Comradeship // Freechat

You make a lot of good points about religion being a vector for anti-communism and I generally feel the same way about the influence of Christian groups. The instances where I disagree tend to be exceptions to how these institutions act.

For instance, there is a religious group that lives near me that isn't well known that has formed their own commune. I've found them to be very warm and accepting people despite having some beliefs that have no scientific basis. They aren't trying to spread their religion, they are accepting and hospitable to outsiders, and they just seek to meditate in their small commune. Anecdotal, yes, but I can't deny their existence and how compatible they are in practice.

Religious institutions and beliefs along these lines, groups that don't subscribe to the toxic, patriarchal views of most religions seem rather innocuous. Can they be vectors for the spread of reactionaries? I can't argue against that. These people are surely the exception to the rule and despite their openness to discussing ML theory, I've run into plenty of other more agnostic beliefs that absolutely led to the opposite, regardless of their willingness to discuss in good faith.

I think this is something I'll need to think about more. I generally think, so long as it does not interfere with scientific thought and despite it being antithetical to it, religious beliefs can be tolerated. I won't deny that they historically have very much been harmful to our cause, but we also can't be blind to how prevalent even agnostic beliefs are and how our reactions to this can alienate people that may otherwise be allies. There are plenty of examples of comrades who are religious and this makes me think tolerance is a better path, but I can't deny that you are right, religious beliefs are rooted in idealism and can be a conflict of interest vs class consciousness. Again, I'll need to think and read on this more.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.