Marx(ism) and Religion

[Trystan]

I am looking for some good information (inc. books/pamphlets, old or contemporary) about the Marxist perspective on religion for an essay that I'm writing. I have pretty much all I need about the view of Marx himself, but I'd like some stuff on the views of other Marxists (e.g. Lenin etc.).

Also, what did Antonio Gramsci have to say on religion? His idea of social hegemony interests me, and I'd like to know what degree religion fits into it.

[Faux Real]

[Antonio Gramsci] makes a valuable contribution to this argument; there is a function of worship that is about opposition. Gramsci’s primary concern is to show how religion can provide means and ways for subordinate groups to resist domination from socially dominant groups that exist to influence the interests and preferences of subordinate groups. But where Gramsci talks of religion, I would substitute the notion of worship.
...
Exactly how did this Marxist influence our understanding of worship in terms of protest? Gramsci stressed the importance of discursive practices that contribute to domination. Gramsci believed the Marxian thesis that the liberation of the individual from oppressive institutions could come about only with the emancipation of the poor and with it the whole of humanity. The net result of his theory is that the overthrow of capitalism brings about the creation of a society in which the dignity of the individual has preeminent status.
Gramsci believed that change to the existing order defined by the status quo could only come about by a revolutionary movement of the collective will of mass movements. But how, exactly, does this relate to worship and politics? To answer this, one must understand religion in the context of the problem of hegemony.
Here's (http://www.sfu.ca/%7Erptoews/gramsci.htm) a pretty brief essay on Gramsci, Cultural Hegemony and the role of Religion within that hegemony.

[вор в законе]

There are some "Communists" who are no different than religious people. Marx is "Jesus". The Proletarian Revolution is the "Second Coming" while the Communist Society the "Paradise". They all have their own interpretation of what Marx meant by the "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" as the Christians do for the "Trinity". They have absolute faith in everything that Marx has said. Everything is clear for them. There is no need for thought process.

[Dros]

There are some "Communists" who are no different than religious people. Marx is "Jesus". The Proletarian Revolution is the "Second Coming" while the Communist Society the "Paradise". They all have their own interpretation of what Marx meant by the "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" as the Christians do for the "Trinity". They have absolute faith in everything that Marx has said. Everything is clear for them. There is no need for thought process.

Those people exist although I they aren't actually communists. A scientific methodology is inherent to Communist theory.