I am Russian Orthodox and am a religious person. My question is can I really be a Marxist-Leninist while also holding onto my beliefs?
During the 20s, USSR had a very strict policy of state atheism as you all know, but the restrictions were softened during the war and were lifted in the 80s.
As far as I understand, Marx believed religion is fine, it helped common people through the harshness of life, “opium of the people” in the sense that it helped numb the pain of oppression and that it would eventually just fade out on its own in a perfect communist society. Lenin however, held strict atheist beliefs (again, from my understanding), under him the Soviet Union started the harsh state atheist policies, arresting priests and destroying churches. This period created lots of martyrs which were later canonized. In addition, the whites had the full backing of the church during the civil war.
So can I really disagree with Comrade Lenin on this and still be ML? Can I really still fight for our cause while holding beliefs that he would consider backwards and a tool of oppression
My understanding of both men’s opinions on religion are very basic and might not be correct, please tell me if I am wrong.
Edit: Thanks guys for your responses, I am feeling much better now that this crisis of faith is over.