Communism, like any other revealed religion, is largely made up of prophecies.
Interpretation
The quote compares communism to religion, suggesting that both rely on prophetic ideals.
H. L. Mencken's quote points out the similarities between communism and religion, emphasizing that both systems operate on prophetic beliefs and predictions about the future. By referring to communism as a 'revealed religion,' Mencken suggests that it has a faith-like quality, requiring adherence to ideologies that cannot always be empirically proven, much like religious doctrines. This highlights the interpretative nature of political philosophies and the human tendency to seek faith-based structures in varied domains of life.
In practice
In a debate on political systems, one might quote Mencken to illustrate the ideological nature of communism.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
The Way is basically perfect. It doesn't require perfecting.
Human existence cannot be silent, nor can it be nourished by false words, but only by true words, with which people transform the world. To exist, humanly, is to name the world, to change it. Once named, the world in its turn reappears to the namers as a problem and requires of them a new naming. People are not built in silence, but in word, in work, in action-reflection.
The slavery of fear had made men afraid to think.
Indeed, the hereditary gift of prophecy will go to the grave with me.
We need a right view of the cross. It is both a historical event that can take us to Heaven and a current event that can bring Heaven to bear on Earth.
I don't believe in men waiting until they are ready to die before using any of their money for helpful purposes.
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