The Communist Party USA has long assigned members to
churches, synagogues, even tabernacles. As part of the CPUSA’s big push for
power under the Obama administration the party is stepping up its infiltration
of organized religion.
From the Communist Party USA’s
People’s Weekly World,
"CHICAGO - The Communist Party USA has established a new
Religion Commission to strengthen its work among religious people and
organizations. In its leadership are activists representing various religious
traditions from around the country. Tim Yeager, a Chicago trade unionist and a
member of the Episcopal Church, serves as its chair.
‘"We want to
reach out to religious people and communities, to find ways of
improving our coalition work with them, and to welcome people of faith
into the party,' Yeager said. 'We invite questions and responses from
people who would like to dialogue with us on matters pertaining to religion,
Marxism and the struggle for more peaceful, just and secure world.'"
There is a common misconception concerning the position of
the Communist Party USA about religion, Yeager noted. Many who are unfamiliar
with the party wrongly assume that all Communists are atheists, or that the
party requires its members to be atheists. Nothing could be farther from the
truth, he said. Religious people are welcome to join. The party’s Constitution
specifically states that membership is open to "[a]ny person living in the
United States, 18 years of age or over, regardless of race, color, national
origin, sexual orientation, gender, or religious belief…"
Yeager acknowledged that relations between some Marxist
parties and religious institutions in other parts of the world have been marked
by conflict. In tsarist Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church had been an arm of
the state, and its leadership was opposed to the Revolution. The Bolsheviks
adopted an official atheist position, and for many years waged a struggle
against organized religion. Elsewhere, such as in Latin America, Marxist
parties and religious progressives have worked together against repressive regimes and
imperialist intervention.
"There has been no state church in the United States since
shortly after we gained our independence, and we have a tradition of religious
diversity," Yeager said. "The so-called Christian Right in recent years has
certainly made progress, but some of the greatest leaders in our history have
been men and women of faith, and our party has been proud to work with them. The
best known example, of course, would be the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."
The Religion Commission will be producing articles on matters
pertaining to religion and social progress, he said. Its goal is to share with
the broader people’s movement the party’s thinking on the religious aspects of
current struggles, taking up theoretical questions, and discussing the
relationships, contradictions and commonalities among science, Marxism and
religion. The commission also announced plans to hold a series of gatherings
around the country, open to the public, to discuss how people from religious
traditions and the party can better work together, building toward a national
conference in 2010.
"As Marx said, the goal is not merely to explain the world,
but to change it. We hope that the new Religion Commission will help build
greater unity toward that end," Yeager said. "We welcome people from faith
communities to join us."
Tim Yeagar is a United Auto Workers Union official and also
Chairman of the Chicago Episcopal Peace Fellowship. FC
See also
Transforming the World by Subverting the Church
Treason in the Church: Trading Truth for a
"Social Gospel"
