Do communism and organised religion have anything in common ?

Question

eg. dogma, cult of personality, belief in a certain one true path, intolerance of other systems, obligation to tow the "party line" etc

Could communism, facism etc be considered as religions in themselves ?

Or at least could they be considered a very close cousin to religion ?

I ask this because many theists attempt to show the "evilness" of atheism by saying communist russia was atheist.

While thinking about this I wondered if in fact religion had more in common with communism.

Answer 1

Social cohesion and social control.

Answer 2

No. Communism in its purest form is a type of Direct Democracy. Religion or more to the point religious institutions are more Socialist, which is what Russia was. Socialism has a centralized controlling body, which will over time obviously reap the benefits of everyone else's labor. The reason communism is demonized is all of the anti-communist propaganda from the cold war. People don't tend to research anything that has been demonized. It's sad really as if you read the Bible you discover that Christ was more or less a communist. (in the hippy sense of what communism is) People should learn to read between the lines.

Answer 3

Yes. The same could be said of Capitalism which is the other extreeme that shares the same coin as Communism.

I am assuming you mean the organized Communism of nations. In reality most families are "small 'c'" communist. Those that share communal livng are communist.

Religion is how you behave yourself. The labels are arbitrary and manipulative. Some Humans take what ever that is delivered to them by mouth or book, without using reason & rationality. Some use reason, rationality and consider the information with the message given to their inner being.

I know of a young Democratic Republic that is Christain that acts as though there is no Diety to judge them.

Answer 4

well, it does.
in terms of being ruled by an oligarchy (the priesthood, or ministers) where the only other option is eternal damnation.
in the form of communism (which is not true communism by the way) that was practiced in russia and eastern europe in general this is true.
the only difference is that the person who is looked up to, jesus in the case of religion, was a good person who preached love and tolerance. stalin was a murdering bastard who's only concern was himself and his power. this is a minute but very important difference. the followers in religion are the ones who mess up the message, but in the case of communism it was the leader who twisted the message to fit his own agenda.
in this way, communism is neither like christianity nor atheism. it was a monster of its own, totalitarian and unyielding. some of the methodology is the same, in the you must be saved or go to hell vs. you must be communist or go to "jail" (shot or go to a gulag which was a death sentence anyway).
christianity allows for someone to disagree, you don't have to be christian. you can worship spaceships if you want.
in communism there was no choice whatsoever.

Answer 5

Remember the old saying about what not to talk about: Religion, Politics, and $$$. Yeah...all three of these are very closely related and that's why people tend to be uncomfortable talking about them. Oh, forgot...for hung up folks you can add sex to the list of taboo subjects. PEACE!

Answer 6

yes brainwashing a book a little black book black male coruption goverment control sounds like the christians to me

Answer 7

Yes they are both run by people.

Answer 8

bear no relation