"A head-on intervention with reality"
December 5, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From a Reader:
I went to church on Sunday morning with a young woman student I've been getting to know. She hesitantly invited me to church—she didn't want me to be uncomfortable since I'm an atheist. I told her we unite and struggle with religious people—which seemed to relieve her angst.
We went to an all Black church. Previously, she relayed that she used to be Catholic but didn't like the atmosphere (mainly that it was not helping or speaking to the problems of the community). She went online and found a baptist church which she was attracted to because it seemed to be helping out the community (including in the prisons).
My friend and I were probably the only non-Black people in the church. It seems to be made up of mostly middle class Black people. The service itself was really draining because of all the personal responsibility, the individualism, upward mobility, and the sinful nature of people kind of thing running through it. By the end, the pastor emphasized how his love of God and the church goes beyond funds—since he gets paid well by the Sheriffs Department. The whole service reeked of BAsics 4:18—"Let's call it what it is—it is slave mentality, with which people are being indoctrinated. All this 'thank you Jesus!' is a slave mentality." There were people kneeling on the floor praising God and Jesus for their life. People blamed themselves for all their suffering. And, there were several references to women having their rightful place with God. So, I made it a point to discuss the service with my friend. Besides, forthrightly condemning the role of the police (including in neighborhoods like the one in which the church in located)—I was very curious to know what she thought of the service itself.
She said a month ago she might have taken in all the things the pastor preached about (even as she's always been hesitant about the patriarchy). But, for the past month—since meeting the revolution—she can't easily swallow everything the preacher is saying. Even while she still likes the things the church does in so far as helping out the community (i.e. painting houses, decorating the neighborhood, etc.), she can't agree with the personal responsibility—since she now knows the problem is systemic and it's not real that everybody can just pull themselves up from the bootstraps. These were important points to get into: (1) why the masses of people look to religion, (2) how will religion look like after the revolution, and (3) a scientific method and approach as oppose to a leap of faith (in particular the struggle and stand for truth). These were points she never thoroughly thought about—let alone ever walked through with anybody.
When we talked about religion being the opiate of the masses OR the heart of a heartless world - she deeply thought about this...I think she's drawn to religion because she does not have a scientific understanding of the world and sees all the suffering in the world and is attracted to people who are changing it (even while it is confined within the framework of "the community"). In further drawing out the need for a scientific world outlook, I forthrightly talked about BAsics 4:18 in speaking to the world outlook masses take up (sometimes directly short of a scientific understanding of reality). I said that on day one after the revolution praying will not be outlawed but asked her to think about the transformation she herself is walking through (due to the head-on intervention with reality).
This led into a whole discussion on plasticity and the capacity of people in being able to change. She said she does believe people can change by simply looking at her own transformation. I asked that she imagine magnifying her experience—where masses are beginning to encounter a scientific understanding of reality: how that would change their thinking and how that would transform society. But, the need to stand on what she understands to be true even as she's open to being proven wrong.
We talked some about her comments of "helping the community" and the difference of doing some good in a messed up world or fundamentally and radically changing the world. She read "Reform or Revolution, Questions of Orientation, Questions of Morality" by Bob Avakian in Revolution newspaper, and we walked through some of the points in it. Mainly drawing from the example of Doctors Without Borders doing heroic, important, and admirable work. But, to argue that this is the most that can de done—is wrong. I drew from her example of the church doing "good" in the community—but is this really dealing with the enormity of the problem? I also drew from the example in the article where BA makes an analogy based on Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court—going back to a time when there is a huge plague and the difference between putting towels on fevered foreheads OR storming the compounds where the antibiotics which could cure it are being held and seizing them.
This led to larger questions particularly around the real possibility of winning a revolution. As she put it: "their military is strong how will it be defeated?" Subsequently she thought out loud over the different questions popping into her head. Instead of trying to immediately and directly respond to her questions—I suggested she go to the source: get into BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! and BAsics (and referenced chapters speaking to her direct question—especially the On The Strategy for Revolution). The main point I got across was that the questions she's raising are big and important questions and there are serious answers to them—which people have never really engaged, thought about, or ever heard. This provoked her to get further into the readings.
We talked some about the special issue of Revolution newspaper on The Communist Revolution and the REAL Path to Emancipation— which she was excited to get into.
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