新文化運動時期宗教討論所關注的問題

On ＂Debate over Religious Problems＂ during New Cultural Movement

孫尚揚(SUN Shangyang)

《道風：基督教文化評論》 13期 (2000/07) Pp. 227-247+299-300

並列摘要

＂Debate over Religious Problems＂ during New Cultural Movement resulted from Chinese intellectuals' deep concern for and pursuit of a modern China as a democratic state. They questioned whether a modern society needed a kind of state religion as its ideal foundation, whether religion was necessary in modern social life, how modern intellectuals should justify the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the existence of religion in modern social life, and so on. Some liberal intellectuals introduced the principle of freedom of faith and separation of religion and state to fight against those conservative elites who tried to establish Confucianism as state religion. It should be noticed that their true goal was to develop an iconoclastic movement, aiming at destroying Confucianism and tradition. It is an interesting phenomenon that both a positive and a negative stance toward religion was based on a reductive theory of the funcion of religion. For those who defended the necessity from Schleiermacher, it is the foundation of religious legitimacy in modern society; but for irreligious thinkers, the function of religion can be replaced by aesthetics, philosophy or science. This interesting phenomenon indicates that any theory of the legitimacy of religion based on functionary theory is not adequate. Chen Duxiu, one of the leading thinkers in the New Cultural Movement, changed his previous attitude against religion when he tried to incorporate the spirit and personality of Jesus into the new culture and the mentality of the so called ＂New Youth＂. This striking change sugggests that some iconoclasts resorted to religion as a source for the New Cultural Movement. From this study, it is not difficult to find the reason of modern Chines intellectuals' indifference to religion.