"'Religion is the opium of the people,' said Karl Marx.
Many weak-kneed communists reason as follows: 'Religion does not prevent my being a communist. I believe both in God and in communism. My faith in God does not hinder me from fighting for the cause of the proletarian revolution.'
This train of thought is radically false. Religion and communism are incompatible, both theoretically and practically."
Source: https://www.marxists.org/archive/bukharin/works/1920/abc/11.htm
@CoachMark In fact, a large swath of religions are fundamentally incompatible with capitalism. Asceticism is a frequent component of religious teaching, and capitalism itself is atheistic.
OTOH, there is Scientology …
@yoused you are replying to a bit of a sub-toot - but thanks nonetheless.
@CoachMark A free society is not required to tolerate religious sectionalism. You are free to believe what you want to believe, but leveraging that belief could be constrained without infringing on religious freedom. It is simply a matter of demanding that people not be persecuted for their faith, but can be prosecuted for trying to gain power over the faithful.
And quite frankly, groups like the JWs and HKs who practice strict exclusion need heavy regulation.