Religion Seeks Peace with Communism​—Why?

DOES it surprise you that religion is seeking peace with Communism? Did you consider the churches to be a bulwark against atheistic Communism?

You may have got that impression from the strong pronouncements of the Catholic Church years ago condemning Communism. Yet those pronouncements had little effect. After the second world war Catholic leaders in Communist-controlled countries, such as Hungary and Poland, compromised and swore loyalty oaths to atheistic regimes.

True, Catholic officials did not approve of this. For example, when the archbishop of Hungary, Joseph Groesz, warmly greeted the visiting Soviet premier, the Catholic magazine America, of April 26, 1958, said: “It was a disagreeable shock to see a Catholic archbishop shaking hands with Bolshevik Number One.” Also, the Vatican’s Cardinal Ottaviani complained: “Some still stretch out their hands to the new antichrists and even race to see who can first shake hands with them and exchange sweet smiles.”

But that was the Catholic attitude over a decade ago. Since then Communism has made great advances. Has this affected the official Catholic position toward Communism?

Indeed it has! Now even the pope greets and exchanges sweet smiles with the highest Soviet officials. Communist heads of state show up regularly at the Vatican for papal audiences. And two years ago Archbishop Agostino Casaroli became the first Vatican official to visit Moscow since the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. A recent Vatican publication even said that it found “Christian values” in the teaching of Communist China’s Mao Tse-tung. Reporting on this radical change in attitude, the Panama Star & Herald of September 1, 1973, said:

“The Vatican has ended its cold war with the communist world and is moving steadily toward coexistence with Red regimes.

“Twenty-five years ago Pope Pius XII decreed excommunication for ‘atheistic communists.’ But today Pope Paul VI is dispatching envoys to communist capitals and concluding agreements with some governments.”

Thus far the Vatican has established full-fledged diplomatic relations with two Communist countries, and is seeking such ties with others. “Only the largest and the smallest Communist nations​—China and Albania—​have spurned all Vatican overtures so far,” the New York Times notes.

But it is not only Catholicism; other religions, too, seek peace with Communist regimes. In fact, the Orthodox churches work hand in hand with them. The Catholic World of February 1971 said:

“The Orthodox Church of Rumania and the Communist government have a de facto marriage of mutual interest which fosters nationalistic aims of Rumanians. It sometimes startles outside visitors to see President Nicolae Ceausescu and Patriarch Justinian present together to greet foreigners. . . . both the church and the state are prospering under this strange ‘marriage’ between church and Communist state.”

A similar friendship exists between Church and State in the Soviet Union. In fact, a few years ago the New York State Court of Appeals, ruling on a case involving the Moscow Patriarchate, concluded: “No other view is possible than that the Russian Church is a tool exploited by the communist rulers.”

It is noteworthy that the Russian Church and other Communist-supported Orthodox churches have received membership in the World Council of Churches. Under their influence the World Council has initiated “Marxist-Christian dialogues.” But why do the churches seek peace with atheistic Communism?

Because they fear that, if they do not, their religion will be stamped out by Communist regimes. So the churches make concessions; they compromise. The Baptists, for example, have been a “recognized” religion in the Soviet Union. But even their own members complained, according to New York Times correspondent Grose, that “Baptist leaders had shown themselves too pliable before state authorities.”

It is the same with the Catholic Church. The Panama Star & Herald reports: “The Pope’s approach to communism, Vatican sources say, is based on reality and his diplomatic initiatives are seen as the only realistic way to protect the Church and its estimated 65 million followers in communist lands.”

But why are Communist leaders willing to negotiate with the churches and make concessions to them? Because a significant number of their people still are religious, and so by permitting to function those churches that will do as they say, easier control over the people is maintained. Thus, as reported in The National Catholic Reporter of December 17, 1971:

“Cuban Premier Fidel Castro says that as a revolutionary he regards the growing cooperation between Marxists and Christians in Latin America as ‘something useful.’”

However, it should not really be surprising that worldly religion is seeking peace with Communism. It is not a new tactic. Time and again the churches have prostituted themselves to the political powers. For example, in seeking accord with the Nazi regime, the Vatican, in 1933, signed a concordat that required each Catholic bishop, before taking office, to take an “oath of loyalty” to the government.

Indicating the extent to which the church would go, Pope Pius XI said: “The Head of the Catholic Church would consider it his duty to deal with the Devil himself . . . if reasonable grounds existed to support the hope that such dealings would protect, or advance, the interests of religion among mankind.”​—The Brooklyn Eagle, February 21, 1943.

No wonder the Bible depicts world religion as “the great harlot . . . with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication.” (Rev. 17:1, 2) The churches have clearly abandoned Christ, who proclaimed: “My kingdom is no part of this world,” and who said that his disciples “are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.” (John 18:36; 17:16) So, then, if you desire to have God’s favor it is vital that you have no share with religion that has ‘gone to bed’ with haters of God.