Mystical communism

Analyzing the relationship between faith and the political left—its history and present condition—reveals a century filled with antagonisms. But there are also affinities and technologies for continuing rapprochement.

Historically there has been an undeniable antagonism between religion and communism. Yet the two share moral and ontological space. At its base, communism is a movement of working-class power seeking to place the ownership of social production into the commons through a transition known as socialism. Karl Marx’s sentiment that religion is the “opium of the people” has been misinterpreted. Consider the context of his statement:

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.