If Communists tend to be atheists, do atheists tend to be Communists?

Question

This is not an accusation, I really want to know. I know I tend to be a little left of liberal. Well, a whole lot left of liberal.

Answer 1

One of the articles I wrote for a left-wing publication was on the spiritual contribution made by religion to the Socialist cause. I called on the voice of the "Religious Left" to be heard, in answer to the very vocal Religious Right. There were many Communists who voiced appreciation for the recognition that Communists aren't necessarily Atheists.

Angela Davis and Alice Walker, to name two, clearly make the connection between Socialism and spirituality, and Davis was, as you know, a party member, and Vice-Presidential candidate for the party, with Gus Hall as presidential candidate, in 1980 and 1984.

Answer 2

Atheists tend to be liberal. Now there are exception like me. I am a pure capitalist and very right leaning on most issues, though I pick an chose on my own. But overall my experience is that most atheists are to the left someplace.

Communism makes communism the religion, thus the ban on other religions.

Answer 3

That depends how you define "communism" and "atheism", I think. The early Massachusetts colony practiced a form of communism, or communalism, as did the first century church recorded in the Book of Acts - both groups were decidedly not atheists!

The Marxist (and to an extent the Trotskyist) version of communism rests on a strictly materialistic metaphysic, so it can't allow for the intervention of a God in human affairs. Atheists that adopt a strict materialistic metaphysic in deciding the course of human events will tend to be Marxists, at least in their outlook. But honestly, strict materialism (in the philosophical sense, not consumerism) is SO 19th century!

Peace to you. (And hey, there's plenty of room on the left for us without being communists! Unless you ask the "Moral Majority"... but that's a whole different issue...)

Answer 4

I don't think atheists tend to be communists, at least none of the ones that I have met and I have met plenty! In every day life and on here. I think to be a communist you have to have a dictator sort of personality. So does atheism have anything to do with communism? No, I don't believe so. I do believe that personality has a lot to do with it though.

Answer 5

Atheism is not healthy in government, secularism is. The government should not declare or establish any official religious position. Stalin's USSR was not secular at all. Stalin effectively functioned as a god; theists always want to say that atheists become their own god. Well, Stalin became the god of USSR. Totalitarianism is indistinguishable from deity. Secular societies, if they want to be fair, will include checks and balances. No atheist wants to live under tyranny. Look at Scandinavian nations, for instance, for a better example of a secular society and how it can function in a healthy way. (At least better than in America, that's for sure)

Answer 6

Atheists are free to belong to any school of ideology, but this does not entitle that they must become communists. Communism is only a different way of seeing the society.

Answer 7

yes i am an atheist and a communist but that`s just me, the most atheists i know are liberals..

Answer 8

I think there is a slight tendency... like conservatives are more likely to be fascist than liberals. but I think most atheists in capital societies are happy with capitalism

Answer 9

Conservative leaning civil Libertarian Atheist here

Answer 10

I can't speak for all of us, but I tend to be socially liberal, but economically conservative. So, in my case- no.