I personally don’t really get how someone reconciles materialism with religion, but why be an obnoxious atheist about it? I’d rather not exclude anyone because of my idealistic worldview; either I’m wrong and religion will exist for as long as humanity does (so what did I accomplish by being a dick about it?) or my way of thinking is correct and people are going to come around to that eventually, once the material conditions are right for people to no longer need religion.

I understand your attitude toward religion given the situation in your country at the moment. I come from a country not too far from yours that has similar problems with religion. And i used to think the same way that you do, and to some extent i still do. I have mellowed my views on this somewhat for purely pragmatic purposes. The reality is that religion is a very prevalent and powerful force in the world, and it’s not going away very soon. There are too many religious people in the world, especially in the global south, for us to adopt a hostile attitude toward them. We simply cannot afford to alienate so many people. And if for some of them (such as is the case in some Latin American countries) their religious views happen to motivate or reinforce their commitment to socialism and anti-imperialism, that is ultimately a good thing.

And yes, i still do believe that Marxism and religion do not fit together, because one is based in materialism and the other in idealism. But i also know that humans are perfectly capable of holding conflicting views at the same time - it’s called cognitive dissonance, though I suppose if you wanted to be harsh about it you could call it hypocrisy. Either way there are plenty of religious comrades who are excellent communists and my view is that it is up to them to square that circle, it’s not my problem. If they want to keep holding on to their religious beliefs for whatever reason, as long as they are still standing side by side with us in the same struggle i will refrain from being obnoxious or judgy to them, or act in an arrogant, dismissive way.

For now religion is not the primary contradiction that we face, though we should of course oppose and combat those aspects and manifestations of religion that stand against revolution, in support of the existing bourgeois order, or in promotion of reactionary ideas. Our goal is to build as large a movement as possible against capitalism and imperialism, with a disciplined and well organized vanguard party at its core. To do that we have to be inclusive to a degree and not too dogmatic about things that are not of primary importance to the struggle. Most importantly we have to adapt to local conditions. The position that the local communist party should take toward religion will be different from country to country.