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What religion, if any, is most compatible with communist ideology? (hexbear.net)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I always believed religion was incompatible with a society rooted in addressing material reality, although I know we have have religious users and wanted to hear people's takes.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)

To at least give a slightly novel answer relative to the usual ones: Cheondoism was famously defended by Kim Il-Sung as being a "progressive" religion that should not disqualify someone from Party membership because it's fundamentally oriented around the liberation of the masses.

Also, I'm going to be That Guy and say that Theravada Buddhism is relatively compatible, as it was almost-inconceivably progressive for its time and still compares positively to many religions, including the more popular sects. It has its own issues, but in general I think the Buddha of the Pali Canon, the one who said there is no soul and risked his life to save a goat, is someone worth emulating from a communist perspective. I also think he bears little resemblance, for hopefully obvious reasons, to the Buddhas who have celestial empires and believe that those who suffer should be left to suffer because of Karma.

Also shout-out to Chan/Zen Buddhism with the major caveat that it has probably the worst co-opting by westerners into reactionary bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Isn't Chan/Zen Buddhism a Mahayana (i.e. not Theravada) tradition?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It is (and I was trying to express it as a tangent to my talking about Theravada, not as a subset). I must give it credit compared to more popular Mahayana sects though for not being oriented around celestial empires and contempt for the suffering, but rather focusing on the mundane and, if not totally benevolent, at least therapeutic. In those regards, I find it much more grounded and pro-social than many religions and hence better-suited to communism.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Thanks for the explanation. I didn't mean to correct you, but I noticed you implicitly judged Mahayana in general as incompatible, so I was curious what sets Chan/Zen Buddhism (as a subset) apart from what you dislike.