The Pope’s visit to Britain comes in the midst of the most serious
crisis of capitalism since the Second World War, with a growing mood of
discontent among the workers. No doubt a little help for the British
Establishment in times like these from the Almighty will always come in
handy. The Pope is also hoping to boost the fortunes of the Church
after it has been shaken by scandals in one country after another.
Photo by Fabio Pozzebom/Abr.This
morning Benedict XVI arrived in Edinburgh for the first state visit to
Britain by a pope. When the papal plane touched down at Edinburgh
International Airport, he was greeted by the Duke of Edinburgh and
senior Catholic figures, in a break with tradition said to illustrate
the importance with which the visit is being taken by the British
Establishment.
Accompanied by a retinue of diplomats, secretaries and officials from the Holy See – known as the seguito
– the papal entourage travelled to Holyrood House Palace, Edinburgh,
where the Pope was welcomed by the Queen. These details show that this
visit has more than just a passing interest. In times of deep social
and economic crisis, religion can be a very useful tool.
The visit will not only have a religious content, for the connection
of the Vatican to politics is no small matter, and not just in Italy.
In addition to attending the spiritual needs of his flock, Benedict
will also address “civil society” (politicians) at Westminster Hall. On
Saturday morning, the 83-year-old pontiff will pay a series of courtesy
calls to prominent politicians, including David Cameron. He will
receive the leaders of all three main political parties for short
private audiences, before celebrating Mass at Westminster Cathedral.
In the midst of the most serious crisis of capitalism since the
Second World War, with a growing mood of discontent, reflected in the
militant speeches from the TUC and the beginnings of strikes against
cuts and sackings, a little help from the Almighty will always come in
handy. For the Lib-Con coalition government, the papal visit is a
welcome distraction with which to direct the attention of working
people away from this sinful world of cuts and crisis and upwards to
the World of Heavenly Bliss to Come.
Declining interest
The cynical pragmatism that characterises the attitude of the ruling
class towards religion was accurately conveyed by the immortal phrase
of Napoleon: "Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people
quiet." For generations religion has served as a kind of drug that
deadened the pain of existence of the masses. But as with most
pain-killing drugs, the effect tends to be reduced with the passing of
time.
When John Paul II came to Britain in 1982 (a “pastoral”, not a state
visit), more than a quarter of a million people came to hear him say
mass in Scotland alone. This time round the Catholic Church in Scotland
had more limited expectations and according to news reports around
100,000 turned up this time. This does not compare well with John Paul
II’s visit. John Paul II travelled by helicopter to Coventry Airport
where he was driven through a crowd of more than 350,000. At Heaton
Park in Manchester more than 200,000 people turned out and at the
Knavesmire Racecourse in York more than 190,000 turned out.
The comparison is glaring. Where there were hundreds of thousands
before, now we have tens of thousands. The Catholic Church has tried to
explain this by having to introduce ticket-only events on the grounds
of security, and that anyway, they want to create “a more intimate
atmosphere” at these events. But the fact is that the contrasting
numbers are indicative of growing disaffection within the Church,
reflecting not only the endless child abuse scandals but a long term
decline of organised religion that is not confined to the Catholic
Church. In contrast to the 1982 visit, polls in Britain have shown a
widespread indifference to the Pope’s visit among non-Catholics and a
growing mood of criticism of the Pope’s teachings among ordinary lay
Catholics in Britain.
On Tuesday 15 September, The Mirror carried an article with the headline: "Pope Benedict visit to Britain hit by mass apathy". The Mirror article
pointed out that the three mass vigils to mark the Pope’s visit to
Britain this week have not sold out and that the Catholic Church will
bus hundreds of kids to the events to boost attendances. Organisers of
today’s open-air mass in Bellahouston Park in Glasgow had reduced the
capacity to 80,000 as ticket sales had been poor. Dioceses have also
reported thousands of unfilled places for a vigil in Hyde Park, London,
on Saturday and the service to beatify Cardinal Newman in Birmingham on
Sunday.
Archbishop
Nichols said around 55,000 people was expected to attend the
beatification ceremony for Cardinal John Henry Newman to be carried out
by the Pope in Cofton Park, Birmingham. This is 10,000 fewer than
originally thought. And a new poll suggests most British people do not
support the Pope’s trip. Only 14 per cent polled by the Populus
institute said they were in favour of it. More than two-thirds said
they were unhappy about the trip because of the cost to taxpayers, or
the views of the Roman Catholic Church.
The total number of Catholics in Great Britain is said to be about
5,050,000. However, the number of people attending weekly mass
throughout the UK is about 1.1 million, or about 20 percent. The great
majority never set foot in a church, other than for funerals, weddings,
confirmation ceremonies and the like. The number of active Catholic
priests in England, Scotland and Wales is only 4,400. In the past, they
made up the numbers by importing priests from Ireland. But now that the
Church in Ireland is itself having difficulty in persuading young men
to join the priesthood, this source has dried up. Instead, priests have
to be imported from Third World countries, where the generally low
standards of education and the lack of opportunities for a career still
make the priesthood an attractive proposition.
This represents the dominant trend in all developed capitalist
countries. In all the advanced capitalist countries official organised
religion is losing its grip on the minds of men and women. The churches
stand empty.
According to the BBC, “Figures gathered by the National Centre for
Social Research show that membership of most religions [in Britain] is
lower now than it was 30 years ago.” In a survey that asked people
whether they regarded themselves as belonging to any religion, more
than 50% responded in the negative, and of those who responded yes
close to 60% said they never attended mass.
This may well explain why in his speech today he warned against
“aggressive forms of secularism” in Britain and added that, “the
exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately
to a truncated vision of man and of society and thus to a ‘reductive
vision of the person and his destiny’." The now infamous German-born
Cardinal Walter Kasper is no longer on the Pope’s delegation, because
of his comments claiming Britain was like a “Third World country”. But
the Cardinal also said that Britain was facing an "aggressive new
atheism", clearly something that also reflects the thinking of the
present pontiff.
The
problem for the Vatican hierarchy is that these comments could be made
about many countries. Even in such a supposedly devout Catholic country
like Italy, surveys reveal that no more than 23 percent attend mass
regularly. In France, regular attendance at mass is thought to be below
5 percent and the number of professional astrologers is greater than
that of Catholic priests. In Spain the numbers of the clergy can only
be maintained by importing priests from Latin America and only 20
percent go to weekly mass.
A reactionary figure
The present pope is a controversial figure. Ever since his
installation in April 2005, his attempts to turn back the clock,
rejecting modernisation and reform have caused profound unease among
liberal Catholics. For the first time since 1962 the Tridentine Mass,
the form of the service always said in Latin, will be permitted. He has
introduced a new set of rules regarding the way in which the Mass may
be celebrated, in an effort to win back the followers of French
Archbishop Lefèbvre, who insisted on continuing the use the Mass
introduced at the Council of Trent in the 16th century. One bishop
interviewed by the Italian paper La Repubblica said the day the Pope’s letter on this question was published confirming the reform was "the saddest day of my life".
In contrast to popes who have attempted to modernise and reform the
Papacy, Benedict XVI has made a point of appearing in a variety of
archaic hats, capes and other adornments he wears to underline his
conservative attachment to the past. In his first winter as Pope he
appeared as a Santa Claus look-a-like, wearing the camauro
hat, red velvet with a border of white ermine, which had not been worn
since John XXIII, who died in 1963. He also affected the galero, which some have compared to a cowboy outfit in red, and the greca,
the ankle-length cashmere overcoat last worn by Pope Pius XII. Benedict
has been photographed seated in the little-used golden throne in the
Vatican’s Sala Paolina, where Pius XII used to receive important
visitors on their knees.
The Pontiff’s dress style is only the most obvious manifestation of
his conservative views. His opposition to progressive causes is well
known. On issues like women’s rights, contraception, gay equality,
fertility treatment, embryonic stem cell research, abortion and the use
of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV, he is on the side of reaction.
Today the Catholic Church has been forced to backtrack on some of
the worst crimes it committed in the past. It was kind enough to
“rehabilitate” Galileo – 359 years after the Inquisition used the
threat of torture to compel him to renounce his view that the earth did
not stand at the centre of the universe. Some might view this as
progress of sorts. But it still opposes the advance of science in
fields which could potentially save thousands of people from death and
suffering.
By adding "genetic manipulation" and "morally debatable experiments"
to the list of the Seven Deadly Sins the Vatican would ban valuable
research which could one day lead to the elimination of diseases that
kill countless numbers of people every year. The religious lobby is
campaigning against very promising areas of medicine, such as foetal
cell research, stem cell research, and therapeutic cloning. They
managed to convince the Bush administration in the USA that these areas
of research should be prohibited or severely limited. Later Obama
changed this decision, but it is still being fought in the courts by
Christian fundamentalists. This has real implications for reducing the
possible medical treatments available for each of us and for tens of
millions of people in the U.S. who have spinal cord injuries and
diseases such as Parkinson’s.
To its credit, the British parliament rejected the attempts to ban
stem-cell research, in the teeth of ferocious opposition from the
powerful religious lobby. However, the Church still exerts a powerful
influence on British political life. Tony Blair announced his
conversion to Catholicism soon after standing down as leader of the
Labour Party. Mr. Blair would see no contradiction in his support of
the “Pro-life” lobby and his commitment to the Sermon on the Mount and
the part he played in launching a bloody war against Iraq on false
pretences.
The reactionary policies of Pope Benedict XVI have provoked the
indignation of progressive people in Britain. A group of more than 50
leading academics and authors signed a public letter saying he should
not be given a state visit. The list includes Stephen Fry, the comedian
and broadcaster and authors, Pratchett and Pullman, professor Richard
Dawkins, the well-known scientist, atheist campaigner and evolutionist,
professor AC Grayling, the philosopher and Sir Tom Blundell, the
pioneering biochemist. They say. “We reject the masquerading of the
Holy See as a state and the pope as a head of state as merely a
convenient fiction to amplify the international influence of the
Vatican”.
There is no doubt that these views are shared by many people in
Britain, as the polls indicate. Despite this, Tory Prime Minister David
Cameron has described this visit as “a great honour for our country”,
which would provide a “unique opportunity” to celebrate the “good works
of religious groups”. These remarks provide us with an interesting
insight into the psychology of the self-styled “progressive” Tory
leader who clearly is itching to abolish the welfare state and return
to the good old days when the poor had to stand outside the monastery
gate waiting for the monks to serve them a bowl of soup.
Who pays?
According
to the Gospels, the Founder of the Christian Church was born in a
stable, lived among the poor, encouraged his followers to give up all
their worldly goods and hold their possessions in common. He made his
final journey to Jerusalem on the back of an ass and, although he must
have been well aware of the threat to his life from the Romans and
their local agents, he did not feel the need for any bodyguards.
All costs of the accommodation of members of Pope’s entourage will
be paid for by the British taxpayer. Since we do not believe they will
be put up in anything resembling a certain stable in Bethlehem, this
will certainly not come cheap! It is a case of: “render unto Caesar
what is Caesar’s, and render approximately the same to the Vatican
elite”. Dispensing with the cow sheds, they can expect to sleep in the
most expensive hotels. After all, we must move with the times!
To these modest expenses must be added the cost of policing the
Pope’s visit, which is roughly estimated at £1.5 million. Fear of
assassination means that each of the £75,000 vehicles used by the Pope
and his entourage has bulletproof glass windows and roof, armoured side
panels and reinforced chassis to provide security. The Popemobile runs
on green fuel, so that will please the environmentalists. It is a
modified Mercedes-Benz M-Class sport utility vehicle with a special
glass-enclosed cabin built into the back to give a clear 360-degree
view of the pontiff, so that will please the crowds.
We are informed that the Pope enters this ingenious vehicle by a
rear door and sits in a chair which is raised by a hydraulic lift up
into the “glass room”. There is also space for two aides to sit in the
area in front of him. In theory, the Popemobile has a top speed of
160mph, but in Britain it will do a more sedate 6mph as the Pope waves
to the crowds. The car will be driven by a specially trained British
police officer with a Vatican security agent sat in the passenger seat.
Only after his departure will the exact financial cost of the visit be
known. Whether this will please the taxpayer is open to reasonable
doubt.
The estimated cost of the visit is up to £20 million, but in
practice it will be a lot more. The UK taxpayers, who were naturally
never consulted about this, are forced to make a handsome contribution
to the cost of the visit. At a time when ordinary people are being told
that there is no money for schools, pensions or hospitals, this may be
considered by some uncharitable souls as an extravagance.
Despite all the problems, it is hardly likely that the Church, which
over the past 2,000 years has acquired considerable expertise in the
matter of fund-raising, will make a loss on the deal. The Church has
sufficient resources to gather large numbers of the faithful,
sufficient make a lot of money that is.
As far as we can remember from the Scriptures, Christ did not charge
any entrance fee for those who came to listen to the Sermon on the
Mount. But, as in the matter of cow sheds and asses, time moves on.
Here is a breakdown of the official figures for prices of tickets to
various papal functions:
Price of tickets to aforementioned rallies (masses): up to £20.
Expected attendance, up to 250,000. Expected attendance at prayer vigil
in Hyde Park, London, on Saturday: 85,000. (Price of tickets: £5).
Expected attendance at Cofton Park, Birmingham, at Mass celebrating the
beatification of John Henry Newman on Sunday: 54,000. (Price of
tickets: up to £25).
All this should bring in a nice profit, to whit: 250,000 attendance
at £20 brings £5 million; 85,000 attendance at £5 brings £425,000;
54,000 attendance at £25 brings £1,350,000.
According to our rough calculations the total from these three
gatherings is £6,775,000. Of course, we must deduct the costs
(excluding those so kindly defrayed by the tax-paying public). But the
money-spinning aspects of the tour are by no means exhausted by the
sale of tickets. There are, naturally, all kinds of other interesting
initiatives, such as the various lines of official memorabilia on sale
during trip, which are numbered at 80. An example of this profitable
line of business is the official papal visit gold medallion, priced at
only £775 (a real bargain), or the official T-shirt, price £18, or the
official baseball cap, price £15. How much these business deals will
bring in is anybody’s guess. But it will be far from negligible.
And what will the hard-pressed British taxpayer receive in return,
apart from Spiritual Consolation? To all this, we will be told, must be
added the boost to the British economy, as visitors are moved by the
Holy Spirit to put their hands in their pockets in local shops, cafes
and pubs. The estimated value to Glasgow and Edinburgh of an economic
boost resulting from the visit of His Holiness is an impressive £13
million. So the sacrifice made by the taxpayer is not lost at all. Like
the wafers and wine in the Eucharist, it undergoes a process of
Transubstantiation. That part that does not end up in the Holy of
Holies goes straight into the pockets of the hoteliers, restaurateurs
and, of course, the brewers.
Abuse Scandal
There can be no doubt that part of the difficulties facing the Pope
this time is to do with the huge tide of scandal that has engulfed the
Roman Catholic Church over the last decade concerning the sexual and
physical abuse of children by priests and nuns. The sickness of society
is faithfully reflected in the moral sickness of the Church. That was
the case in the period of the decay of feudalism (the Roman Catholic
Church was one of the main bulwarks of feudalism before it went over to
capitalism).
The corruption of the Church at all levels on the eve of the
Reformation is too well known to have to document here. It ended in the
greatest Schism. The crisis of the Church then was only a reflection of
the terminal crisis of a decaying society and an anticipation of social
revolution to come. When Martin Luther nailed his theses to the church
door at Wittenberg, it was the start of a revolution that would sweep
through Europe and change the world. The present crisis of the Catholic
Church is of a similar character.
When writing of religion, Marx once wrote:
“Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest
against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature,
the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It
is the opium of the people.”
For many people, religion is the only hope. They believe in the
words of the old hymn (admittedly written by the heretic Luther): “A
safe stronghold our God is still.” But the latest scandals have shaken
this faith to its foundations. It has torn aside the veil of secrecy
and revealed all the rottenness that lay hidden beneath the exterior of
sanctimonious hypocrisy.
Perverse priests are able to live out their sick fantasies on
innocent, defenceless and vulnerable children, and many of them do this
unnoticed over many years, shielded by the Church authorities. Worse
still, if they are eventually caught and charged, the Church pays out
huge amounts of money, to get them off the hook. But then it isn’t
their money anyway; it is money they have made from ordinary
churchgoers. They use the money of the parents of the children who are
at risk of abuse to pay for the court costs.
The Bible says: “And whosoever shall offend one of [these] little
ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were
hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.” (Mark, 9; 42)
But these villains are not cast into the sea as Jesus advocated.
Instead of languishing in prison, which is what they fully deserve,
most of the priestly abusers have not even been defrocked. And more
than a half of Catholic clergy (14 out of 21) who have been jailed for
a year or more since 2001 for paedophile activity in England and Wales
still remain members of the clergy.
This detail is enough to show the atrocious degree of complicity of
the Church authorities with the torturers of little children. Many
observers have commented on the strange fact that instead of supporting
the victims of abuse, the Church in its statements seems far more
concerned with the problems of – the abusers!
Lawyers in the USA are making good money and one of their best
sources is the Catholic Church. Already in 2008 the Church had agreed
to pay £2.8million to settle 18 child abuse claims against three
priests. The archdiocese in Denver, Colorado, alone has so far paid out
£4million since 2005 in order to settle 43 allegations of abuse. Files
on one of the three priests implicated in the scandal, Harold Robert
White, have revealed that the archdiocese had known of complaints
against him as early as 1960.
Feeling the fire under their backsides, the Church hierarchy has
begun to react to public anger and disgust. The spokesman of the
Catholic Church in Britain said (not accidentally) on the eve of the
Pope’s visit:
“There is nothing that can be said to excuse the crimes committed by
members of the clergy against children. The damage that is done strikes
right at the core of a person; in the capacity to trust another; in
their capacity to love another and – especially in the context of the
Church – in their capacity to believe in God.”
More importantly, it strikes at their capacity to believe in the
Catholic Church. Words are cheap and plentiful. But actions speak
louder than words. And the gap between words and deeds in this case is
a yawning abysm. Having made his genuflection to the Sacred Cause of
PR, the archbishop hastened to add:
“The Catholic tradition in this country is one of actually very
profound loyalty to the person of the Holy Father. While many would
want to suggest differences of trends and opinion, this way or not, I
am quite sure, and it is my experience in parish after parish, standing
at the back of Westminster Cathedral day after day, that Catholics are
looking forward to this visit very much indeed. The Catholic people of
this country know what it is to show their affection and support for
Pope Benedict.”
The two statements sit uneasily together. The record shows that even
before he became Pope, as Cardinal, Ratzinger used his office to
conceal cases of abuse and shield the perpetrators from exposure and
punishment. Atrocious crimes, including the torture and sexual abuse of
defenceless children, which in any civilized society ought to be
punished with the full force of the law, are subject to concealment by
the Church. The monsters who have committed them have been protected
purely by virtue of wearing a dog collar.
Amnesty International recently called on the Vatican to do more to
address concerns surrounding child abuse. It has been asked to do more
to co-operate with criminal investigations, open up records of its
internal inquiries to public scrutiny, and to offer an apology and
reparations to all survivors of abuse. It could hardly be asked to do
less!
Forgive and forget?
A new poll of more than 2,000 people released by ITV’s Daybreak
found that 80 per cent of Britons would like the Pope to issue some
sort of apology for the worldwide clerical child abuse scandal during
his visit. Their wish may well be granted. Observers say it is now
highly unlikely that Benedict will not make some sort of gesture that
recognizes the harm caused by abusive priests. There is speculation
about a secret meeting at which the Pope may apologize to the victims.
He really does not have much choice.
In the run-up to the Pope’s visit new attempts have been made by the
Church to paper over the cracks and defuse the scandal. Last month
members of the Church’s Child Protection Advisory Service met a number
of survivor groups – including the Survivors Trust and Macsas (Ministry
and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors) – to discuss future pastoral care
for victims.
Dr Margaret Kennedy, the founder of Macsas, said: “It was a rather
acrimonious meeting to be honest. A lot of survivors feel fed up with
the way they were treated by the Church and feel this is too little,
too late.” Macsas says that it has requested a public meeting with the
Pope to give him a book of survivor testimonies. Its requests have so
far been refused, with the Church instead offering to give the book to
the Pope “via an intermediary”. This shows that the whole question of
“meeting with the victims” is merely a hypocritical tactic based on
damage limitation.
“To not hold some sort of meeting would be a PR disaster,” one
prominent Catholic who (significantly asked to remain anonymous) told The Independent.
“It would send a terrible message.” This puts things very clearly. For
the Vatican it is not a question of obtaining justice for the victims
of abuse but of Public Relations. But this is a case of too
little and too late. With numerous new clerical sex abuse scandals
breaking out every day in Ireland, Belgium, Germany, the United States
and Latin America, he could hardly do otherwise.
This impression is confirmed by recent declarations by the head of
the Catholic Church in Britain. In his final briefing to reporters
before the Pope touched down, Archbishop Nichols admitted that the
global Catholic Church should have done better in its handling of
clerical abuse. “The Church has made a mess of its response to
incidences of child abuse,” he said. So it is not so much a question of
rottenness within the Church but of the response of the latter to the
accusations leveled against it. That is, it is a question of inadequate presentation.
In order to rectify this serious defect, the archbishop was
unusually outspoken in his criticism of errant priests. This, however,
begs the question of why he has waited until now. In the New Testament
Christ refers to the Pharisees as “whitened sepultures” – that is,
white on the outside but black and foul within. (“For ye are like unto
whiten sepultures which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within
full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” Matthew 23:27). The
analogy is rather appropriate. The Vatican and its spokesmen admit only
what can no longer be denied. They hope that apologies will lessen the
whiff of scandal, as the sweet smell of incense lessened the bad smells
that emanated in the past from an unwashed congregation. But the stench
of corruption will not be so easily eliminated.
Marxism and religion
In general, one can judge the level of civilisation of a given
society by its treatment of its most vulnerable members: the children,
the old, the sick, the poor. On this basis, modern capitalism stands
condemned on all counts. The laws of the market are the laws of the
jungle, in which all humane sentiments, all feelings of social
solidarity, compassion and sympathy for the sufferings of others must
be suppressed for the sake of a single overriding aim: self-enrichment.
As a concession to the feelings of the masses, the Church has added
to the well known seven deadly sins, others such as “environmental
pollution” and “accumulating excessive wealth”. But these “sins” are
committed by the small minority of the population that controls the
state and the economy, the capitalists and bankers. Among these are
many friends of the Catholic hierarchy, beginning with the crooked
billionaire who is currently Prime Minister of Italy. How does the
church reconcile this contradiction? The answer is: it does not.
Who decides what “excessive wealth” is? In a market economy every
capitalist is obliged, on pain of extinction, to obtain the highest
possible rate of profit, and this he can only do by extracting more
surplus value from the labour of the workers. If this is a sin, one can
always confess and be absolved. They should at least repent once
year… and then go about their regular business again.
We live in a society that is sick unto death. It is an alienated
world in which all natural human relations are inverted and turned into
their opposite. In such a society, people are regarded as things, mere
commodities to be abused in every sense of the word, while things
(money, shares, gold and jewels) are worshipped as the True God. The
Church that in the past was a perfect reflection of the degeneration of
feudalism is now the equally faithful reflection of the rottenness of
capitalism in its epoch of senile decay.
Some may ask how is it possible, after these terrible revelations
and scandals that so many people still believe in God and are prepared
to pay money to hear the pope. Bourgeois atheists like Richard Dawkins
confine themselves to a general denunciation of religion, cataloguing
its crimes and delusions. Insofar as it is directed against mysticism
and a defense of science, evolution etc., such propaganda plays a
useful role. But it can never really defeat religion, because it leaves
out of account the real social conditions that are the soil from which
religion grows and is nourished.
Dawkins makes a fundamental mistake. It is impossible to abolish
religion through logical argument, because this supposes that religion
is an artificial construct that can be eliminated by rational argument,
education etc. In fact, one can never uproot religious prejudice among
the masses (or even among most religiously-inclined intellectuals) by
logical arguments. Religion is not at all logical or rational. It is a
confused reflection in the minds of men and women of really existing
contractions in society and life.
The reason why people like Dawkins make this mistake is that they
are philosophical idealists who imagine that things like wars,
terrorism etc. are caused (mainly) by religion and religious
fanaticism. This is not at all the case. While the ruling class makes
use of religion to fool the masses into fighting “just wars”, we will
always find that in the last instance the real cause of wars are the
material interests of particular classes. This was as much the case
with the Crusades as with the present-day so-called war on terror.
Religion is merely a convenient device to fool impressionable people
and conceal the real interests involved.
In every war, “God is on our side” – and He will also be found equally on the other side.
The US soldier sees his role as fighting for (Christian, western)
“civilization” against evil (Islamic fundamentalist) barbarians. But
behind his back big monopolies like Halliburton are making fat profits
from the war. On the other side, the poor, ignorant youths, born in the
slums of Karachi, brought up under the whip of the mullahs in the
madrassas, are taught that it is their duty to martyr themselves in the
fight against the “infidel”. And all the time behind their backs the
mullahs join hands with the drug barons and officers of the ISI (the
Pakistan Secret Services) to make money out of war, bloodshed and
misery.
As long as we live in a world based on the exploitation of the many
by the few, as long as the worker remains alienated from the product of
his labour, as long as the destiny of humanity is decided, not by
rational planning but by the blind play of market forces, so long will
men and women seek refuge from a cruel and arbitrary world in the
illusory world of religion. It is not by abolishing religion that we
change the world but, on the contrary, it is only by changing the world
that we create the material conditions whereby men and women can begin
to free themselves from the psychological shackles of religion.
Marx explains:
“The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.”
And he concludes: “The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion.”
Religion is an opiate, but like any drug, its effects are not
long-lasting. Of the thousands who will attend the rallies and masses,
most will be working class people. They will be moved by the speeches
and sermons. The psychological effects of large numbers of people
gathered in public places, whether a papal mass or a football match,
are well known. They will be ecstatic, enthusiastic, in a state of
bliss.
But what will they do on the next day, and the day after, and the
day after that? After the show is over, they will have to come down
from the clouds and place their feet firmly on the ground. The clouds
of incense that blinded their sight and clouded their judgment will
disperse and they will come face to face with reality in the cold light
of day. They will see that they and their families are under attack,
and that no amount of prayers will make any difference.
The only road they can take is the road of struggle. In the course
of struggle people learn and are changed. Many good workers and trade
unionists have religious convictions. That does not prevent them from
fighting the bosses and acquiring a socialist consciousness. Gradually,
through their own experience, they will come to understand that in the
struggle between the classes, the hierarchy of the Church will always
take the side of the rich and powerful, as it has done ever since the
Emperor Constantine, for opportunist reasons, decided to incorporate
the Church into the state.
In reality it is wrong to speak of “the Church”, as if it were a
monolithic structure. There were always two churches: the church of the
rich and powerful, the church of the exploiters and oppressors; and on
the other hand, the church of the poor, exploited and oppressed. We
Marxists are fundamentally opposed to the former, which is represented
by the Barons of the Church, headed by the reactionary Benedict XVI.
But we consider the latter to be our class brothers and sisters,
worthy allies in the fight against injustice and oppression. We will
fight shoulder to shoulder with them to cleanse the world of all evil
and injustice and create the conditions for a really human society.
Only when we begin to create a paradise in this world will men and
women cease to long for a life beyond the grave.
[Some interesting statistics: Area of Vatican: 1.2 square miles;
Worldwide Church membership: 1.166 billion; Nations with which the
Vatican has diplomatic relations: 178; Nations in which Roman Catholic
priests have (so far) been accused of child abuse: 28; Total damages
likely to be paid to abuse victims in the US alone: $5bn.]
