Abstract

In light of the renewed debate over religion and politics, I seek some insights from Marx and Engels as a way of exploring the tensions within secularism. I am interested two of Marx’s texts: Comments on the Latest Prussian Censorship Instruction and On the Jewish Question. In the former, he argues the rather commonplace position that religion is a particular concern and that it really should have no part in the general matters of the state. However, in the latter he offers a far more dialectical argument, namely, that the secular state emerges from the impossible contradictions within the Christian state. In Frederick William IV, King of Prussia Engels elaborates on this contradiction, exploring the problems with the Prussian king’s efforts to preserve a Christian state. The reason for returning to these texts is quite simple, for it avoids the need to reinvent the wheel concerning a debate with a long history.