Yeah but thats just the opium masses crap. Christian Socialism is a thing. Case in point Ceasar Chavez and the sheer amount of work he did for the labour movements. The two systems are compatible.

[–] kayjay@kbin.social 22 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Marx’s view of communism doesn’t inherently ban religion. His view of religion was that it was a tool by the ruling classes to maintain the status quo against the oppressed, and that under communism religion wouldn’t hold any political power because, by his words, the conditions that allowed religion to hold political power such as inequality wouldn’t be present anymore. But he didn’t call for the abolition of religion or that religion couldn’t exist at all in a communist society, that was more of a Marxist-Leninist way of thinking.

[–] redsquirrel@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It is a tool by the ruling classes, but alongside a lot of other tools. I don't know Marx view on religion in any deep sense, but I always understood hisvieww as religion emerging as a coping mechanism in some ways, or emerging as a coping mechanism, or just a byproduct of the human experience maybe..?, he does say religion is the heart in a heartless world, etc.

and maybe that's how it becomes a tool, co-opted and utilized for class interests.

[–] OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml 11 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Marx literally wrote against enforced atheism in "the Jewish question"(a very unfortunate name in hindsight) which was a defense of Jewish communists keeping their religious and cultural identity.

[–] lemmington_steele@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

I'm pretty sure he was involved with the liberation theology movements in Argentina before the previous pope clamped down on it (in his capacity as a cardinal)

[–] FriendBesto@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

Highly unlikely. Hell, many so-called "Marxists" have not.