:che: Religion and Communism :che:

[indya]

Besides the philosophy of Karl Marx that "religion is the opiate of the people", what other reasons are there for the atheism of communism? What in religion hurts the ideal of social and economic egalitarianism?:confused:

[indya]

I guess the che smilies didn't work.

[Invincible Summer]

Please go here: http://www.revleft.com/vb/religion-f38/index.html and read. This is covered in almost every thread about religion, especially this one (http://www.revleft.com/vb/communism-and-religion-t73036/index.html).


To give a short answer: Not all commies are atheists, but atheism is more consistent with materialist view which is fundamental in Marxism.

[Stephen Colbert]

Besides the philosophy of Karl Marx that "religion is the opiate of the people", what other reasons are there for the atheism of communism? What in religion hurts the ideal of social and economic egalitarianism?:confused:

In my opinion I feel as though a lot of the fundamental philosophy of the objective moral high ground can destroy any hope for egalitarian society with policy stances like "god tells me that gays are bad(therefore they are not equal), abortions should never be allowed(legislating morality)...".

Also: Perhaps a more off key insight-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_Spirit_of_Capitalism

[Zanthorus]

Besides the philosophy of Karl Marx that "religion is the opiate of the people",

Marx's original point with that quote was that religion was one of the ways that human beings tried to express their lives in a world torn apart. As such he critiqued it as he critiqued all such things by showing how it's own internal contradictions reflected the internal contradictions of social life. The full quote gives more light on this:


The foundation of irreligious criticism is: Man makes religion, religion does not make man. Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man – state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopaedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d’honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion.

Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

It is also evident in this letter from Marx to Arnold Ruge, where he also displays a slight distates of "atheism":


I requested further that religion should be criticised in the framework of criticism of political conditions rather than that political conditions should be criticised in the framework of religion, since this is more in accord with the nature of a newspaper and the educational level of the reading public; for religion in itself is without content, it owes its being not to heaven but to the earth, and with the abolition of distorted reality, of which it is the theory, it will collapse of itself. Finally, I desired that, if there is to be talk about philosophy, there should be less trifling with the label “atheism” (which reminds one of children, assuring everyone who is ready to listen to them that they are not afraid of the bogy man), and that instead the content of philosophy should be brought to the people.

And on atheism from the Holy Family:


Herr Bauer, as a genuine, although Critical, theologian or theological Critic, could not get beyond the religious contradiction. In the attitude of the Jews to the Christian world he could see only the attitude of the Jewish religion to the Christian religion. He even had to restore the religious contradiction in a Critical way — in the antithesis between the attitudes of the Jew and the Christian to Critical religion — atheism, the last stage of theism, the negative recognition of God.

And Engels from "Programme of the Blanquist Fugitives from the Paris Commune":


Of the vast majority of the German socialist working men it may even be said that mere atheism has been outgrown by them. This purely negative term does not apply to them any more, for they maintain no longer merely a theoretical, but rather a practical opposition to the belief in God. They are simply done with God, they live and think in the real world, for they are materialists.

But aside from that it's basically what Helios+ said that rejection of religion is more consistent with materialism.

[Optiow]

I just have one issue with religion, and that is the fact they think they are better than everyone else.

[The Fighting_Crusnik]

hmm... I just converted to Zoroastrianism, and tbh, it is by far more compatible with communism than my former religion was. Especially since Zoroastrianism calls for equality between the sexes and race and tolerance for others. Also, as a side note, the spirtual side of Zoroastrianism seems real whereas my former faith seemed like a placebo forced on me by my family and by many people that I knew...

Anyways, I do not think that any marxist government whatsoever should mandate state atheism because of the risk of discrimination for certain groups of people. Unless people are blowing up/cutting up/shooting other people over religion, I simply think the government should just take an agnostic approach to religion and ignore it.

[Adi Shankara]

I just have one issue with religion, and that is the fact they think they are better than everyone else.

hrm, that's a pretty broad brush you're painting religious folk with, esp. considering that Jains are borderline self-deprecating, and Buddhists are strictly forbidden from believing anyone is better than anyone else.

[Philzer]

Besides the philosophy of Karl Marx that "religion is the opiate of the people", what other reasons are there for the atheism of communism? What in religion hurts the ideal of social and economic egalitarianism?:confused:

Religion = opportunism (http://www.revleft.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1692105&postcount=125)

Kind regards