之，马克思和恩格斯在研究伊始就断言，宗教只不过是被视为慰藉现实的人的一种社会心理工具。就其本身而言，宗教可以从迄今为止所构成的社会组织的病理学角度进行详尽的解释。而在未来的社会中，将存在哲学、艺术、文学、法律等的正确形式，而不可能存在正确的宗教形式。马克思和恩格斯将宗教置于他们所看到的历史的社会现实中，为我们从唯物史观的角度理解宗教在历史中的作用贡献了方法论基础。

(II) An Objective Evaluation of the Roots and Functions of Religion

（二）客观评价宗教的根源和功能

The early development of human society was closely related to religion. Marx and Engels analyzed the profound impact of religion on humanity and society from a higher perspective. For them, the true driving force behind the dialectical movement of world history was the constantly changing productive forces and the constantly changing relations of production into which humans entered in their historical process, not Hegel’s idea or absolute spirit. Therefore, Marx and Engels’ explanation of historical development began from the material conditions of people’s lives, emphasizing the historical role of material life in the study of religion, mainly manifested in the following two aspects.

人类社会的早期发展与宗教密切相关。马克思恩格斯从更高的视角分析了宗教对人类和社会产生的深刻影响，对他们而言，世界历史辩证运动背后的真正动力是不断变化的生产力和人类在其历史过程中所进入的不断变化的生产关系，而不是黑格尔认为的理念或绝对精神。因此，马克思恩格斯对历史发展的解释是从人们生活的物质条件开始的，强调物质生活在宗教研究中的历史作用，主要表现在以下两个方面。

On the one hand, revealing the social roots of religion. Marx and Engels assumed that humans are not only the objects of history but also its subjects, and clearly pointed out that “humans create religion, religion does not create humans.” [12]12 Karl Marx, “Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Law: Introduction,” *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 1, p. 452. [This is the same source as note [10]; the phrase is a famous opening line of that essay.] Religion, on the one hand, expresses the feeling that humans are unable to make natural and social alien forces adapt to their needs and be controllable; on the other hand, it also consoles and compensates for the sense of frustration in the human inner world and the misfortunes of real life. Therefore, religion satisfies the human need in the face of infinity; it not only reinforces morality by promising rewards after death and threatening punishment, but also attempts to appease malevolent spirits and appeal to benevolent ones. In reality, it reflects the human condition at a certain stage of the historical process, performing functions of worldview, compensation, integration, and “cloak.” But Marx and Engels, as firm materialists, emphasized the real roots of religion’s existence. In their view, religion is not only a fantasy but also something created by humans and dominated by forces that humans cannot understand or control.

一方面，揭示宗教的社会根源。马克思恩格斯假定人不仅是历史的对象，还是历史的主体，并明确指出，“人创造了宗教，而不是宗教创造人。”宗教一方面表达了人类无法使自然、社会异己力量，适应自己的需要并能被掌控的感觉；另一方面也安慰和弥补了人类内心世界的挫败感以及现实生活中的不幸。因此，宗教满足了人类面对无限性时的需求，它不仅仅是通过承诺在死后给予奖励和威胁惩罚来强化道德，它还试图安抚恶毒的灵魂和求助于善良的灵魂，在实际上反映了历史进程中某一阶段的人类状况，发挥了世界观、补偿性、结合性以及“外衣”功能。但马克思和恩格斯作为坚定的唯物主义者，强调宗教存在的现实根源。在他们看来宗教不仅仅是一种幻想，还是人类创造出来的，并被人类无法理解、无力掌握的力量所支配。

On the other hand, the essence of religious struggles and reforms is the struggle for political power between classes. Looking back at the historical course of bourgeois revolutions, advocating for or opposing a particular religion had the main purpose of seizing power and consolidating rule, not out of religious zeal. Hence, religious disputes became the fuse for revolutions between classes. In the history of every class society, there exist mutually antagonistic classes. Religion, as an ideological weapon in class struggle, serves to help a specific class gain interests. It is a weapon that has been used by both the oppressed and the oppressors throughout history. Therefore, Marx and Engels shifted their attention away from “religion” itself and focused on material social reality.

另一方面，宗教斗争、改革的实质就是各个阶级间的政权斗争。回溯资产阶级革命的历史历程，倡导、反对什么样的宗教，主要目的就是夺取政权、巩固统治，并非是出于对宗教的狂热。故而，宗教之争成为了各阶级之间革命的导火索。每一个阶级社会的历史中都存在着相互对立的阶级。宗教作为阶级斗争中的一种意识形态武器，作用就是帮助特定阶级获得利益。它是历史上被压迫者和压迫者都使用过的武器。因此，马克思恩格斯把注意力从“宗教”本身转移开，集中在物质社会现实上。

(III) Scientific Demonstration of the Ultimate Disappearance of Religion

（三）科学论证宗教的最终消亡

Before the rise of the bourgeoisie, “science was but the humble handmaiden of the church,”[13]13 A paraphrase of a statement by the medieval theologian Peter Damian (c. 1007–1072/73), often cited to characterize the subordination of science to theology in pre-modern Europe. not science in the fundamental sense. The bourgeoisie, realizing the close connection between development and science, had no choice but to join the ranks of rebellion. Yet with the progress of science and the development of society, religion will inevitably gradually move toward extinction. In the future society, religion will progressively lose its foothold. All that people once sought in religion will pass away, because religion has no goal transcending humanity, nature, or human society, nor any motive; it possesses only the desire to establish harmonious relations with these and with oneself. In communist society, human beings will achieve free and all-round development, and the study of religion is part of the revolutionary struggle to realize this condition. The extinction of religion is a long and complex process. In Marx’s view, the disappearance of the religious reflection of the real world depends not only on a powerful social material foundation but also on the realization of communism. In Engels’ view, the disappearance of religious reflection itself must satisfy three conditions: first, the abolition of private ownership of the means of production; second, the planned use of the means of production; and third, “when things are planned by people and accomplished by people.”[14]14 A paraphrase of Engels’ formulation in *Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy* (1886), where he argues that religious reflection will disappear when humanity fully controls its own social relations.

在资产阶级兴起之前，“科学只是教会的恭顺的婢女”，并不是根本意义上的科学，资产阶级意识到发展和科学的紧密联系，不得不加入反叛的行列。但随着科学的进步和社会的发展，宗教必然逐步走向消亡。在未来的社会中，宗教将逐渐失去立足之地。过去人们在宗教中所追求的一切都将过去，因为宗教没有超越人、自然或人类社会的目标，也没有任何动机，只有与这些人以及与他自己建立和谐关系的愿望。在共产主义社会中，人将得到自由而全面的发展，而对宗教的研究是实现这种状况的革命斗争的一部分。宗教的消亡是一个长期又复杂的过程，在马克思看来，现实世界宗教反映的消失不仅建立在强大的社会物质基础之上，还必须实现共产主义。在恩格斯看来，宗教反映本身的消失必须满足三个条件：其一，生产资料私有制的消灭；其二，生产资料的有计划使用；其三，“当谋事在人，成事也在人的时候。”

04 Conclusion

04结语

Marx and Engels’ critique of religion is a scientific understanding of religion, a truth grounded in historical materialism that explores the “this-worldly realm,” and a path that seeks the real liberation of humanity from a realistic perspective. It holds significant value for cultural-ethical progress, social construction, and the Party’s religious work. Studying the developmental process of Marx and Engels’ critique of religion leads to the conclusion that the formation and development of this critique is an indispensable step in the scientization of the Marxist view of religion. In the New Era, research on Marxist religious studies should fully absorb and draw on Marx and Engels’ critique of religion, integrate it with China’s national conditions and the concrete realities of China’s religions, and build a Sinicized Marxist religious studies.

马克思恩格斯宗教批判思想是对宗教的科学认识，是立足唯物史观探索“此岸世界”的真理，是从现实角度寻求人类解放现实的道路，对于文化建设、社会建设以及党的宗教工作具有重要价值。研究马克思恩格斯宗教批判思想的发展历程，可以得出结论，马克思恩格斯宗教批判思想的形成发展是马克思主义宗教观走向科学化的不可或缺步骤。新时代的马克思主义宗教学研究，理应充分吸收借鉴马克思恩格斯宗教批判思想，结合中国国情和我国宗教的具体实际，建设中国化的马克思主义宗教学。

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心