La�cit� and socialism

[katreeen]

What would the socialist/Marxist view of "la la�cit�" (strict separation of church and state in France) be? I'm asking with an interest in the ban on ostentatious religious symbols

[Lucrecia]

I'm certainly not an expert on Marxist attitudes to religion, but there's the famous "quote" that "religion is the opium of the people". Without getting too bogged down in fetishism and the transformation of Commodities, the general view towards religion was that it is a device to make the suppressed content with their slavish lives. It is enforced by the middle-classes and those who benefit from cheap labour to stop the working classes from standing up and asking why they should work so hard and be treated so badly for so little. Religion tells them that they'll be rewarded for their hard work after death.

If you're a Red Dwarf fan at all, think of Electronic Heaven! Where robots go after selflessly serving their human masters without going insane and using their superior knowledge and strength.

Similarly, the working classes have the advantage of numbers over the ruling classes, but are subdued by the promise of heaven. Hence, religion is an "opiate".

The separation of the religious from the secular therefore would be considered as a very positive advance in society. It would be like lifting a veil from the eyes of the suppressed and allowing them to percieve their mistreatment.

O'course, the whole theory sorta falls on its face when you consider how few people are now ardent church goers. But then again, the debate of secularisation is another issue altogether!

Hope that (vaguely) helps

L