Coming to notice that, contrary to popular belief, anti-theism really is the Western mainstream these days. It appears to have been co-opted by the ruling class. We talk about how LGBTQ+ has been co-opted, and the watered-down concept of "rebellion", but one thing that liberals and leftists alike seem to agree on is that #
religion is, at best, something we must regrettably tolerate.
And you may be thinking now: Ferret, what are you talking about? Batshit insane #
Christianity is a hallmark of American reaction. And you're right, it is — but is that
religion? Do these people believe in anything they say they do? Do they know what Jesus stood for? Have they ever read anything at all in their entire lives longer than a tweet, let alone a single book of the Bible?
To me, these two statements are part-and-parcel: Batshit Christianity
is the direct result of state anti-theism. That is, it's a bad thing to care too much about religious philosophy. Leave that to either your ministers or to the crazy non-Christians. Look at media, and it's clear this is the case: As much as reactionaries will say that God is against whatever it is that reactionaries are against, and their source is just believe me bro, my minister said so — how often is it portrayed for someone to read their sacred texts and practice their faith in a meaningful way and it be anything other than either crazy or niche? Certainly, these people are never seen as heroes.
This is important, because religion, if directed by anything other than the ruling class, is frequently revolutionary, and has the capacity to unite large numbers of people. It wasn't talked about much by either side, but the Bolshevik Revolution was substantially supported by Muslims in Russian territories who were tired of being sidelined, and in the aftermath of the Civil War, a large number of mosques were built. #
Islam has also been mobilized heavily in the Middle East and parts of Africa in revolutionary movements, which is why it was so important that the Taliban be funded in Asia and Salifism be made the state religion of Saudi Arabia, to force conservative religious doctrine and prevent revolutionary religious doctrine from appearing. Although not exactly a religion, Juche, too, has a lot of elements of religious practice and identity, and Kim Il-sung was inspired by the way in which religion brings people together, being the son of Christian missionaries and a Sunday school teacher in his youth, and pushed hard for the inclusion of Chondoists in the revolution.
The unfortunate thing is that the ruling class has convinced us not only that religion is inherently conservative or reactionary, but also convinced us that it was our idea in the first place.
In the west, it has been impossible to organize, to get people attached to a revolutionary movement, because of a lack of identity within those movements. Working class identity has been heavily eroded, but the reality is, working class identity is very rarely the motivator behind revolution. It occurred once in the USSR, and almost certainly would not have occurred if not for the perfect storm of a crumbling empire, a recently deposed monarchy, a losing war, and a powerful #
Marxist political party. It is unlikely to ever happen again, even without the efforts the ruling class makes to ensure working class identity remains low on people's agenda. Typically, it is national identity in the third world, a rebellion against the imposition of imperialism.
So how do we build identity in the west? The issue is that our identities, per capitalism, are highly ephemeral: We're LGBTQ+ people, or we're neurodiverse, or we're denizens of a certain city. There are only two identities that are, more or less, inherent to a person, or at least require a great amount of dedication: Race, and religion. This is why the Black Panthers came possibly the closest anyone has ever come to revolution in the United States, and likewise the IRA in the UK. These two countries are not the only ones with significant, long-lasting oppressed racial minorities in the developed world, but it is interesting to notice that revolutionary movements rarely, if ever, arise out of Indigenous populations, but that is a very complicated and difficult subject.
But something that all these states have been very quick to shut down are religious minorities: The instant Islam entered these nations, despite the fact that their beliefs, if anything, were quite conservative in comparison to mainstream Christian beliefs at the time, the media was all over ensuring that no one would ever want to ally with them. The action was two-pronged: The Islamic ruling class ensuring that Muslims only know the highly conservative and exoteric views of their religion, and the secular ruling class ensuring that any progressive elements of the population believe Islam to be exclusively conservative and exoteric. Contrast this with the Bolshevik portrayals of Muslim women proudly casting aside their hijab and fighting for the Red Army.
Despite all this, more and more, I feel that religion may be the way forward in organizing the working class. I think, with the difficulty of our lives, we do not have the impetus to devote ourselves so heavily to working class revolution, and something that hinges so heavily on progress is innately stifled by a lack of progress. It becomes a catch-22. Religion, though,
serves the working class population in bringing to them simultaneously a sense of hope and belonging and a sense of unity and devotion to a cause. It is the difference between another material obligation being added onto the pile of one's life, and an entirely new
meaning to that life. Reaction already does this, and does this very well, as we've seen, but, if we can break through the alliance of the antis and capitalist media, it may become our best tool as well.
