[Marxism] Re: The Passion of Christ

[Ed George <edgeorge@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

To Chris Brady's comment that 'We need a Marxist documentary on "The
Reason for Christ" [...]. Naturally, we would include the famous quote
from Marx', I would add José Pérez's wonderfully expressed take on the
same idea of last Thursday, which is so sharp and crystal clear and spot
on it deserves multiple repeating:

'The reason working and oppressed people believe in religion isn't that
it is a particularly convincing idea that if you recite hocus pocus over
a jug of wine it becomes in essence 2000-year-old human blood and you
can drink up like Dracula. The reason people believe is that the idea
that there is a supreme, all-powerful, unknowable being that decides our
destinies in a completely random and mysterious way actually corresponds
to their real social experience. That is the way life in society
presents itself to them. Abolish THAT -- society presenting itself as a
hostile, alien, unknowable force that controls their destiny against
their will-- and about 99% of the struggle against religion is over and
done with. Maintain THAT, and no amount of antireligious preaching,
secular schools, scientific education will ever succeed in getting rid
of it. Therefore, the struggle against religion must be SUBORDINATED TO
the actual class struggle, including when expressed in national form.'

_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism