by Thaddeus G. McCotter
Communist regimes wage war on religion to assert total control, yet the stories of faith, persecution, and resistance remain powerful truths the world must remember.
In the left’s perverse ideology, the status of “victimhood” is to be prized (especially if it does not actually have to be endured), for it serves as a powerful cudgel over their alleged “oppressors.” That this constitutes but another flimsy pretext for leftists to grasp power is revealed by the fact that actual victims of political persecution are ignored and erased from the public square and the historical record. Why? Because these actual victims have experienced religious persecution by communists.
Be it in the former Soviet Union where the Bolsheviks summarily executed Russian Orthodox priests and expropriated religious property; or in today’s People’s Republic of China (PRC) where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues its genocide of the Uighurs and persecution of the Catholic Church; or in Nicaraguan where the Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) persists in its “war” on the Catholic Church, the communist imperative to eradicate religion is alive and unwell, and—despite notable, courageous exceptions, such as Bianca Jagger, who forcefully condemned the religious persecutions waged by regime of communist dictator Daniel Ortega and “co-president” (and wife) Rosario Murillo—rarely recorded and reported.
It was not always this way.
It is beyond question that communists hate God. Indeed, they openly avow their atheism and violently oppress religion to eradicate it. Consequently, for decades, the vast majority of American liberals were steadfast opponents of communism and, in fact, provided the first line of defense against communist infiltration of labor unions and other American private and public institutions.
No longer.
A 2022 Victims of Communism Foundation poll told a disturbing tale: 30% of Generation Z has a favorable view of Marxism, and just 63% of Gen Z and Millennials believe the Declaration of Independence better guarantees freedom and equality than the Communist Manifesto. Truly, yesterday’s liberal is not today’s progressive, who is largely sympatico with the aim, if not the means, of communism’s attempts to subjugate religion to the state.
The modern left has its origins in the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s intellectual cesspool. Suffice it to say for our purpose here, the left is following his directive to establish a “civil religion,” the state dogma one must believe over and above any religious tenets. If one fails to do so, the individual will be “forced to be free”—a euphemism for punishment and/or execution.
Ergo, the virulently atheistic communists’ ideological imperative to wage war on God to crush religion beneath their totalitarian boot heel. Nor, for that matter, will the result be any better in non-communist nations when religious freedom is subordinated to the state by virulent secularists erecting their own civil religion and demanding public obeisance to it, lest one face state-sanctioned consequences. (Sadly, even in the minds of many leftists who claim to be devout believers, when push comes to shove, they will subordinate their religious beliefs to accommodate their leftist ideology.)
Still, why must communists and virulent secularists “coexist” with religion? We go back to the beginning—the left’s simplistic “life hack” that gives their lives meaning and (mis-)direction, i.e., the victim vs. oppressor paradigm, and its imperative to “liberate” from the chains of the existing, intrinsically inequitable, and, yes, evil society so that humanity will be perfected and a terrestrial Eden achieved.
The font of this irredeemably “corrupted” civilization that has precluded human happiness is?
God.
Or more accurately, the poisonous superstition called God and the cults this myth has spawned to oppress and corrupt humanity. Hence, in a postmodern recreation of man’s fall in the Garden of Eden, believing only in themselves and their ideology—in sum, believing themselves gods—communists and their fellow traveling atheists and secular humanists must free humanity—whether they like it or not—from religion… from God.
The communists’ logic is elementary and insidious: where there is no God, one can and must render only unto Caesar, unto the state, unto the communists.
But there is a God. And His work on earth is in good and faithful hands. To wit:
Back on March 6, 2024, writing at First Things amidst the glooming ignorance of communist persecutions, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco made a heartening announcement:
“I’ve asked the Benedict XVI Institute to launch a new multiyear project telling the story of these heroic martyrs of communism—in liturgy and hymns, but also in paintings, poetry, plays, videos, and essays, partnering with the Victims of Communism museum in Washington, D.C., among others.”
Recognizing the danger communism posed to all religious believers, Archbishop Cordileone posed the crux of the matter: “Why do so few Americans pay attention to the horrors of Marxist-leaning regimes? For me, an even more troubling question is, why do Catholics know so little about the martyrs and victims of the brutalities of communism?”
The archbishop cited an obvious culprit but expressed that this did not excuse or prevent our power to rectify the situation:
“We have become overly dependent on secular media and artists to tell our story… As the secular culture becomes more hostile, or simply indifferent, to religion, it is time to rediscover the arts as a center for evangelization. We must once again sing our own songs and tell our own stories so that we can share the truth, goodness, and beauty of faith with the world.”
It is, then, as it always has been and remains: God’s work on earth must truly be our own. And we must perform our tasks, regardless of their arduousness and the hour, for, as Archbishop Cordileone cautions:
“The arc of communism may be long and it may disguise itself under different names, but it begins with the false promise that government without God can usher in utopia and ends with persecution of the Church for daring to speak out against oppression on behalf of the forgotten…
“Shut down the Church, because otherwise the forgotten and the persecuted will have a voice.”
In America, come this joyous Easter Sunday, the church doors will be open, as will the doors of any religion that so desires. For those who enter to worship, let us reverently give voice to the forgotten, the tormented, and the murdered “modern martyrs of communism.” Through the grace of our merciful God, may you ever be remembered.
***
An American Greatness contributor, the Hon. Thaddeus G. McCotter (M.C., Ret.) served Michigan’s 11th Congressional District from 2003-2012, and served as Chair of the Republican House Policy Committee. Not a lobbyist, he is a frequent public speaker and moderator for public policy seminars and a Monday co-host of the “John Batchelor Radio Show,” among sundry media appearances.
Thaddeus G. McCotter
Source: https://amgreatness.com/2025/04/19/remember-the-modern-martyrs-of-communism/
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