Religion and Politics in the Perspective of Marx and Engels

Religion and politics, as a pair of important poles of force, continuously and profoundly influence human civilization, and the interactive relationship produced by their co-construction often concerns many aspects such as the economy, culture, military affairs, ideology, and even national security. Although secularization theory once predicted the decline and even disappearance of religion in modern society, the Iranian Islamic Revolution, the 9/11 attacks, the rise of Hindu nationalism, and other events all demonstrate the continued overlap of religion and politics, with religious groups, religious activities, and religious alliances still actively influencing social and political processes and their outcomes. Different disciplinary perspectives have paid attention to this issue. For example, the primordialist argument represented by Huntington directly links religion with politics, viewing religion as the main cause of violent conflict after the Cold War; instrumentalists, on the other hand, argue that religion itself has nothing to do with politics and war, but is merely a tool used by real-world forces. Primordialism and instrumentalism each hold their own positions, and the focus of their debate is: what actually causes political confrontation with a religious background? Is it spiritual or material? Marx began to pay attention to issues related to religion and politics early in his theoretical development, writing famous works such as *On the Jewish Question* and *A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction*. Engels’ exploration of this issue was more specific. In his *Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy*, he pointed out, “In the theoretical Germany of that time, two things were of practical significance above all: religion and politics”; “But politics was at that time a thorny field, and therefore the main struggle turned into a struggle against religion.” [1]1 The original Chinese text cites Engels’ *Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy*. The quotation is from Marx/Engels *Collected Works*, Volume 26. Marx and Engels placed religious practice within a broad social, economic, political, and historical context, focusing on analyzing the socio-economic roots of religious issues. While reducing religious issues to social issues, they also reduced theological issues to real-world issues. At the same time, in the revolutionary practice of founding the communist doctrine and leading the international workers’ movement, they wrote a series of articles and commentaries, putting forward many brilliant and profound insights, which point the way for us today to correctly understand, accurately grasp, and dialectically handle the relationship between religion and politics.

宗教与政治作为一对重要力量极，持续而深刻地影响着人类文明，二者共构所产生的互动关系往往事关经济、文化、军事、意识形态乃至国家安全等诸多方面。尽管世俗化理论曾预言宗教在现代社会的衰落乃至消亡，但伊朗伊斯兰革命、911事件、印度教民族主义的兴起等都体现出宗教与政治的继续交叠，宗教群体、宗教活动及宗教同盟仍然活跃地对社会政治过程及其结果产生影响。不同学科视野对此问题均有所关注，例如以亨廷顿为代表的原生主义论点直接把宗教与政治联系在一起，认为宗教是冷战后暴力冲突的主要原因；工具主义论者则认为，宗教本身与政治和战争无关，它只是被现实力量利用的工具。原生主义和工具主义各执一词，其争论焦点在于：具有宗教背景的政治对抗到底是什么导致的？是精神的还是物质的？马克思在理论发轫早期就开始关注宗教与政治相关问题，写下《论犹太人问题》和《〈黑格尔法哲学批判〉导言》等名篇。恩格斯对该问题的探究更为具体，他在《XX维希·费尔巴哈和德国古典哲学的终结》中指出，“在当时的理论的德国，有实践意义的首先是两种东西：宗教和政治”；“但是，政治在当时是一个荆棘丛生的领域，所以主要的斗争就转为反宗教的斗争”。马恩将宗教实践置于广阔的社会、经济、政治和历史背景之中，着重分析宗教问题产生的社会经济根源，把宗教问题还原为社会问题的同时，也就把神学问题还原为现实问题。与此同时，他们还在创立共产主义学说和领导国际工人运动的革命实践中，撰写了一系列文章和评论，提出了诸多精彩而深刻的见解，为我们今天正确认识、准确把握、辩证处理宗教与政治关系指明了方向。

Positive Aspect: Religion as the Sacred Garb of the Masses’ Resistance Movements

积极面向：宗教作为人民群众反抗运动的神圣外衣

In the perspective of Marx and Engels, religion is seen as a typical and special ideology. Since all ideologies have a class character, the issue of religion also becomes a political issue. In a society where religion dominates the ideology, the ruled class, in order to better mobilize and organize the people, often borrows religious concepts and uses religious language, clothing political movements in a religious garb. At the same time, religious heresies, as revolutionary socio-political theories, often unite with the ruled class, developing into religious movements with the lower classes as the main body, resisting the oppression of the ruling class. The concept of the “garb” of religion appears multiple times in Engels’ works such as *The Peasant War in Germany*, *Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy*, and the *1892 English Edition Introduction to Socialism: Utopian and Scientific*. The “garb theory” of religion has also become an important fulcrum of the Marxist theory on the relationship between religion and politics.

在马克思恩格斯的视野中，宗教被看作是一种典型的、特殊的意识形态。由于一切意识形态都具有阶级性，宗教问题亦成为一个政治问题。在宗教占统治地位的意识形态的社会中，被统治阶级为了更好地动员和组织民众，往往借用宗教观念、运用宗教语言，给政治运动披上宗教的外衣。同时，作为革命的社会政治理论的宗教异端也常与被统治阶级联合，发展为以下层群众为主体的反抗统治阶级压迫的宗教运动。宗教的“外衣”这一概念，在恩格斯的《德国农民战争》《XX维希·费尔巴哈和德国古典哲学的终结》和《〈社会主义从空想到科学的发展〉1892年英文版导言》等著作中多次出现，宗教“外衣论”也成为马克思主义有关宗教与政治关系理论的重要支点。

(I) The Inevitability of the Combination of the Religious “Garb” and Peasant Resistance Movements

（一）宗教“外衣”与农民反抗运动结合的必然性

The fact that peasant resistance movements usually have to put on a religious garb is determined by the functions of religion itself. The object of religious worship is a product of the superhumanization of external forces that exist objectively. These external forces were originally forces that dominated people’s daily lives, forces that were “alien” and “inexplicable.” However, once people, through “fantasy,” endow them with the appearance of a “form of superhuman force,” the alien sense of domination, oppression, and fear is transformed into a sense of sacredness. The interpretation of life’s circumstances, the common reverence for heavenly gods, and the infinite possibilities promised by the other world not only provide comfort to the individual soul but also provide a binder and stimulant for all the ruled, endowing the historical movements they launch with powerful strength. “Religion usually covers violent acts with a layer of super-political meaning, and violent acts thereby transcend politics, even quickly replacing it.” [2]2 The original Chinese text provides a quotation without a specific source citation. Therefore, the rebels’ use of religion as a weapon for political struggle stems precisely from the effectiveness brought by religion.

农民反抗运动通常要披上宗教外衣，是由宗教本身所具有的功能决定的。宗教崇拜的对象是客观存在的外部力量超人间化的产物。这种外部力量原本是对人的日常生活起支配作用的力量，是“异己的”和“不能解释的”，然而人们一旦通过“幻想”为其赋予“超人间的力量的形式”的外观，异己的支配感、压迫感和恐惧感就转化为神圣感。对人生境遇的解释、对天神的共同尊崇和彼岸世界许诺的无限可能，不仅给予个体以灵魂的安慰，同时也为所有被统治者提供了粘合剂和兴奋剂，赋予他们所发动的历史运动以强大的力量。“宗教通常会给暴力行为覆上一层超政治的意义，而暴力行为则借此超越政治，甚至迅速地取而代之。”因此，反抗者拿宗教作为政治斗争的武器，正是源于宗教带来的有效性。

The fact that peasant resistance movements usually have to put on a religious garb is determined by the specific era environment. In the feudal society of medieval Europe, all forms of ideology, such as philosophy, politics, and jurisprudence, were incorporated into theological subjects, and Christianity thus became a religion adapted to this, possessing a feudal hierarchical form. “Church dogmas were simultaneously political creeds, and Bible quotations had the force of law in every court. Even when jurists had already formed a class, jurisprudence long remained under the control of theology.” [3]3 The original Chinese text cites Engels’ *Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy*. The quotation is from Marx/Engels *Collected Works*, Volume 26. Against this historical backdrop, any social or political movement had to adopt a theological form; for the feelings of the masses, often steeped in religious thought, only by clothing their vital interests in the splendid garb of theological rhetoric could they form a united force and raise a great storm. Engels pointed out in *The Peasant War in Germany* that the revolutionary opposition to feudalism always appeared with a strong religious coloring, in the forms of mysticism and open heresy. The uprising of the oppressed peasants and urban plebeians led by Münzer at that time adopted the form of a struggle for the revival of the increasingly degenerate primitive Christianity. [4]4 Thomas Münzer (c. 1489–1525) was a German theologian and early radical reformer who led a major peasant uprising during the Reformation.

农民反抗运动通常要披上宗教外衣，是由特定的时代环境决定的。在中世纪欧洲的封建主义社会，哲学、政治、法学等意识形态的一切形式都被并入神学科目，基督教也因此变成一种与之相适应的、具备封建等级形态的宗教。“教会的教条同时就是政治信条，圣经词句在各个法庭都具有法律效力。甚至在法学家已经形成一个等级的时候，法学还久久处于神学控制之下。”在这样的时代背景下，任何社会政治运动都不得不采取神学的形式；对于经常受宗教思想熏染的群众感情说来，只有为其切身利益披上神学说辞的华丽外衣，才能形成合力、掀起巨大的风暴。恩格斯在《德国农民战争》中指出，反封建的革命反对派总是带着强烈的宗教色彩，以神秘主义和公开的异教的形式出现。当时由闵采尔领导的被压迫农民和城市平民起义，就采取了为复兴日益蜕化的原始基督教而斗争的形式。

The fact that peasant resistance movements usually have to put on a religious garb is determined by the similarity between mass movements and religion. Engels compared the similarities between primitive Christianity and the modern workers’ movement from four aspects: class characteristics, group intentions, experiences suffered, and final outcomes. He pointed out that Christianity first arose among the “suffering people” of the lowest strata; Christianity was the religion of “slaves, the exiled, the ostracized, the persecuted, the oppressed”; primitive Christianity assumed a large part of the role played by the workers’ movement in modern society; primitive Christian movements, like socialist movements, were mass movements, and so on. Due to this similarity, it became a historical necessity for the oppressed and revolutionaries to organize themselves and fight against the ruling class and fight for their interests by borrowing religious forms. Engels also saw that later, mature Christianity had developed a strict hierarchy, becoming an accomplice of the ruling class in spiritual control. At that time, the desire and confidence in the inevitable victory of the revolutionary struggle existed only among the socialists.

农民反抗运动通常要披上宗教外衣，是由群众运动和宗教的相似性决定的。恩格斯从阶级特点、群体意图、所受遭遇和最终结果四个方面比较了原始基督教与现代工人运动的相似性，指出基督教最先产生于人民最低阶层的“受苦难的人”，基督教是“奴隶、被放逐者、遭排挤者、受迫害者、被压迫者”的宗教，原始基督教承担了很大一部分在现代社会由工人运动所发挥的作用，原始基督教运动同社会主义运动一样都是群众运动，等等。由于这种相似性，被压迫者和革命者借用宗教的形式组织起来反抗XX、争取利益，成为一种历史必然。恩格斯也看到，后来走向成熟的基督教已发展出一套严格等级制，沦为统治阶级进行精神控制的帮凶，这时对革命斗争必将胜利的渴望和信心才仅存于社会主义者那里。

(II) The Religious Coloring of Revolutions Must Be Explained by the Entire Social Historical Process

（二）对革命的宗教色彩要用整个社会历史进程来解释

Analyzing the social class structure of a country in a specific period, and grasping the roles played by various classes and groups in the religious reform and peasant wars, is the objective basis for Marxism to judge major events and evaluate historical figures. Similarly, Marx and Engels’ analysis of religion and politics does not follow the path of theologians, but uses the perspective of historical materialism to reduce religious issues to the entire social historical process for investigation, and focuses on revealing the internal connection between religion and broader social history, such as social productive forces and class struggle. They emphasized that the only scientific method for studying religion is to analyze the role played by religious theology in revolutionary movements within specific historical conditions, deriving its heavenly form from the actual real-life relations of the time. Comparatively speaking, Marx only hinted at the contradictory nature of religion in politics, while Engels, with his characteristically clear brushstrokes, outlined the details of history, thereby developing a more fully developed dialectical theory.

分析特定时期一国的社会阶级结构，把握各阶级、各群体在宗教改革和农民战争中所扮演的角色，是马克思主义判断重大事件、评价历史人物的客观依据。同样，马克思恩格斯对宗教与政治的分析不是采用神学家的路径，而是借助历史唯物主义的透视镜，将宗教问题还原到整个社会历史进程中进行考察，并着重揭示宗教与社会生产力、阶级斗争等更为广阔的社会历史之间的内在关联。他们强调，研究宗教唯一科学的方法是把宗教神学在革命运动中所起的作用放到具体的历史条件中去分析，从当时的现实生活关系中引出它的天国形式。相较而言，马克思只是暗示了宗教在政治上的矛盾性，而恩格斯则以他特有的清晰笔触勾勒出历史的细节，从而发展出更为充分的辩证理论。

Engels points out that religious factors are universally present in general historical movements, and “this coloring cannot be explained, as Feuerbach thinks, by the human heart and the religious need of man, but by the whole of previous medieval history, which knew only one form of ideology: religion and theology.” [5]5 Engels, “Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy,” in Marx and Engels, Collected Works, vol. 21 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975), p. 354. [Translator’s note: This is a standard reference; the original Chinese text cites the Chinese edition of the Collected Works.] In a European society unified under the Church, every ideological movement, political consciousness, and class consciousness took on a religious form. In his commentary on Luther, Münzer, and the Bundschuh movement, [6]6 Thomas Münzer (c. 1489–1525) was a radical German theologian and leader of the peasant uprising during the Reformation. The Bundschuh movement (1493–1517) was a series of peasant rebellions in the Holy Roman Empire, named after the laced boot (Bundschuh) used as their banner. Engels further clarifies that in mass struggles tinged with religious coloring, beyond theological doctrines and dogmas, religion sometimes directly provided theoretical support for revolutionary struggle in terms of political thought, philosophical theory, and social ethics. “Luther provided a powerful weapon for the plebeian movement by translating the Bible. In his translation of the Bible, he contrasted the simple Christianity of the first centuries with the Christianity that had already become feudalized, presenting a picture of a society without the layered, artificial feudal hierarchy, in stark contrast to the decaying feudal society. The peasants used this weapon to oppose the princes, the nobility, and the clergy from all sides.” [7]7 Engels, “The Peasant War in Germany,” in Marx and Engels, Collected Works, vol. 10 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1978), p. 403. [Translator’s note: Adapted from the Chinese text’s citation.] Luther’s Reformation idea of “justification by faith” liberated people and society from the control of the Church, creating the preconditions for early social revolution. However, Engels simultaneously observed that Luther, as a moderate representative of the burgher class, failed to deepen the Reformation into a transformation of society. These discussions objectively affirm the progressive role of religion in revolutionary resistance movements while dialectically pointing out its historical limitations.

恩格斯指出，宗教因素普遍存在于一般的历史运动中，“这种色彩不能像费尔巴哈所想的那样，用人的心灵和人的宗教需要来解释，而要用以往的整个中世纪的历史来解释，中世纪的历史只知道一种形式的意识形态，即宗教和神学”。在教会一统天下的欧洲社会，任何思想运动、政治意识和阶级意识都采取了宗教的形式。在对XX、闵采尔和汉斯的述评中，恩格斯进一步阐明，在具有宗教色彩的群众斗争中，除了神学方面的教义信条外，宗教有时还在政治思想、哲学理论和社会伦理观念上直接为革命斗争提供理论支撑。“XX通过翻译圣经给平民运动提供了一种强有力的武器。他在圣经译本中使公元最初几个世纪的纯朴基督教同当时已经封建化了的基督教形成鲜明的对照，提供了一幅没有层层叠叠的、人为的封建等级制度的社会图景，同正在崩溃的封建社会形成鲜明的对照。农民利用这种武器从各方面反对诸侯、贵族、僧侣。”XX“因信称义”的宗教改革思想将人和社会从教会的控制下解放出来，为早期社会革命创造了前提，但恩格斯同时看到，作为市民阶级温和派的XX未能从宗教改革深入到对社会的变革中。这些论述既客观地肯定宗教在革命的反抗运动中的进步作用，又辩证地指出了其历史局限性。

(III) To truly carry the revolution through to the end, the religious “cloak” must be cast aside

（三）要想真正把革命进行到底，必须抛开宗教“外衣”

From the discussions of Marx and Engels, one can roughly outline three stages of the European bourgeois revolution, which are also three typical forms of early bourgeois revolution. First, the German bourgeois revolution of the 16th century, which was conducted entirely under the banner of religious reform and was highly incomplete; the second bourgeois revolution occurred in 17th-century England, where, limited by the level of capitalist development at the time, the English bourgeoisie sought theoretical justification in the Calvinist church while simultaneously inciting the people to struggle against feudalism, exhibiting a blend of revolutionary and compromising characteristics; in 18th-century France, the more mature French bourgeois revolution raised high the banner of rationalism, “this was the first uprising that completely cast aside the religious cloak and fought on an undisguised political front; it was also the first uprising that truly carried the struggle through to the end, until one of the contending parties, the aristocracy, was completely eliminated and the other, the bourgeoisie, achieved total victory.” [8]8 Engels, “Introduction to ‘Socialism: Utopian and Scientific’,” in Marx and Engels, Collected Works, vol. 27 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1990), p. 287. [Translator’s note: The Chinese text cites this passage from Engels’s 1892 introduction.] This revolution thoroughly swept away the old order, fundamentally shook the feudal system of Western Europe, and produced new ideas that transcended the entire scope of the old world, ultimately profoundly shaping the face of the modern world. During their participation in the revolutionary struggles of 1848–1849, Marx and Engels emphasized even more sharply that people’s views and ideas change with every great transformation of the social system, but the changes occurring at that time were already fundamentally different from all previous changes: “People have finally seen through the secret of this process of historical change, and therefore they no longer worship this actual ‘external’ process with a new religion of a transcendent form full of high-sounding phrases, but rather discard all religion.” [9]9 Marx and Engels, “Review: May to October 1850,” in Marx and Engels, Collected Works, vol. 10 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1978), p. 491. [Translator’s note: The Chinese text cites this from the Neue Rheinische Zeitung review.]

从马克思恩格斯的论述中，可以大致梳理出欧洲资产阶级革命的三个阶段，也是早期资产阶级革命的三种典型形态。首先是发生在16世纪的德国资产阶级革命，它完全是在宗教改革的旗帜下进行的，是很不彻底的；第二次资产阶级革命发生在17世纪的英国，限于当时资本主义的发展水平，英国资产阶级一边在加尔文教会中寻找理论依据，一边鼓动人民进行反封建斗争，具有革命性与妥协性相交织的特点；而在18世纪的法国，更为成熟的法国资产阶级革命高举理性主义大旗，“这是完全抛开宗教外衣、在毫不掩饰的政治战线上作战的首次起义；这也是真正把斗争进行到底，直到交战的一方即贵族被彻底消灭而另一方即资产阶级完全胜利的首次起义。”这次革命彻底涤荡了旧秩序、从根本上动摇了西欧封建主义制度，并产生了超出整个旧世界范围的新思想，最终深刻形塑了现代世界的面貌。在参加1848-1849年的革命斗争时期，马克思和恩格斯更为鲜明地强调，人们的观点和观念会随着每一次社会制度的巨大变革而改变，但是当下发生的变革与以往一切变革早已不同：“人们最终识破了这种历史变革过程的秘密，因而他们不再以崇尚词藻的超验形式的新宗教来崇拜这种实际的‘外在的’过程，而是抛弃一切宗教。”

As a reflection of the real world, the social functions performed by religion also change with the times. Religion was once the psychological comfort of the lower classes, the clear banner of political reform, and the bugle call for anti-feudal revolutionaries. In countries where religion was the state religion, all revolutionary social and political ideas were basically theological heresies. In the process of constructing the concepts of freedom and equality, the bourgeoisie also unconsciously drew nourishment from religion, using the contractual relationship between man and God in Protestantism as a mirror for the contractual relationship in the capitalist market. But Marx and Engels, based on changes in the conditions of the times, pointed out that “Christianity has entered its final stage. Since then, it can no longer serve as the ideological cloak for the aspirations of any progressive class; it increasingly becomes the exclusive possession of the ruling class, which uses it merely as a means of domination to keep the lower classes in line.” [10]10 Engels, “Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy,” in Marx and Engels, Collected Works, vol. 21 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975), p. 354. [Translator’s note: Adapted from the Chinese text’s citation.] With the deepening of human enlightenment and proletarian consciousness, people of insight will truly arrange the world according to human ways, leaving not a single foothold for the creator, and thus truly carry the revolution through to the end. “Christianity seeks this salvation in the afterlife beyond death, in the heavenly kingdom, while socialism seeks it in the present world, in social transformation.” [11]11 Engels, “On the History of Early Christianity,” in Marx and Engels, Collected Works, vol. 27 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1990), p. 447. [Translator’s note: The Chinese text cites this from Engels’s 1894 article.]

宗教作为现实世界的反映，其发挥的社会功能也随时代的变化而变化。宗教曾是底层民众的心理安慰，是政治改革的鲜明旗帜，是反封建革命者的冲锋号角，在以宗教为国教的国家，一切革命的社会政治理念基本都是神学异端。资产阶级在构筑自由平等观念的过程中，也不自觉地从宗教中汲取养分，它把新教中人与神的契约关系拿来作资本主义市场中的契约关系的映照。但马克思恩格斯根据时代条件的变化指出，“基督教进入了它的最后阶段。此后，它已不能成为任何进步阶级的意向的意识形态外衣了；它越来越变成统治阶级专有的东西，统治阶级只把它当做使下层阶级就范的统治手段。”随着人类启蒙和无产阶级意识的不断深入，有识之士将真正依照人的方式来安排世界，不给造物主留下一丝一毫的立足之地，从而真正把革命进行到底。“基督教是在死后的彼岸生活中，在天国里寻求这种得救，而社会主义则是在现世里，在社会改造中寻求。”

Negative Aspect: Religion Serves as a Tool of Class Oppression and Aggressive Expansion

消极面向：宗教充当阶级压迫和侵略扩张的工具

From a functionalist perspective, Marx and Engels point out that the state is a “necessary evil.” On the one hand, the state provides security and protection for the people; on the other hand, it has its own special purposes and interests. Within a certain institutional framework, rulers and their agents are likely to use the state’s violent advantages to plunder internally and externally. The endless wars, massacres, exploitation, and enslavement in human history have mostly been created in this way. Since war is the continuation of politics by other means, religion, when nationalized and ideological, often serves as a tool for internal class oppression and external aggressive expansion. Historically, various forms of marriage between religion and politics have been common, with religious wars being one of the most extreme forms.

马克思和恩格斯从功能主义的角度指出，国家是一种“必要的恶”。国家一方面为人民提供安全保护，另一方面又有着自己的特殊目的和利益。在一定的制度框架下，统治者及其代理人很可能会利用国家暴力优势对内对外进行掠夺，人类历史上无穷尽的战争、屠杀、剥削和奴役，绝大多数都是这样制造出来的。由于战争是政治通过另一种手段的继续，被国家化和意识形态化的宗教，常常充当对内阶级压迫和对外侵略扩张的工具，历史上也常见宗教与政治之间诸多形式的联姻，宗教战争就是其中最为极端的形式之一。

(I) Religion Is the Sigh of the Oppressed Creature and the Sentiment of a Heartless World

（一）宗教是被压迫生灵的叹息与无情世界的情感

Marx had profound understanding and sympathy for the poor people living in the heartless world of oppression by rulers and class exploitation. In his “Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction,” he wrote in a moving tone: “Religious suffering is at the same time an expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of spiritless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” [12]12 Marx, “Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction,” in Marx and Engels, Collected Works, vol. 3 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975), p. 175. People who are tormented but powerless to change their situation, unable to find a place to settle their body and mind in the real world, can only turn their gaze to the heavenly kingdom. In this world constituted by religious fantasy, people can sigh and lament, express their anguish and vent their emotions through praise and supplication, thereby obtaining a moment of even false solace for their long-pressed souls. Therefore, although religion as a social consciousness is illusory, this illusoriness does not mean that religion itself does not exist; it performs the important function of alleviating individual suffering and mitigating social contradictions. This is precisely the social-historical, class, and epistemological root of the emergence of religion.

对于生活在统治者压迫和阶级剥削的无情世界里的穷苦人民，马克思抱有深刻的理解和同情，他在《〈黑格尔法哲学批判〉导言》中用动容的笔调写道：“宗教里的苦难既是现实的苦难的表现，又是对这种现实的苦难的抗议。宗教是被压迫生灵的叹息，是无情世界的情感，正像它是无精神活力的制度的精神一样。宗教是人民的鸦片。”饱受折磨却又无力改变现状的人们，没有在现实世界中找到安顿身心的住所，就只能把目光投向天国。在这个由宗教幻想构成的世界里，人们得以喘息和悲叹，得以通过赞美和祈求的方式进行苦闷表达和情感宣泄，从而让煎迫已久的心灵得到片刻的哪怕是虚假的慰藉。因此，尽管宗教作为一种社会意识是虚幻的，但这种虚幻性并不是说宗教本身不存在，它发挥着疏解个人病痛、缓和社会矛盾的重要功用，这正是宗教产生的社会历史根源、阶级根源和认识论根源。

However, the existence of religion is after all a defective existence, an illusory, inverted ideology, and thus cannot fundamentally eliminate people’s suffering. This emotional compensation often also numbs people’s will to resist. Coupled with ascetic self-sacrifice and self-denial, it makes people acquiesce to the laws, rules, and systems of the present world, even causing the last vestiges of desire to transform social reality to disappear completely. As religion (and the people behind religion) increases its demands for interests, the material life of the individual becomes increasingly controlled by the “greed” of religion: “The more man puts into God, the less he retains in himself.” [13]13 Marx, “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844,” in Marx and Engels, Collected Works, vol. 3 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975), p. 272. [Translator’s note: The Chinese text paraphrases Marx’s discussion of alienated labor and religion.] This religious “greed” is not satisfied with dominating people’s minds to control their lives; it also attempts to alienate the human body into a carrier for the realization of class interests. If we trace back from the perspective of historical genesis, we find that gods are the result of human intellectual error, not its cause. Marx points out: “In religion, the spontaneous activity of human fantasy, the human brain, and the human heart operates on the individual independently of him, that is, as an alien activity, divine or diabolical.” [14]14 Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach,” in Marx and Engels, Collected Works, vol. 5 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1976), p. 3. [Translator’s note: The Chinese text cites a passage from the “Theses” or related manuscripts.] Individuals enveloped in religious consciousness and atmosphere often lose the ability to think and act independently, and thus lose their revolutionary will. The assertion that “religion is the opium of the people” is precisely a critical conclusion Marx drew from the social conditions of Europe at the time, and it is also an important guideline for our study of the issues of religion and politics.

但是，宗教的定在毕竟是一种缺陷的定在、一种虚幻的、颠倒的意识形态，因而并不能从根本上消除人们的病痛。这种情感上的补偿也经常麻痹人们的反抗意志，加之禁欲主义的自我献身与否定，使人默从于现世的律法、规则和制度，甚至连最后一点改造社会现实的愿望都消失殆尽。随着宗教（以及宗教背后的人）对利益要求的增多，个体现世的物质生活越来越受控于宗教的“贪婪”，“人奉献给上帝的越多，他留给自身的就越少”。这种宗教式的“贪婪”并不满足通过主宰人的头脑控制人的生活，更试图将人的肉身异化为阶级利益的实现载体。如果从历史发生学视角进行追根溯源，会发现神是人类理智迷误的结果而非原因。马克思指出：“在宗教中，人的幻想、人的头脑和人的心灵的自主活动对个人发生作用不取决于他个人，就是说，是作为某种异己的活动，神灵的或魔鬼的活动发生作用。”笼罩在宗教意识和宗教气氛中的个人，往往丧失自主思考和行动的能力，也就丧失了革命的意志。“宗教是人民的鸦片”这一论断正是马克思针对当时的欧洲社会境况得出的一个批判性的结论，也是我们研究宗教与政治问题的重要指针。

(2) Religion serves as an ideological tool for oppressing the ruled class

（二）宗教充当压迫被统治阶级的意识形态工具

The whole of human history is the history of class struggle, that is, the history of struggle between the exploiting class and the exploited class, between the ruling class and the ruled class. Because religion has the dimension of numbing the people’s will to resist, exhorting goodness and self-sacrifice, it is often used by the ruling class as a tool to strengthen class rule, becoming a theological rhetoric for the ruling class to whitewash reality and disguise violence. Marx and Engels pointed out that since the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, the theologians who represent that class in engaging in religious production and theological construction are inevitably entrusted with the important task of regulating the production and distribution of the ideas of their time, even to the point of deceiving and falsifying history, thereby greatly increasing the human factor in religion. Once religion combines with a class that holds power and represents backward reactionary forces, it will play a negative and negating social role. Marx and Engels keenly perceived this special social-historical phenomenon and subjected it to severe criticism. In *The Peasant War in Germany* and *Revolutionary Spain*, Engels exposed the negative role of religion in maintaining the feudal system and listed a series of ugly acts of political and religious blackmail by the clergy, who held a monopoly on knowledge and education, such as manufacturing icons and saintly relics, organizing masses for the dead, and selling indulgences—all means of extorting and oppressing the people. In the “Introduction to the English Edition (1892) of *Socialism: Utopian and Scientific*,” Engels profoundly pointed out that the English bourgeoisie had once defeated the king and the nobility under the banner of religion, and later they discovered that they could use the same religion to control the souls of their subordinates, making them obey the orders and instructions of their superiors. “The English bourgeoisie now also took part in suppressing the ‘lower orders,’ the great mass of the producers throughout the country, and one of the means used for this purpose was the influence of religion.”

人类的全部的历史都是阶级斗争的历史，即剥削阶级和被剥削阶级之间、统治阶级和被统治阶级之间斗争的历史。宗教因具有麻痹人民反抗意志、规劝向善和自我牺牲的向度，常被统治阶级利用作为强化阶级统治的工具，成为统治阶级粉饰现实与伪装暴力的神学修辞。马克思恩格斯指出，由于统治阶级的思想在每一时代都是占统治地位的思想，那么代表该阶级从事宗教生产和神学建构的神学家，势必被委以调节着自己时代的思想的生产和分配的重任，甚至欺骗和伪造历史，进而大大增加宗教中的人为因素。宗教一旦与拥有权力的、代表落后的反动势力的阶级相结合，就将扮演消极的和否定的社会作用，马克思和恩格斯敏锐地觉察到这一特殊的社会历史现象，并对其进行严厉批判。在《德国农民战争》和《革命的西班牙》中，恩格斯对宗教维护封建制度的消极作用进行了揭露，并列举了握有知识教育垄断权的僧侣从事政治性和宗教性讹诈的一系列丑行，如制造圣像和圣徒遗物、组织超度礼拜场、贩卖赦罪券等，这些都是榨取和压迫人民的手段。在《〈社会主义从空想到科学的发展〉1892年英文版导言》中，恩格斯深刻指出，英国资产阶级曾打着宗教的旗帜战胜了国王和贵族，后来他们发现可以用同样的宗教来控制下属的灵魂，使其服从上级的命令和指示。“英国资产阶级这时也参与镇压‘下层等级’，镇压全国广大的生产者大众了，为此所用的手段之一就是宗教的影响。”

Besides reducing religion to the socio-economic base of a specific historical period for analysis, Marx also examined religion from the perspective of the state and violence. He believed that when the state cannot complete its rule independently by itself, it will resort to religious power to achieve a form of “state” rule: “The incomplete state, on the other hand, claims religion as its foundation because of the inherent defects of its particular existence as a defective state.” [15]15 Karl Marx, “The Leading Article in No. 179 of the *Kölnische Zeitung*,” *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 1, p. 199. [Translator’s note: This is a paraphrase of Marx’s argument in this article; the exact wording may vary slightly in different editions.] This is especially evident in countries with a system of union of church and state, where phenomena of “politicization of religion” or “religionization of politics” occur. Rulers often use religion as a pretext to launch wars or to resolve intensified religious conflicts through force, and the marriage between the two often leads to further deterioration of conflicts. In this process, religion becomes a kind of soft violence driving the state apparatus for class rule. It is precisely on the functional dimension that religion is rejected by Marx and Engels. They clearly pointed out that whether in the case of conservative religion or in radical religious movements (Anabaptists, cargo cults), religion is a tool of the ruling class, an excellent cloak for concealing political demands.

除了将宗教还原为特定历史时期的社会经济基础进行分析之外，马克思也从国家与暴力的角度审视宗教，认为国家依靠自身无法独立完成统治之时，就会借助宗教力量实现一种“国家”形式的统治，“未完成的国家则由于自己作为有缺陷的国家的特殊存在所固有的缺陷而声称宗教是自己的基础”。尤其是实行政教合一政体的国家所出现的“政治宗教化”或“宗教政治化”现象更为明显，统治者常以宗教为借口发动战争，或是通过武力解决被激化的宗教矛盾，而两者之间的联姻往往导致冲突的进一步恶化。在这一进程中，宗教成为推动国家机器进行阶级统治的一种软暴力。正是在功能的维度上，宗教遭到马克思和恩格斯的拒斥。他们鲜明地指出，不论在保守的宗教的情形中，还是在激进的宗教运动（再洗礼派、货物崇拜）中，宗教都是统治阶级的工具，是掩盖政治要求的绝好外衣。

(3) Religion provides a pretext for covering up real interests in aggressive wars

（三）宗教为侵略战争掩盖现实利益提供幌子

Religion is not only used by the ruling class to oppress and deceive the domestic people; its doctrines—those naive, childish, and impractical fantasies, as well as the moral high ground, the justification of killing, and the imagination of a war ordained by heaven—are often exploited by rulers to incite foreign aggressive wars, thus frequently becoming a cause of turmoil and conflict. When the great powers of the West intensified their rivalry in the Ottoman Empire, Marx published an article, “——. On the History of the Eastern Question,” pointing out that the root of the Eastern disputes initially appeared to be religious quarrels, that is, conflicts between different religions or between different sects of the same religion over “the possession of the Star of Bethlehem, some random curtain, the keys of the temple, the altar, the tomb, the throne, the holy pillow,” but in reality “these sacred quarrels merely conceal the despicable wars not only between states but also between nations,” [16]16 Karl Marx, “——. On the History of the Eastern Question,” *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 12, p. 162. [Translator’s note: The original Chinese text cites this as “XX” and the English title is reconstructed from context; the exact English title in the MECW may differ.] which are wars among the great powers over private interests. When Engels analyzed Russia’s intervention in the Turkish question, he also revealed the coupling relationship between religion and politics. He pointed out that the Russian government had long developed hundreds of agents, who preached to Christians in Turkey: “The Orthodox Tsar is the head, natural protector, and savior of the oppressed Orthodox Church, destined ultimately to liberate it.” They had long devised a grand conspiracy to spread this idea in order to prepare for territorial seizure. Thus, throughout history, religion has often served as a pretext for rulers to oppress, plunder land, and wage war, providing a legitimizing basis for the state’s violent actions.

宗教不仅被统治阶级用来压迫和欺骗国内民众，其教义中那些朴素的、幼稚的、不切实际的幻想，以及道德制高点、杀戮的正当性、天意之战的想象，常常被统治者用来煽动对外侵略战争，因而经常成为动荡和冲突的诱因。当西方列强在奥斯曼帝国的博弈加剧之际，马克思发表《XX。——关于东方问题产生的历史》一文指出，东方纠纷的根源初看起来好像是宗教争执，即不同宗教之间或同一宗教的不同教派之间因为“占有伯利恒星、随便一块什么样的帷幕、圣殿的钥匙、祭坛、陵墓、宝座、圣枕”而引发的矛盾冲突，但实际上“这些神圣的争吵不过掩盖着不仅是各个国家而且是各个民族之间的卑鄙的战争”，是列强之间对私利的争夺之战。恩格斯在分析俄国对土耳其问题的介入时，也揭示出宗教与政治的耦合关系。他指出，俄国政府很早就发展了数以百计的代理人，让他们在土耳其向基督徒宣传：“正教皇帝是被压迫的东正教教会的首领、天然的保护者和救星，负有最终解放它的使命”，他们很早便拟定了散布这种思想的大阴谋，以便为抢夺领土做准备。可见，在历史的长河里，宗教经常成为统治者进行压迫、掠夺土地、发动战争的幌子，为国家的暴力行为提供合法化依据。

It should be noted that the relationship between ideological systems and the overall revolutionary or counter-revolutionary violence of a specific era is not a simple causal one. The root of the marriage between religion, politics, and war lies not in heaven but on earth. Real forces outside the mind, including economic interests, political structures, power distribution, and social order, determine the occurrence of violence, while religious ideas are resources selected, intensified, and distorted by the perpetrators of violence. Engels pointed out that the political and religious theories of the German Peasant War period “were not the cause but the result of the level of development reached at that time by German agriculture, industry, land and water transport, commodity exchange, and money transactions.” [17]17 Friedrich Engels, “The Peasant War in Germany,” *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 10, p. 401. That is to say, the religious theories used in wartime do not operate independently; they are constrained by the level of development of productive forces and economic relations, and undergo mutation or transformation under the drive of interests. “Behind every religious fanaticism, there always hides a tangible worldly interest.” [18]18 Friedrich Engels, “On the History of Early Christianity,” *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 27, p. 447. [Translator’s note: This is a paraphrase of a well-known statement by Engels; the exact wording may vary.] Interest alienates religion into a phenomenon of violence; conversely, violence and war with religious elements also distort, desecrate, and coerce the original religion, even opposing it, causing it to lose its legitimacy and authority. In *The Peasant War in Germany*, Engels further expressed the essence of religious wars: “The so-called religious wars of the 16th century were, first and foremost, waged for very tangible material class interests. These wars were, just like the later domestic conflicts in England and France, class struggles.” [19]19 Friedrich Engels, “The Peasant War in Germany,” *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 10, p. 401. Therefore, although wars have many causes—ethnic, religious, geographical, and historical—the most fundamental remain class contradictions and class conflicts.

需要注意的是，思想观念体系和特定时代整体性的革命或反革命的暴力之间的关系，并不是简单的因果关系。宗教与政治、战争联姻背后的根源不是在天上，而是在人间，包括经济利益、政治结构、权力分配和社会秩序等在内的头脑以外的现实力量决定了暴力的发生，而宗教的思想观念是施暴者挑选、强化和歪曲的资源。恩格斯指出，德国农民战争时期的政治和宗教理论“并不是当时德国农业、工业、水陆交通、商品交易和货币交易所达到的发展程度的原因，而是这种发展程度的结果”。也就是说，战时所运用的宗教理论并不是独立发生作用的，它受制于一定的生产力和经济关系发展水平，并在利益的驱使下发生异变或接受改造。“在宗教狂热的背后，每次都隐藏有实实在在的现世利益”。利益将宗教异化为了暴力现象，反过来，带有宗教因素的暴力和战争也会曲解、亵渎、和强制原先的宗教，甚至与原先的宗教相对抗，使之丧失正当性和权威性。在《德国农民战争》中，恩格斯对宗教战争的实质作了进一步表述：“16世纪的所谓宗教战争首先也是为着十分实际的物质的阶级利益而进行的。这些战争同后来英国和法国的国内冲突完全一样，都是阶级斗争”。因此，战争虽然有种族的、宗教的、地缘的和历史的等诸多诱因，但最根本的仍是阶级矛盾和阶级冲突。

The ultimate way out: the triple path of religious critique, political emancipation, and human emancipation

最终出路：宗教批判、政治解放和人类解放的三重进路

Unlike methods of religious theology, idealism, and metaphysical materialism, the Marxist study of religion and politics is fully grounded in the changes and transformations of social-historical development. In texts such as *On the Jewish Question*, “Introduction to *A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right*,” and *The Holy Family*, Marx criticized Bruno Bauer’s speculative idealist theory and, following the triple path of “religious critique—political emancipation—human emancipation,” pointed out that the fundamental solution to the problems of religion and politics in real society lies neither in religious emancipation in heaven nor in limited political emancipation, but in turning the inverted world right side up, sublating the alienation of the alienated world, and realizing the return of human subjectivity. To achieve human emancipation, it is first necessary to criticize religion, to pluck the imaginary flowers from the chains that enslave people, and then, on the basis of religious critique, to carry out political critique, and finally to “overthrow all relations in which man is a debased, enslaved, forsaken, despicable being,” [20]20 Karl Marx, “Introduction to *A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right*,” *Marx and Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 3, p. 182. moving toward the association of free individuals.

与宗教神学、唯心主义、形而上学唯物主义等方法不同，马克思主义对宗教与政治的研究，充分建立在关于社会历史发展变迁的基础之上。在《论犹太人问题》《〈黑格尔法哲学批判〉导言》和《神圣家族》等文本中，马克思批判了布鲁诺·鲍威尔的思辨唯心主义理论，并沿着“宗教批判——政治解放——人的解放”的三重进路，指出现实社会中宗教与政治问题的根本解决之道，既不在天国的宗教解放也不在局限的政治解放，而是要将颠倒的世界颠倒过来，扬弃异化世界的异化，实现了人的主体性的回归。要实现人的解放，就必须首先批判宗教，摘去奴役人们的锁链上的虚幻的花朵，进而在批判宗教的基础上进行政治批判，最后“推翻使人成为被侮辱、被奴役、被遗弃和被蔑视的东西的一切关系”，走向自由人的联合体。

(1) Religious critique is the prerequisite for all other critique

（一）宗教批判是其他一切批判的前提

In the Prussian society where Marx lived, church and state were not yet completely separated, the vast majority of people were still holders of Christian faith, and ideology and culture were still filled with conservatism, obscurantism and ignorance. The rulers also attempted to merge political principles with the religious principles of Christianity, making religious faith rather than free reason the pillar of the state. Against this background, Marx resolutely embarked on the path of religious critique. Marx and Engels pointed out, “Nature first confronts man as a completely alien, all-powerful and unassailable force, with which men’s relation is purely animal and by which they are overawed like beasts”; [21]21 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, *Collected Works*, Vol. 3, p. 35. [Translator’s note: This is a standard reference to the English-language edition; the original Chinese text cites the Chinese edition.] under such social and historical conditions, the earliest religious concepts and religious belief activities emerged. Therefore, human dependence on the gods actually reflects human dependence on natural forces; it is the personification of natural forces.

马克思生活的普鲁士社会，政教尚未彻底分离，绝大多数人还是基督教信仰的持有者，思想文化中仍然充斥着保守、闭塞和愚昧，统治者也企图把政治原则和基督教的宗教原则合而为一，使宗教信仰而非自由理性成为国家支柱。在这样的背景下，马克思毅然走上了宗教批判之路。马克思恩格斯指出，“自然界起初是作为一种完全异己的、有无限威力的和不可制服的力量与人们对立的，人们同自然界的关系完全像动物同自然界的关系一样，人们就像牲畜一样慑服于自然界”，在这样的社会历史条件下，最早的宗教观念和宗教信仰活动便产生了。因此，人对神的依附实际上反映了人对自然力的依附，是自然力的人格化。

With the expansion of the social division of labor, the emergence of private property and the appearance of classes, humanity entered the stage of alienated labor, and religion was also artificialized, dominated and exploited by the class interests of actual society, becoming a reflection of the alienated state of social relations, especially economic relations. In the process of further socialization and complication, religion always actively responded to the changes and deep-seated demands of the times, beginning to move toward the stage of revering the sacred through collective power. Its doctrines, rituals, organizations, and believers all became inextricably linked to the socio-economic conditions of a particular time and place. Taking specific social history and ethnography as cross-sections, Marx and Engels analyzed the different forms in which artificial religions served politics. For example, in refuting the view that “implementing the social principles of Christianity could solve social problems,” Marx summarized the functions and characteristics of Christianity: the social principles of Christianity once defended ancient slavery, extolled medieval serfdom to the skies, proclaimed the necessity of the existence of classes (the ruling class and the oppressed class), rationalized the despicable acts of the oppressors, eulogized [the cowardice of the oppressed], [22]22 The original Chinese text has “颂扬XX等” (eulogizing XX, etc.), where “XX” likely represents a redacted or omitted term, possibly “the cowardice of the oppressed” or similar, based on the context of Marx’s critique of Christian social principles in “The Communism of the Paper *Rheinischer Beobachter*” (1847). and so on. Engels also pointed out that Christianity, as a world religion, profoundly adapted to the economic, political, and spiritual conditions of the Roman Empire, demonstrating that religion is fundamentally a special form of consciousness produced by humans under corresponding conditions of productive forces. It is precisely by reducing the religious question to its secular basis that Marx and Engels linked religious critique with political emancipation and human emancipation. Through the basic premises established by religious critique, they launched a profound and comprehensive critique of the old world and the old system; at the same time, in the critique of secular society, they completed religious critique in the ultimate sense.

随着社会分工的扩大、私有制的产生和阶级的出现，人类进入异化劳动阶段，宗教也被人为化了，被现实社会的阶级利益所主导和利用，成为对社会关系特别是经济关系的异化状态的反映。宗教在进一步社会化、复杂化的过程中，始终积极回应时代的变化和深层诉求，开始走向以集体力量遵奉神圣的阶段，其教义、仪轨、组织、信众等都同一时一地的社会经济状况产生千丝万缕的联系。马克思恩格斯以具体的社会历史和民族志为断面，分析了人为宗教为政治服务的不同形式。例如马克思在批驳有关“实行基督教的社会原则就可以解决社会问题”的观点时，总结了基督教的功能与特性：基督教的社会原则曾为古代奴隶制辩护、把中世纪农奴制吹得天花乱坠、宣扬阶级（统治阶级和被压迫阶级）存在的必要性、合理化压迫者的卑鄙行为、颂扬XX等。恩格斯也指出，作为世界宗教的基督教深刻适应着罗马帝国的经济、政治、精神状态，说明宗教根本上还是人在相应生产力条件下产生的特殊的意识形式。正是通过把宗教问题还原为它的世俗基础，马恩将宗教批判与政治解放和人的解放联系起来，通过宗教批判所确立的基本前提，向旧世界和旧制度展开深刻和全面的批判；同时，又在对世俗社会的批判中完成究竟意义上的宗教批判。

(II) Political emancipation does not exclude religious belief

（二）政治解放不排斥宗教信仰

Faced with the religious and political issues concerning Jews in Prussia and Germany, Bruno Bauer, a representative of the Young Hegelians, believed that the contradictions Jews encountered in political life and social identity stemmed from religious opposition, especially the opposition between Christianity and Judaism. Therefore, the method to solve the problem was to abolish religion: on the one hand, Jews had to abandon their personal religious beliefs; on the other hand, the state also had to be liberated from Judaism, Christianity, and religion in general. This was precisely determined by “the question of the relation of religion to the state, the contradiction between religious fetters and political emancipation.” [23]23 Karl Marx, “On the Jewish Question,” in *Marx-Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 3, p. 151. In response, Marx both affirmed Bauer’s approach of linking the Jewish question with political emancipation and sharply criticized Bauer for neglecting the particularity of the state and political environment, observing the entire Jewish question solely from a theological standpoint and religious perspective, thus becoming one-sided and abstract. Marx believed that the Jewish question was not a religious question but a political question, a secular question, a historical question. The thorough resolution of this question had to be sought in the social reality in which Jews lived and the internal defects of the modern state.

面对普鲁士德国有关犹太人的宗教与政治问题，作为青年黑格尔派代表的布鲁诺·鲍威尔认为，犹太人之所以在政治生活和社会认同中产生这样那样的矛盾，根源在于宗教对立，尤其是基督教和犹太教之间的对立。因此，解决问题的方法就是废除宗教：一方面，犹太人必须放弃其个人的宗教信仰；另一方面，国家也必须从犹太教、基督教和一般宗教中解放出来。这正是由“宗教对国家的关系问题、宗教束缚和政治解放的矛盾问题”决定的。对此，马克思既肯定了鲍威尔将犹太人问题与政治解放联系起来的做法，同时也尖锐地批评道，鲍威尔忽视了国家和政治环境的特殊性，而单从神学立场和宗教观念来观察整个犹太人问题，从而走向了片面和抽象。马克思认为，犹太人问题并不是宗教问题，而是政治问题、世俗问题、历史问题，对这一问题的彻底解决要从犹太人所处的社会现实及现代国家的内部缺陷中去探寻。

Political emancipation does not take religious emancipation as a necessary prerequisite, nor does political emancipation have the capacity to eliminate religion. Regarding the relationship between the political state and religion, Marx pointed out: “The limits of political emancipation are immediately evident in the fact that the state can free itself from a limitation without man being truly free from it, that the state can be a free state without man being a free man.” [24]24 Ibid., p. 155. That is to say, when the state breaks free from a state religion and allows religion to exist within the sphere of civil society, the state is emancipated from religion. This does not necessarily require individuals to abandon their religious beliefs; religion has shifted from the sphere of public law to the sphere of private law, becoming a personal matter. Marx gave the example that in the North American states, which had completed political emancipation and adopted a republican system, religion not only existed but was a vigorous and vital existence. Under the conditions of bourgeois democratic politics, religion would develop even more vigorously. This is because, on the surface, “it has no political significance, no secular purpose, but is merely a matter of world-weariness, an expression of the limitations of reason, a product of arbitrariness and fantasy, because it is truly otherworldly life.” [25]25 Ibid., p. 156. Marx further cited legal provisions such as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the Pennsylvania Constitution, and the New Hampshire Constitution, arguing that “the right to profess religion, to profess it in any way, to perform the rites of one’s own particular religion, is explicitly listed among the rights of man. The privilege of faith is a universal human right.” [26]26 Ibid., p. 161. It can be seen that the existence of religion is not only not contradictory to the establishment of the modern state, but the modern state even includes the right to religious belief within the category of political freedom and confirms it. This also shows that political emancipation merely transfers the mediation of religion to the political state; “religion remains the ideal, non-secular consciousness of the members of this state.” [27]27 Ibid., p. 159.

政治解放并不以宗教解放为必然前提，政治解放也没有能力消除宗教。马克思就政治国家与宗教的关系指出：“政治解放的限度一开始就表现在：即使人还没有真正摆脱某种限制，国家也可以摆脱这种限制，即使人还不是自由人，国家也可以成为自由国家。”也就是说，当国家摆脱了国教并且让宗教在市民社会范围内存在时，国家就从宗教中解放出来了，这不必然要求单个的人放弃宗教信仰，宗教已从公法领域转到私法领域，成为个人的事情。马克思举例道，在已完成政治解放、实行共和制的北美各州，宗教不仅存在，而且是生气勃勃的、富有生命力的存在。在资产阶级民主政治条件下，宗教还会更加兴旺地发展起来，这是因为从表面上看，“它没有政治意义、没有世俗目的，而只是关系到厌世情绪，只是理智有局限性的表现，只是任意和幻想的产物，这是因为它是真正彼岸的生活。”马克思还进一步举出《人权与公民权宣言》《宾夕法尼亚宪法》和《新罕布什尔宪法》等法律条款，认为“信奉宗教、用任何方式信奉宗教、履行自己特殊宗教的礼拜的权利，都被明确列入人权。信仰的特权是普遍的人权。”可见，宗教的存在与现代国家的建立不仅不矛盾，而且现代国家还会把宗教信仰的权利列入政治自由的范畴予以确认。这也说明，政治解放只是把宗教的中介转移为政治国家，“宗教仍然是这种国家的成员的理想的、非世俗的意识”。

(III) Religious emancipation and political emancipation are ultimately unified in human emancipation

（三）宗教解放和政治解放最终统一于人的解放

Marx acknowledged that political emancipation is indeed an important achievement of human civilization. This lies not only in the separation of state politics from religious belief but also in its elimination of the political character of the old civil society and its abolition of estate privileges in areas such as private interests. However, he also pointed out that under the conditions of capitalist society, religion will continue to transfer humanity’s potential but unrealizable capacities to a fictitious realm, thereby legitimizing the existing (alienated) social order. The modern political state will also deepen the secular suffering of human life through the protection of private property and the acceleration of capital appreciation. The reason this occurs is that the modern state is an abstraction similar to religion; it connects people in an indirect way. “Just as Christ is the mediator to whom man attributes all his own divinity and all his religious bonds, so the state is the mediator to which man transfers all his non-divinity and all his human freedom.” [28]28 Karl Marx, “Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Law. Introduction,” in *Marx-Engels Collected Works*, Vol. 3, p. 176. Therefore, political emancipation is a limited, abstract, and partial emancipation; people still suffer from the restrictions of religion, property, and the egoism of trade. Marx further pointed out that the modern state, which has already achieved political emancipation, should continue to advance toward human emancipation, thoroughly eliminate religious narrowness and human self-alienation, return the human world and human relations to humanity itself, and ultimately realize the free and comprehensive development of humanity.

马克思承认，政治解放的确是人类文明取得的一个重要成果，这不仅在于国家政治与宗教信仰的分离，而且在于它消除了旧市民社会的政治性质，废除了私人利益等方面的等级特权。但他同时指出，在资本主义社会条件下，宗教将继续把人类潜在的但并不能实现的能力，转移到一个虚构的领域，从而使现有的（异化的）社会秩序合法化，现代政治国家也将通过对私有财产的保护和加速资本增值，加深人的世俗生活的苦难。之所以出现这样的情况，是因为现代国家是类似宗教的抽象，它是用间接的方式把人们联结起来，“正像基督是中介者，人把自己的全部神性、自己的全部宗教束缚都加在他身上一样，国家也是中介者，人把自己的全部非神性、自己的全部人的自由寄托在它身上。”因此，政治解放是一种有限的、抽象的、局部的解放，人们仍然遭受着宗教、财产和行业利己主义的限制。马克思进而指出，已经实现了政治解放的现代国家应继续向人的解放迈进，彻底消灭宗教狭隘性和人的自我异化，把人的世界和人的关系还给人自己，最终实现人的自由而全面的发展。

The hope for human liberation lies in the proletariat armed with theory. In Marx’s view, to achieve universal human emancipation, it is necessary to enable “a particular class to undertake the universal emancipation of society from its particular position. This is possible only under the premise that the entire society is in the position of this class,” and that class is the proletariat. The reason Marx placed such importance on the proletariat was, on the one hand, based on his humanitarian concern for the miserable plight of the proletariat as “a class with radical chains,” but more importantly, he saw that the proletariat represents not only itself but also the universal interests of the whole of society; it can only recover itself through the complete restoration of humanity, and it can only ultimately liberate itself by liberating all of humanity. Marx also specifically emphasized that materialist philosophy is the worldview of the proletariat and the working class, and that the proletariat must follow the path of integrating with philosophy in order to carry out the cause of liberation. “Philosophy is the material weapon of the proletariat, just as the proletariat is the spiritual weapon of philosophy.” “The head of this emancipation is philosophy, its heart is the proletariat.” [29]29 This quotation is from Marx’s “Introduction to a Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right” (1844), where he argues that philosophy and the proletariat are mutually necessary for revolutionary emancipation. Once philosophical theory is grasped by the advanced proletariat, it can become a powerful weapon for transforming reality. With the high development of productive forces and the disappearance of class distinctions, the state, religion, and all external constraints on the individual will withdraw from the stage of history; the human world and human relations will return to humanity itself, and only then can religious emancipation and political emancipation be ultimately realized.

人类解放的希望在于被理论武装的无产阶级。在马克思看来，要实现普遍的人的解放，就必须使“一定的阶级从自己的特殊地位出发，从事社会的普遍解放。只有在这样的前提下，即整个社会都处于这个阶级的地位”，这个阶级就是无产阶级。马克思之所以如此重视无产阶级，一方面是基于他的人道主义目光对无产阶级这一“被戴上彻底的锁链的阶级”悲惨境遇的同情，但更为重要的是，他看到无产阶级不仅代表自身而且代表整个社会普遍的利益，它只有通过人的完全恢复才能恢复自己本身，它只有解放了全人类才能最终解放自己。马克思还特地强调，唯物主义哲学是无产阶级、工人阶级的世界观，无产阶级必须走与哲学相结合的路线才能开展解放事业。“哲学把无产阶级当做自己的物质武器，同样，无产阶级也把哲学当做自己的精神武器。”“这个解放的头脑是哲学，它的心脏是无产阶级。”哲学理论一旦被先进的无产阶级掌握，就能变成为改造现实的强大武器。伴随着生产力的高度发展和阶级差别的消失，国家、宗教以及所有外在于个体的限制都将退出历史舞台，人的世界和人的关系重归于人自身，宗教解放和政治解放才得以最终实现。

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心