Marxism and Religion

[CheVolution]

who thinks that maybe Marxism needs a update to modernize it? to todays standards, what I mean is Hugo Chavez is a Marxist and he still has strong religious beliefs I mean if you don't want to believe in anything that is your choice but for those that do and still call themselves Marxists is that wrong?

[Joshua Purcell]

No modification in this regard to Marxism is necessary. Religion should not be a part of the political or economic system, and aside from that you can worship as you or as wish or not at all... this is not against Marxism.

[Jimi4444]

This is an old myth, that the dirty communist will send you to the gulags if you admit to believing in god. Though I'm not a Christian, I think Christianity has some really revolutionary history. Liberation Theology is something I think us Marxists can give support to, since we fight the same oppression (capitalism). So in short if you believe in god or not is up to you, when the time comes for revolution I won't be worrying about if my comrade is a Christian or not.

[Volkov]

You can find an interesting article on the topic of Marxism and Religion at http://www.marxist.com/marxism-religion-liberation-theology220701.htm

You can also find out about the revolutionary aspects of early Christianity at http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1894/early-christianity/index.htm

These are pretty good articles and I believe they do well to dispel that bourgeois libel/slander that depicts Marxism as an ideology that wants to forcefully destroy religion.  We have a materialist approach to religion, unlike a lot of those "New Atheists" that blame a lot of society's ills on religion.  The New Atheists also display idealist tendencies, which are made apparent by their nonsensical notion that religion can essentially be debated out of existence.  Such methods that a fair deal of atheists use today are alien to Marxism due to their inconsistent materialism.

[Christopher Hill]

The Myth that Marxists are "Anti-Religion" and somehow want to destroy all religion completely is an unfortunate one, I know so many Radical Christians that it is insane, many who stay away from Marxism only because they are subjected to the myth that Marxists "Hate Religion" The saddest part about it is that Radical Christians would very likely side with the Marxists on any issue if they knew the whole story, and they are very open minded..more so than many Atheists who tend to be bourgeois "Leftists" or "Libertarians" Marxists do not usually have any issues with religion, but with religion being a force in politics or with people being discriminated against in any form (Which often takes the form of religious discrimination)

Edit:  I do not even think that Marx himself was "Anti-Religion" when I look at what he said here:

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. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.

Rather than a condemnation of religion to me this seems to be more of a statement of religion's nature without any direct connotation, You may even be able to say that he respected its qualities as an "escape from reality" or giver of hope, but viewed it as only a false escape which would cause the people to be diverted from any attempts at actually changing reality, it is almost like he saw religion as a beautiful giver of hope, but only of false hope which would lead only to more suffering, he opposed on the grounds of its contribution to the "Self-Enslavement" ("False Conciousness") of the individual and its perceived hindrance of human self and class consciousness, but, in fact I believe Marx would have been very impressed with some of today's more Radical Christians taking very hardline stances against capitalism and the injustices it has produced.

[Joshua Purcell]

I think of the relationship Marxism can have with religion as being similar to the one Marxism can have with nationalism. Both religion and nationalism are conservative tools that can be (and often are) used for goals which work against democratic goals, but this isn't always the case as can be shown in various revolutions where both religion and nationalism played a positive role. But I feel that these two conservative tools are very dangerous and should only be used when absolutely needed. I would say these two concepts are not needed or desired near as much as they are currently being thrown around.

[world_ssr]

In case anyone was interested, I am currently drafting a “Religion Code”, for a hypothetical Proletarian Democratic State. Basically, my philosophy is that the best way to disarm religion is to squeeze it with regulations in such a way that all radical/extremist theists/cultists will end up either disenfranchised, or in insane asylums. All that will be left are the “milquetoast” moderates; the ones eager to be on good terms with the state, and willing to revise and modify their doctrine to the workers states’ convenience. Coming soon…

[Christopher Hill]

In case anyone was interested, I am currently drafting a “Religion Code”, for a hypothetical Proletarian Democratic State. Basically, my philosophy is that the best way to disarm religion is to squeeze it with regulations in such a way that all radical/extremist theists/cultists will end up either disenfranchised, or in insane asylums. All that will be left are the “milquetoast” moderates; the ones eager to be on good terms with the state, and willing to revise and modify their doctrine to the workers states’ convenience. Coming soon…

I would disagree with any such thing, the people have every right to believe whatever they want.

[Ted0512]

Although I am an atheist, I don't see anything wrong with being religious and Marxist. I seriously think that Jesus would be considered a Marxist. Take this for example; "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.  With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." This is from the New Testament, Acts 4:32-35. Obviously this a very Marxist passage. So if you take into consideration who Jesus really was, not the capitalist that most Christians make him out to be, you can see that he is very left on the political spectrum. There are some more passages like this one, for example; "All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.", Acts 2:44-45. So no, there is no contradiction in being a Marxist and being religious.

[Paula Marx]

There are lots of religious communists and I have simply nothing against them.
For example, real Christian and real communists have a lot of things in common - real Christian believes in the religion, not in the church; like real communist believes in ideology, not in the politics. Also, real Christian doesn't have to belong to the church - Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox - like real communist doesn't have to be in the party.

[Christopher Hill]

There are lots of religious communists and I have simply nothing against them.
For example, real Christian and real communists have a lot of things in common - real Christian believes in the religion, not in the church; like real communist believes in ideology, not in the politics. Also, real Christian doesn't have to belong to the church - Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox - like real communist doesn't have to be in the party.

But of course by "Real Communists" you are sure to be limiting things to a few Utopians when your man Martov was in fact a pretty mainstream Marxist.

[Paula Marx]

There are lots of religious communists and I have simply nothing against them.
For example, real Christian and real communists have a lot of things in common - real Christian believes in the religion, not in the church; like real communist believes in ideology, not in the politics. Also, real Christian doesn't have to belong to the church - Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox - like real communist doesn't have to be in the party.

But of course by "Real Communists" you are sure to be limiting things to a few Utopians when your man Martov was in fact a pretty mainstream Marxist.

Yeah, that's true... There are very few real communists.

I know Mensheviks can also be Marxists, but they don't need to, while all Bolsheviks are (trying to be) Marxists with no exception.