The Marxist View Of Religion Study

Although the discourse on religion by Marx and Engels does not occupy much volume as expected in Marxism system, still their concise and peculiar comments on religion constitute an unalienable part of human legacy on religion theory and history of thoughts. This estimation can be verified true either in the past or in the future ,either in the field of religious or secular culture, either in theory or in practice ,either in its contents or in its method and even either in the west or in the east. Their influence in the field of religion studies will be echoed forcefully for long. In China, Marxism thoughts on religion are not only the guidelines for the CPC and Government in the decision making concerned and handle religious affairs, but also the theoretical base for scholarship in religion studies as well as the important contents of religious theories of Chinese characteristics. Therefore a comprehensive, systematic and scientific understanding of Marxism viewpoints on religion and its development in China will be extremely important in theory and in practice.Yet the pity remains that for a considerable period of time Marxism theory on religion has not been systematically summed up and its practice in different socialist countries have not been earnestly evaluated. In China ,for nearly thirty years ,that is ,from the beginning of PRC to the end of Culture Revolution, there had not been comprehensive Marxism theory on religionand its chronological studies. This situation could be a kind of threat to a country which has been guided by Marxism theory. For the lack of correct research on its guiding theory will invariably lead to the derailment of its understanding and practice, resulting in a silly mistake committed during the Culture Revolution by eradicating all religion through administrative measures.With the end of the Culture Revolution, China began to rectify her political thoughts and ushered in an open-door policy. This new social context not only encouraged the reestablishment and rapid development of traditional major religion sects in China ,but also revived the civilian faiths and superstitions of all sorts and even some newly emerged foreign religious sects and cults availed themselves the chance to stage a comeback to China. At the same time all kinds of religious thoughts and non-Marxism religious theories appeared in Chinese intellectual platform.The past lesson, the newly-emerged religious phenomena and confronting troubles in religion administration all combined into an unprecedented challenge to Marxism stance on religion , encouraging scholars as well as persons concerned to approach Marxism theory on religion and to assess to what extent that Marxism theory on religion have been advanced. This ambitious undertaking sees as its precondition and ground a comprehensive, systematic and scientific understanding of Marxism theory on religion. This also constitutes a current search forMarxism theory on religion in China. Yet this undertaking is not solidly grounded so far.The above-mentioned situation gives rise to my study on Marxism theory of religion . In the research method of my paper, I insist on the original document of Marx and Engels as well as the research achievements of other scholars. On one hand my paper evaluate Marxism theory on religion in the history of human society and intellectual advancement, in the context of a whole Marxism theory, with special emphasis on the historical environment of her formation as compared to her richness and gradual improvement and adaptation into new social situation. The paper holds that Marxism theory on religion could never be approached as a pure dogma. The research of mine will focuses on the radical change in different society and time in order to gain better understanding of religion, analyzing the universal value as well as history limitations of Marxism theory on religion for the sake of its application in Chinese society.My paper is consisted of three parts. The first part is the introduction of intellectual and cultural background of Marxism...