Aspect of religion or spirituality

Relevance to the socialist cause

‘Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the feeling of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless circumstances. It is the opium of the people.’1

Marx seems sympathetic to religious belief while criticising it. Is it less of an issue now, when it’s more true to say: ‘Shopping is the opium of the people’?

Religion has a purpose: to comfort the dying or terminally ill and the bereaved; to avoid ‘death dread’, the disabling obsession such as Larkin suffered from; and to protect children from the trauma that crude ‘facts of death’ can cause.

Isn’t excluding people who hold on to some form of religious belief for whatever personal reason sectarian?

‘…the invasion of Iraq for them was a warm-up act, predicted in the Book of Revelations where four angels “which are bound in the great river Euphrates will be released to slay the third part of man.” A war with Islam in the Middle East is not something to be feared but welcomed – an essential conflagration on the road to redemption. The last time I Googled it, the rapture index3 stood at 144 – just one point below the critical threshold when the whole thing will blow, the son of god will return, the righteous will enter heaven and sinners will be condemned to eternal hellfire.’4

People believe this stuff! ‘James Watt, President Reagan’s first secretary of the Interior, told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ…: “after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back.” … In this past election several million good and decent citizens went to the polls believing in the rapture index.’

‘Al Qaeda did not attack Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, but the WorldTradeCenter and the Pentagon. It targeted modern imperialism, as the ultra-leftists of the late 1960s and 1970s did with less success. … The jihadist discourses and targets often overlap those of the leftist antiglobalisation movement. … [T]he present Islamic radicals cannot be understood if we do not see that its origins and those of modern Western current of anti-imperialism are similar. It is common to find among Islamic radicals a mix of Koranic injunctions and pseudo-Marxist explanations.’5

Islamic fundamentalism/ terrorism is presented as the most serious threat to the ‘free and democratic world’. Where do socialists stand on this?

Religious and therapy cults, defining characteristics of a cult:

It uses psychological coercion to recruit and indoctrinate potential members.

It forms an elitist totalitarian society.

Its founder leader is self-appointed, dogmatic, messianic, not accountable and has charisma.

It believes ‘the end justifies the means’ in order to solicit funds or recruit people.

Its wealth does not benefit its members or society.6

Cults can be dangerous and they can distort and discourage activism. However, cults are not very different from sects, and lefties are prone to sectarianism. Lefties can even be ‘religious’ in their arrogant – scoffing and sneering – atheism.

‘A new campaign says Jesus wouldn’t be caught dead driving a gas-sucking, planet-warming, road-hogging SUV – and neither should you. … The campaign is a project of the National Council of Churches and the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), which claims to represent more than 50 million members in hundreds of thousands of denominations around the country as part of the 10-year-old National Religious Partnership for the Environment.’ 7

As socialists, what should we think about the thoroughly well-meaning religious?

…

‘GreenSpirit is a movement which celebrates all life as deeply connected and sacred. This radical vision brings together the rigour of science, the freedom of creativity, the passion of social action and the wisdom of spiritual traditions of all ages. Our activities combine the full potential of the human spirit and imagination with our passion for the survival of the diversity of life on Earth.’8

or the well-meaning spiritual?

‘Christianity’s social justice tradition has led many into politics. 150 years ago Christian socialism made connections with Christ’s teachings of justice, equality and compassion. The Christian Socialist Movement … help[s] the Churches and politicians work together for the common good. CSM is affiliated to the Labour Party.’9

Can there be such a thing as ‘Christian Socialism’? If not, why not? If there can, can we work with them, and what compromises/ allowances would we have to make?