The Left and Religion: Why Christianity need not be the enemy 

It is no secret that in America right now, there has been a dramatic rise in a special sort of Christian nationalism, so much so that it has come to dominate the Republican Party and its base. On so many national issues, this far-right brand of the Bible has had an outstretched influence on the direction of the government due to their position as being President Donald Trump’s most loyal followers. This is not the work of a specific sect or denomination, but a consequence of a decades long trend which has seen the co-optation of religious symbolism by capitalist actors to push the dominant Christian narratives to the right. As a result, when people think of “Christian values” in relation to an issue, as an almost knee-jerk reaction, they immediately jump to a very conservative worldview.  

Whereas in the past, using Christian appeals was relatively easier across the political spectrum. Ever since President Ronald Reagan and the awakening of the Evangelical “Moral Majority” in the 1980s, this has fundamentally changed. Now, arguably, there is within “Left” spaces—distinctly, this does not refer to liberal spaces—almost an absence of such influence. Those who are Christian and left-wing are seen as the exception, not the rule, and that these people must have changed or subordinated their beliefs to accommodate their ideology. The Right has won the game and made everyone, even their opposition, believe that Christianity is inherently conservative. But does this have to be the case? 

To begin, it’s important to recognize there have been many great leaders and groups in the past led primarily by their religious beliefs. Although not popularly known, Martin Luther King Jr was a self-described socialist and held such beliefs throughout his life. Although he did have his disagreements with certain theoretical traditions which will be elaborated on later, he once put his position simply during a speech to Southern Christian Leadership Conference staff in 1966: “God never intended for some of his children to live in inordinate superfluous wealth while others live in abject, deadening poverty.” The Black Panther Party at the same time advocated for “an end to the robbery by the capitalists of our Black community,” while instituting extensive social programs providing for the needs of their community. For another example outside of the American context, churches across South America in the 1960s were invigorated by a doctrine called Liberation Theology. As a response to the dictatorships of Juan Peron in Argentina, Getulio Vargas in Brazil, and other despotic leaders of the time, this movement grew out of the Catholic belief of a “preferential option for the poor.” It sought to analyze sin on a structural level and connect personal betterment with the combatting of systems of oppression. As far as interpretation of doctrine is concerned, there is ample room and a rich history of such movements beyond just the ones described above that are based in belief. There is no reason to assume that the gospel cannot support the creation of a better world.  

Especially in the context of the fight for a free Palestine, the Left has seen recently the importance of religious voices in collective learning and building. The concept of “jihad,” the teaching of the moral principle to struggle, and other Islamic concepts have been brought forward because of the centering of Muslim voices in this campaign. Meanwhile, Jewish voices, such as through organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace, have been crucial in countering dominant narratives regarding the inherent connection of Zionism and Judaism put forth by conservative institutions. In both these cases, the learning of community through the rich cultural traditions of these groups has helped bring people into the movement and created better, more accepting spaces in service of a better world. If this is the case, then there exists no reason why this cannot exist in other situations as well.  

Now, this is not to say that no tensions exist between religion and revolutionary politics. In certain Marxist thought, it is posited that although religion can espouse progressive values, a true revolutionary must eventually rally against it when it becomes a reactionary barrier to creating a new social order. However, there have been other thinkers who have developed upon thoughts of the relationship between Marx and religion, arguing that Christianity had genuinely revolutionary roots and originally focused on liberation in the material world. There are other philosophical disagreements between the two forces, such as those put by MLK Jr who rejected the materialist and relativist roots of the ideology and chided the atheist Marx for not “sticking with Jesus.” Although these differences are worth recognizing, they do not necessitate antagonism and are worth bridging in service of connecting with and reaching out to more people.  

Although there is a lot that has been said and done to create the illusion of separation between Christianity and the modern Left, owing in large part to misinterpretations of a certain quote about opium and the masses, the potential for power in their collaboration is far greater than it may seem. This isn’t a call for all revolutionaries to convert, but a word on the need to incorporate more voices and reach out to more people in the work of organizing. Although this country may be dominated by powerful voices that have given the word of the Bible a bad name, it does not and should not have to be that way. And I choose to believe that’s what God would think too.