儒學是中國古老的文化。「儒」字本身在殷代即有宗教的義涵，到了春秋時代，孔子在殷周文化的基礎上創立了儒學。儒學本是以人文道德和社會政治為主要內容的學說，由是由於繼承了殷周文化，因而自始就包含宗教色彩，具有相當的宗教性。例如儒學中的「天」、「命」等概念，既有神祕性，亦有自然性與社會性。後來，孔子被人們神化，把孔子尊奉為崇拜、信仰的對象。從整體來看，儒學演化為道德宗教已成為歷史事實。儒學既是哲學，又是道德宗教，具有二重性思想特徵。本文分四部分論述： 1. 略述近代以來關於儒學是否宗教的主要觀點； 2. 把孔子尊為崇拜、信仰對象； 3. 儒學演變成宗教已成歷史； 4. 認同儒學是道德宗教的意義。

　　　　　Confucianism is an ancient Chinese culture. The Chinese character of Confucianism “Ru” had religious implication in the Yin Dynasty. It was on this basis that Confucius founded Confucianism in the Spring and Autumn Period. Confucianism in its nature was the study of humane moral and social politics, but inheriting the Shang and Zhou cultures, it had some religious character from the very beginning. For example, every one of the important Confucian concepts, such as Tian (Heaven) and Ming (Fate) etc., has natural, social and mystic characters. Even Confucius himself was deified later and became an object of worship. In general, that Confucianism developed into a moral religion has already become a fact of history. Confucianism was not only a philosophy but also a moral religion. This article is divided into four sections. The first section is about whether Confucianism is a religion or not. The second part discusses the deification of Confucius. The third section concludes that Confucianism has evolved into a religion, which is just a fact of history. The last part discusses the meaning of recognizing Confucianism as a moral religion.