WI: Karl Marx was religious?

What if Karl Marx was religious, yet still managed to develop the theory of communism, declaring it to be "God's will" or something of the sort, while still carrying a dislike for organized religion? Would we see less religious suppression in communist countries?
 
I think we'd still see religious suppression, just based on different justifications. For example, the *Bolshevik revolution in this timeline may encourage 'radical' Protestants to act as missionaries while suppressing the 'reactionary' Orthodox Church.
 
What if Karl Marx was religious, yet still managed to develop the theory of communism, declaring it to be "God's will" or something of the sort, while still carrying a dislike for organized religion? Would we see less religious suppression in communist countries?
Well, he was never much for religion, even in his youth. His father was a Jew who converted for political reasons, and I imagine that tarnishes some of the luster that religious faith has, and he was already a pretty convinced atheist before he even started getting involved in the European communist movement.

So you need a drastically different Karl Marx who lived a drastically different life for him to be religious, and that means a rather large butterfly net to ensure he still writes much of the same things and is involved with the same groups.
 
What if Karl Marx was religious, yet still managed to develop the theory of communism, declaring it to be "God's will" or something of the sort, while still carrying a dislike for organized religion? Would we see less religious suppression in communist countries?
Jello's got it right. Without being steeped in the Young Hegelian criticism of religion, among other things, you're not going to get Marx as a communist thinker without killing all the butterflies. Which means *communism is going to emerge from the interplay of Proudhonism, Lassalianism, and bread and butter trade unionism.
 
Jello's got it right. Without being steeped in the Young Hegelian criticism of religion, among other things, you're not going to get Marx as a communist thinker without killing all the butterflies. Which means *communism is going to emerge from the interplay of Proudhonism, Lassalianism, and bread and butter trade unionism.
Holy shit, you're alive!
 
Jared suggested a more religious Communism developing in "Decades of Darkness". Instead of Friedrich Engels, Marx develops his theory together with a Heinrich Adenauer.
 
I would think that the more predominately Jewish Marxist philosophy is the less likely it would be adopted by Gentiles.
 
Jello's got it right. Without being steeped in the Young Hegelian criticism of religion, among other things, you're not going to get Marx as a communist thinker without killing all the butterflies. Which means *communism is going to emerge from the interplay of Proudhonism, Lassalianism, and bread and butter trade unionism.

Cool youre back, I really liked your "Germany goes communist" timeline!
 

OS fan

Banned
The 19th century was the age of materialism. One cannot expect that an ideology invented then would be very close to true religion.
 
Could we get less antagonism later then, Communist governments willing to accept religions as long as they're properly interpreted for any socialist elements to dominate?
 
Could we get less antagonism later then, Communist governments willing to accept religions as long as they're properly interpreted for any socialist elements to dominate?

That doesn't even need a POD with Marx, you could get that basically any time before the Russian revolution.
 
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