MARXISM AND CHRISTIANITY: CAUGHT BETWEEN TWO STOOLS


“The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.”- Karl Marx
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul… but they had all things common. cf. Acts 4:32

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels saw Capitalism as an exploitation to the “working people” or the proletariat. There, they called for a revolutionary reformation with the existing socio-economic structure to ‘overthrow’ the bourgeoisie. Here, they termed it Marxism. As a process of class conflict and revolutionary struggle, Marxism is an undertaking that will result in victory for the proletariat and the establishment of a communist society and abolishment of private ownership. Engels eulogized Marxism in this way, “men must first all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing before they can pursue politics, science, art, religion and the like.”
Christianity, on the other hand, is the religion of the Word of God, ‘not a written word unable to speak, but the incarnate and living Word.’ Instituted by Christ himself, Christianity later became the state religion in the most of the countries in the early Europe. Christians depend on scriptures and teachings of the church. Jesus, in the scriptures, asserted the opposite disavowing that faith is predicted on bodily well-being, “Therefore do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink’ or ‘What shall we wear?’…but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.“ The history of the Church according to the Book of Apostles reveals that it had its own Christian communism and the faithful held everything common. Even now, this Christian communism exists in the form of monasticism. Both the concept and reality of communal property is a bright, idealistically elevated type of Christian inter-relationship, examples of which have always existed in the Latin and Orthodox Church.
Christianity’s biblical doctrine and Marxism’s The Communism Manifesto theory diverge still further. Christians seen as believers of the spiritual goods while the Marxist is in the stance of dialectical materialism. Christianity explains in lumen Christi while Marxism entails materialist explanation for everything. Pope Francis, on one of his interviews, stressed out that Communism have stolen the flag; the flag of the poor is Christian. The Church believes that she is the ‘church of the poor’ (for the proletariats) and not for the bourgeoisie. But for Marxism, the Church and the Family are obstacle to Utopia. They stressed that the hierarchal society affirmed in the scripture prevented the rise of the proletariat; thus, “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.” How great is the differences between such Christian communism and Marxism- communism. One is as far from the other as the heavens are from the earth. I remembered in my thesis entitled, The Political and Social Philosophy of St. Augustine, the two opposing camps can be classified. For me, Christianity is the De Civitate Dei while the Communism- Marxism is the De Civitate Terrena.
Though diverse, these two camps of thought have same goal and end. Christianity and Communism- Marxism aim for common state of life. They aim for the common good of all. Christianity’s end is happiness, as St. Augustine said; my heart is restless until it rest in you my God. Marxism, in contrast, similarly incorporates the struggle of early Israelites as a class struggle in the coming victory of the proletariats. Thus, Utopia represents heaven for Christianity while for Marxists, it is the ideal state of life.
Though they have commonality, the oposing camps are absolutely incompatible. Though they met commonality in their starting and ending point, their means are contraidctory. Materialism proposed by Marxist and Spirituality proposed by Christianity are in both extremes. The former promotes personal responsibility and wise use of freedom while the latter promotes personal autonomy. Indeed, they are totally opposing and totally irreconcilable.

All these cited differences and similarities between Christianity and communism do not yet exhaust even the very essence of the contradiction and incompatibility between them. The fundamental difference between communism and Christianity lies deeper still, in the religious ideology of both camp. Yes, Indeed! I am caught between two stools. 

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