Five Books on Religion and the Left

The Struggle for Soviet Cosmology

For the Soviet Union, atheism became more than the absence of religion. It was an ideology that had to fill the void of religion itself.

Many Are Called, Few Are Chosen

There are innumerable cinematic Jesuses, most of them bland, pious, and blue-eyed — until an Italian communist decided to preach the old gospel in a new way.

The Churches of the Polish People’s Republic

Postwar Poland saw a huge wave of church-building, within and against the professedly socialist system.

Holy Land, USA

Christian tourists enjoy plenty of God-honoring vacation destinations across the United States.

Sister Corita’s Immaculate Art

In the 1960s, a nun in California decided to make contemporary art — and managed to serve both the Vatican and the anti–Vietnam War movement in the process.

A Window Into Victorian Socialism

The Fabian Society immortalized its brand of reformist socialism in stained glass.

The Counterculture’s Come-to-Jesus Moment

How a corruption of New Left ideology became fodder for the religious right.

Jim Larkin: Labor Prophet

Irish labor leader Jim Larkin’s combination of Christian faith and socialist zeal electrified the working class — and threatened to tear down the established order.

The Church of Human Resources

For some, capitalism’s failures are to be redeemed not by political action but by civilization-scale moral projects under the remit of a new clergy: human resources.

Socialists in the Kingdom of God

Today the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is widely understood to be a right-wing force in US politics. But just over 100 years ago, Mormons were at the center of a religious socialist renaissance in Utah.

The End(s) of the World

How some world religions imagine the apocalypse.

Waiting for the Savior

History is full of dynamic religious leaders who were not, in the end, the messiah.

Walter Benjamin’s Final Prophecy

Walter Benjamin grew up in a secular family, but later combined Jewish messianism with Marxism in order to reignite past hopes in present struggles.

Donate, and Reach a Higher State of Socialist Clarity

UAW President Shawn Fain Is Reviving That Old-Time Religion

Mixing Bible verses with class-struggle rhetoric, Shawn Fain’s pro-labor Christianity stands in a rich tradition brimming with scripture-quoting union workers and labor leaders.

The NLRB’s Book of Exodus

A little-known ruling has crushed unions at religious colleges and universities all over the country.

Labor’s Great Awakening Continues

After a year of huge strikes and rising militancy, workers look to carry the momentum forward into 2024.

Dealignment of the Faithful?

It’s tempting to see America’s declining religiosity as nothing but good news for the Democrats. The real picture is more complicated.

In Astoria, Queens, an Iftar in Solidarity With Palestine

Last month, socialist NY Assembly member Zohran Mamdani organized a public iftar in his district in Astoria, Queens, calling for a cease-fire in Gaza — a modest attempt to build international solidarity at the most local political level.