Day by day I begin to wonder more and more if I can even call myself a communist anymore. Its becoming hard to really reconcile my faith with communism if the ideology itself is theorically opposed to it. Bukharin's book, "ABCs of Communism," has an entire section on Chapter 11 that directly talks about why religion and communism are incompatible. Communists believe history is driven by class struggle and material conditions. Religious people believe in stuff like divine intervention or divine will. A communist would probably look at islam (my faith) and be like "No prophet was sent a message by God and acted upon it, it was their material conditions that made them act." I don't see how one could believe both, it feels like its either or.
Sure, it is perfectly possible for religious people to largely agree with Marxists on such things as historical materialism and present-day class struggles, not to mention struggles for national liberation, against racism, etc. It is possible be anti-capitalist and fight for a classless, moneyless, and stateless society where MOP is colletively owned but at the end of the day, there is philosophical tension.
I feel at best, I can be an ally, but the way I see it, I will never be one of them. I do not belong. My voice does not count equally and my beliefs make me suspect. I have faced hostility from leftists that are atheist and hostile towards religion and been called a revisionist. If this is how me and others are gonna be treated just because of our faith, I'd rather die than simply be used as cannon fodder in a revolution.
I'm not a big intellectual guy, so I don't really have a ton to add to the discussion. BUT! I do know that a lot of South American Catholic Socialists have ton a ton of work on trying to square that circle between Socialism and religion through Liberation Theology.
I don't know of any great resources to read about it. Maybe Cowbee has something in his back pocket on the topic? He's the smartest guy I know about Communism stuff.
I'm flattered! I will say, I have not studied much on Liberation Theology (as of yet), as I am not religious myself and have prioritized other areas of study. You are correct, though, that this is an area being actively developed, especially in South America. I have also seen Statesian orgs advancing this line, at least from local observation, not to replace dialectical materialism but as an avenue for religious socialists.