19th-century German philosopher Karl Marx, the founder and primary theorist of Marxism, viewed religion as "the soul of soulless conditions" or the "opium of the people".
A number of Marxist–Leninist governments in the 20th century such as the Soviet Union after Vladimir Lenin and the People's Republic of China under Mao Zedong implemented rules introducing state atheism.
Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopaedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d’honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification.
[3]According to Howard Zinn, "[t]his helps us understand the mass appeal of the religious charlatans of the television screen, as well as the work of Liberation Theology in joining the soulfulness of religion to the energy of revolutionary movements in miserably poor countries".
It would be stupid to think that, in a society based on the endless oppression and coarsening of the worker masses, religious prejudices could be dispelled by purely propaganda methods.
But in separating the Church from the State and proclaiming religious liberty we at the same time guaranteed the right of every citizen to combat by argument, by propaganda and agitation any and all religion.
[14] However, importance was placed on secularism and non-violence towards the religious: But the campaign against the backwardness of the masses in this matter of religion, must be conducted with patience and considerateness, as well as with energy and perseverance.
To thrust atheism upon the masses, and in conjunction therewith to interfere forcibly with religious practices and to make mock of the objects of popular reverence, would not assist but would hinder the campaign against religion.
[14]God-Building was an idea proposed by some prominent early Marxists of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party.
[15] North Korean leader Kim Il Sung wrote about religion in the context of Korea's national liberation struggle against Japan.
In that context, Kim criticized the Protestant Christian creed, stating that while "[t]here is no law preventing religious believers from making the revolution," their lack of action led to "non-resistance" and psalms alone could not block the Japanese guns when "decisive battles" were necessary.
[16] Kim's writings addressed the "opium of the people" metaphor twice, both in the context of responding to comrades who object to working with religious groups (Chonbulygo and Chondoism).
To gather support from the masses during World War II, the Stalin government re-opened thousands of temples and extinguished the League of Militant Atheists.
[citation needed] The People's Republic of China was established in 1949 and for much of its early history maintained a hostile attitude toward religion which was seen as emblematic of feudalism and foreign colonialism.
[citation needed] However, the Chinese Communist Party still remains explicitly atheist and religion is heavily regulated, with only specific state-operated churches, mosques and temples being allowed for worship.
[citation needed] Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge regime, suppressed Cambodia’s Buddhist religion as monks were defrocked; temples and artifacts, including statues of the Buddha, were destroyed; and people praying or expressing other religious sentiments were often killed.
[32] During its Socialist era, the Romanian government exerted significant control over the Orthodox Church and closely monitored religious activity, as well as promoting atheism among the population.
It is a theological and political theory based upon the view that the teachings of Jesus Christ compel Christians to support communism as the ideal social system.
In particular, Jose Porfirio Miranda found Marx and Engels to be consistently opposed to deterministic materialism and broadly sympathetic towards Christianity and towards the text of the Bible, although disbelieving in a supernatural deity.
Using this distinction between opiate and protest functions, many writers contended that Marx did not condemn religion as such but a very specific form thereof, namely the Protestantism of the Prussia of Wilhelm IV.
The Eurocommunists of Italy, France and Spain considered it essential to reach out to the Catholic population and secure their help in construction of socialism.
Many Italian communists such as Lucio Lombardo-Radice and Cesare Luporini started advocating for greater cooperation with Catholics, which led Enrico Berlinguer to highlight that the PCI "does not espouse atheism" at the 15th Congress of the party in 1979.
[42] In the 1950s and the 1960s, liberation theology was the political praxis of Latin American theologians, such as Gustavo Gutiérrez of Peru, Leonardo Boff of Brazil, Juan Luis Segundo of Uruguay and Jon Sobrino of Spain, who made popular the phrase the "Preferential option for the poor".
[44] He believed in the necessity of a revolution, seeing the poverty in Colombia as proof that the hitherto peaceful ways of the Catholic Church to bring about change have failed.
The Organization of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, an extinct political party which opposed the Islamic Republic, once advocated communist ideals.
[47] On the other hand, some Orthodox Jews, including a number of prominent religious figures, actively supported either anarchist or Marxist versions of communism.
There are many similarities and differences between the schools of thought, but one of the most common things they share are the time frame within which both ideologies were founded as well as some social and economic perspective.
[50] Buddhism has been said to be compatible with communism given that both can be interpreted as atheistic and arguably share some similarities regarding their views of the world of nature and the relationship between matter and mind.
The current Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso speaks positively of Marxism despite the heavy persecution of the Tibetan people by the post-Mao Zedong and post-Cultural Revolution Chinese government.
[58] Throughout the Second Red Scare of the late 1940s and 1950s, the fear of the "Godless communist" rooted itself as an epithet and a warning to the United States in a changing global environment.