well, if so I m fucked, I went back to the Church when I was 26, I m 41 and I ve donated to the Church in these 15 years less than I ve spent....today on blow I guess. Compare and contrast with the neo pentecostal Mega Churches in the US and in South America and the Teology of Prosperity, they re basically the demonstration that Marx´s texts on religion are not entirely wrong ( a Lutheran student of mine, as conservative as they came,has written a paper for a class of mine using Marx to criticize this kind of megachurches)
The Catholic idea is not to cut corners, is to take humans as they are even when you show them how better they can be . We try, we fall , its not a linear process.
I m glad that u recognize the fact that the Catholic Church has been singled out ( and , the irony!, by the BBC, where the likes of Jimmy Saville and his mates did any kind of shit with total impunity). Don t get me wrong, even one pedophile is too much, but the pedo priests were less than 1% of the clergy while it seemed that abusing kids was in the Catechism. Other Churches and religions have similar or way worse issues, and what s more important, the categories with more pedos are...parents and teachers.
Dunno whether we cheat more or less today, but I think that today cheating is incentivated . Sites for cheaters, the pervasive ideas that one has to do all kids of experiences, resorts for swingers, sex tourism ...capitalism has realized that pace Marx, the nuclear family was an issue , singles spend way more, in dating apps, in restaurants, in sex workers pretending to care about them, in stuff they don t need, etc et tc.
I can see that many young people are attracted to the hardcore forms of religion (in Catholicism, for instance Opus Dei or the Arautos do Evangelho) because they are sick and tired of this and similar BS. The society of unhinged capitalism is a desert of isolated, neurotic compulsive costumers, with no sense of common good and of solidariety, that s Catholic Social Doctrine for you
Unfortunately is written in Vaticanese, but I think you ll dig it.
That is really interesting as I was watching a thing on those megachurches which make the Vatican look austere. The perfect, totally blasphemous mixture of Christianity and capitalism - the USA's two favourite "C words". But I was thinking about this the other day, the megachurch types and the more southern, baptist-y god fearing types of christianity really do reflect more on Marx's comments about religion being the "opium of the masses" than in other cases. I don't think that religion as a whole has the same grip on the post-industrial west as it did when Marx and Engels were writing about the role of religion in the emerging industrial west that they were witnessing. We have new "opiums": mass media, social media, drugs way more advanced than the opium of Marx's time, the kind of promiscuous sex that has been talked about in this thread, all about dealing with the alienation and atomisation caused by capitalism. Also, developments in religion have seen it play a role not foreseen by Marx and Engels, namely "Liberation Theology" which is, as far as I know, exclusively rooted in Catholicism and is prominent in Latin American struggles (the ELN (National Liberation Army) in Colombia is informed by Liberation Theology as well as Marxism, Marxism-Leninism, Che Guevara's Foco theory and other revolutionary praxis. So from a Marxist point of view, religion and its interpretation and application is rooted in its role within the class system. Poor peasants in Latin American countries will likely have been raised Catholic in the majority of cases. When they decide to take up arms, they retain their religion and some religious figures will indeed support their cause. Even though I was not raised with religion, almost all of the people I've been close to were from Catholic families. One very close friend has said that the Catholic church is the "church of the poor" which is obviously true in terms of its role in poorer parts of the world, despite the irony of the church's enormous wealth. But it makes sense.
The megachurches however: praying for prosperity! Absurd and uniquely American (USA) in this day and age. I recently watched a video which showed some dudes preaching and because they have 1000+ people in the building, the sermons are highly generic and vague, just like horoscopes (which reminds me of the kinda Marxist text by Adorno: 'Thesis Against Occultism' - worth a read). Vague sentiments that apply to everyone: "you're struggling, but God is behind you in this struggle!" - they seem to present Satan as God's literal enemy. Basically, all of the hardship in your life is due to the devil fucking your life up, but god is there to push you through it, a bit like Job I suppose. And the central message is essentially this: you will get by if you keep believing, which means that you keep coming here, which means that you throw us some alms even though you're struggling because we are God's messengers and we have your back because God has your back. 'Also, I'd like to remind the congregation that Pastor Bob will be signing copies of his new book: "How God Made Me a Man: Pray the Gay Away!" by the third hotdog stand by the bookshop and merch stores near the far entrance . Go in peace.'. But there is always this vague sense that even though you're struggling, this is God's plan, and you will get through it and you will prosper, especially if you buy our stuff and give us money.
But yes, religion exists within its socioeconomic context and so there is the grotesque form of christianity that exists in the megachurches, which would have JC thinking twice about the Second Coming. Kenneth Copeland actually looks like he could be the antichrist, no? Whereas Liberation Theology serves the poor and aids them in their struggle for equality, justice, socialism and liberation from imperialism in countries affected by imperialism. The USA is hyper-capitalist and has been the dominant imperialist power for a long time, even though that seems to be changing, and much religion there reflects this but by no means all.
I certainly can see younger people looking into Opus Dei and other, more fundamentalist doctrines (forgive me if my terminology is wrong) and this applies in Islam too. Many younger people are disgusted by our society. I am. I went into Marxism, Leninism etc. as I see this as the scientific root out but I don't feel the need to challenge people's religion for the sake of it and I wouldn't call myself an atheist - the existence of god can be neither proven nor disproven - and it doesn't matter. I've met and known many wonderful, decent, kind people of many different religions and met all kinds of shitbags without religion (remember the old Dawkins-obsessed internet atheists? They seem to have been swallowed up by the incel thing now). People seek answers and religion has always attempted to offer them. Like any institution - particularly powerful ones - religions can become corrupted. The Catholic church was singled out unfairly and the Anglicans have a serious problem too, as does their head which happens to be the British "royal family" which has long been riddled with pedos. Read about Lord Mountbatten, blown to pieces by the IRA (some say on the orders of the British state/MI5). Look at Prince Andrew. Jimmy Savile as you say, who was a Catholic but was right in with the Anglican-dominated ruling class because he was procuring for them and also blackmailing them. Look at the photos with him and King Sausage Fingers FFS, best pals! Knighthoods, government advisor positions, all sorts and everyone within those circles knew what he was up to. It can happen in any institution - most British institutions have been corrupted by it, from care homes to the mass media. Freemasonry, old boys networks, police corruption, MI5/6 honey traps - all part of the game. Look at what MI5 were doing in Ulster with the Kincora Boys home FFS!
Anyway I feel like I've derailed but Marx's (and Engels') analyses of religion were much more specific to the times in which they were writing. Marxism teaches us that things are in a state of constant flux and motion, constantly evolving, changing, clashing etc. and religion evolves with this as well as all aspects of capitalism, from the economic base (feudalism, capitalism, imperialism, post-industrial capitalism) to the superstructure which helps to mould the minds of the masses (mass media, entertainment, religion, sports, politics, cinema, the arts, music and so much more): in Marx's time, religion would have played a much more prominent role within the superstructure of capitalism than it does today in the post-industrial west, but those megachurches are truly a uniquely American, hyper-capitalist, sleazy scam that really do reflect just how everything has become commodified within capitalism, to the point that pastors are flying around in private jets like the Lehman brothers or some shit. At least with Catholicism you can speak directly to your priest rather than sharing a room with thousands of people trying to find answers as to how their life is in such a terrible mess.
Sorry for ranting and going off topic, falling asleep. Really interesting stuff though and I have enjoyed your comments.
