My comments regarding Christianity foreshadowing communism/Marxism came about because of the comments somewhere up there to the effect that the early Christian Churches were "communistic", and that later generations made adjustments in Christian doctrine to accomodate capitalism,as well as other posts suggesting a connection between the two.

There may have been a tendency toward communalism in the early church (I use that to distinguish it from "communism"), but it is anachronistic as well as false to think that notions of communalism were similar to communism.

Communism and capitalism are branches of materialism. Materialism, to the extent that it becomes an end of itself, or seen as the saviour of the human race, is a form of idolatry.

It may be that the Communists permitted churches in some places to remain open. But it came at a price. Church doctrines had to be approved by the State. In any event, church properties were simply appropriated. In China, they were suppressed.

Communism and Marxism were ever essentially atheistic, always hostile to faith. That accomodations may have been made upon terms is hardly the same thing as acceptance.

Dio, I do not know of a single "Marxist" State. I know of many totalitarian States that have claimed to be "Marxist" The Soviet Union, China, North Korea, these might well have been simple dictatorships. All they have been is dictatorial government gussied up with a profoundly flawed theory of economics and human nature. They have been Satan's version of Paradise.