Communism Quote by Whittaker Chambers
““It [Communism] is not new. It is, in fact, man's second oldest faith. Its promise was whispered in the first days of the Creation under the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil: "Ye shall be as gods." It is the great alternative faith of mankind. Like all great faiths, its force derives from a simple vision. Other ages have had great visions. They have always been different versions of the same vision: the vision of God and man's relationship to God. The Communist vision is the vision of Man without God. It is the vision of man's mind displacing God as the creative intelligence of the world. It is the vision of man's liberated mind, by the sole force of its rational intelligence, redirecting man's destiny and reorganizing man's life and the world. It is the vision of man, once more the central figure of the Creation, not because God made man in his image, but because man's mind makes him the most intelligent of the animals. Copernicus and his successors displaced man as the central fact of the universe by proving that the earth was not the central star of the universe. Communism restores man to his sovereignty by the simple method of denying God.””
About This Quote
Communism is presented as a secular faith that replaces divine authority with human rationality, positioning humanity as the ultimate creator of destiny.
In simple terms: Communism replaces God with human reason as the guiding force.
Recognize the power and limits of human-centered ideologies.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- political discourse
- academic debate
- personal belief formation
- policy making
- social movements
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- What are the consequences of removing divine concepts from societal frameworks?
- How does human rationality alone address moral dilemmas?
Human-centered visions can ignore ecological and spiritual dimensions.