Bloch’s early social utopia subordinated the church to socialism while retaining it

Evidence

It affirms, in fact, that mankind has the same “nature”, that man in general exists, in so far as created by God, son of God, therefore brother of other men, equal to other men, and free amongst and as other men; and that he can conceive of himself as such, mirrored in God, who is the “self-consciousness” of humanity; but it also affirms that all this is not of this world, but of another (the Utopia). Thus do ideas of equality, fraternity and liberty ferment among men, among those strata of mankind who do not see themselves as equals nor as brothers of other men, nor as free in relation to them. Thus it has come about that in every radical stirring of the multitude, in one way or another, with particular forms and particular ideologies, these demands have always been raised. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1440 (#expands, via linked claim)

In the secular state, which officially has no religion at all, and in which there is no involvement of the state in religion and no involvement of religion in the state, Judaism theoretically has the same status of any other religion. There are not many secular states of that type in the world. Most of the countries of Western Europe have a state church, though at the present time this is not very meaningful. The communist states in Eastern Europe were in principle secular, but in reality their secularism had little effect. They were atheists, but not godless. They had no theology, but they did have a creed. They had no religion, but they certainly had a church, complete with scriptures and dogmas, prelates and hierarchs, orthodoxy, heresies and, above all, an inquisition. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 330 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Religious utopianism supplies equality and freedom demands to oppressed strata — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1440; Campanella’s Utopia fused theocratic rule with communist social organization; Communist states functioned as a secular religion with its own church — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 330

Broader Connections

• Campanella’s Utopia fused theocratic rule with communist social organization #exemplifies (0.78)
• Religious utopianism supplies equality and freedom demands to oppressed strata #expands (0.74) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1440
• Communist states functioned as a secular religion with its own church #complicates (0.73) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 330