"IN my opinion, religion, from a political point of view, is neither an opiate nor a miraculous cure. It can be an opiate or a marvelous cure to the extent that it is used to defend the oppressors and exploiters or the oppressed and exploited, depending on the treatment given to the political, social or material problems affecting human beings, who no matter what their theology or religious beliefs are born in this world and have to live in it."

This was part of a response given by President Fidel Castro to Brazilian priest Frei Betto, during a long interview carried out in Havana in 1985, published in book form as Fidel y la religión (Fidel and Religion), with a press run at that time of over one million copies.

As Armando Hart wrote in an introduction to the Cuban edition, the interview points out that a humane and deep understanding is possible and urgent among those who honestly fight for people's well-being, no matter what their ideas about God and religion may be. Hart also recalled that the ideas Fidel propounded in that fruitful dialogue are ideas that he has had throughout his life as a revolutionary, which he expressed with ever increasing magnitude "and whose concepts are now being expressed concretely in a mature, profound manner."

Fidel spoke at that time on this complex and delicate theme, clarifying that he is not a theologian but rather a revolutionary statesman "who has always expressed himself on all subjects with great frankness." He talked about having come from a religious family, and that this influence was especially strong on his mother's side, even though she had not received any religious instruction since she didn't even go to church, given that there were none in the area where they lived.

He also explained his academic training in three religious schools (La Salle, Dolores and Belén), where he had to attend mass and pray every day.
"They couldn't inculcate me with religious faith through the mechanical, dogmatic and irrational methods they used. If someone asks me when I had a religious faith, I say that really I never had one." Further on, he adds that later he had political beliefs and political faith which he himself developed on the basis of his own experiences, reasoning and feelings.

Religious Hero And Political Hero
Fidel stated on that occasion that noble sentiments aren't worth anything without correct and just ideas to back them up. "I'm sure that the same pillars which now support the sacrifice of a revolutionary, yesterday supported the sacrifice of a martyr for his religious faith. Ultimately, the religious martyrs, in my opinion, were unselfish and altruistic people, which is what revolutionary heroes are. Without those conditions, neither a religious hero nor a political hero can exist."
Discussing the beginning of the revolutionary struggle, the preparations by the group that attacked the Moncada Garrison on July 26, 1953, he stated that there were Christians among the participants and that no one was asked about their religious beliefs. "Just as the Church has its martyrs and heroes, the history of any country has its martyrs and heroes, which form part of what is almost a religion."

He also explained that the Marxist-Leninist training which he had been gaining since he entered the university did not create prejudices against Christian revolutionaries who later entered the 26th of July Movement, "not even a single conflict with anyone because of any religious issue." He later specified that they were looking for people willing to fight, without anti-religious proselytism.

He recalled that while in the Sierra Maestra [main Cuban mountain chain and basse for guerilla forces--ed.]he had worn a crucifix, not for religious reasons but as a gesture toward a little girl from Santiago de Cuba who sympathized with the cause and had sent it to him. There was also a priest among the guerrillas, Father Sardiñas, and "there was absolutely no prejudice in relation to these issues."

Class Conflicts
It's no secret that the first revolutionary laws, starting in January 1959, started to produce conflicts, when the bourgeois sectors and landowners changed their attitude toward the Revolution and decided to oppose it. Along with them, the institutions in the service of those interests undertook counterrevolutionary campaigns. This was how the first conflicts with the Church arose, since those elements wanted to use it as a tool, but these were class conflicts. It is also true that within middle-class and poor Catholic sectors there was a reaction to that counterrevolutionary line.

He pointed out that he also observed that relations with the Protestant churches, made up mostly of poorer sectors of the population, with a more consistent religious practice, were always "very good and easy-going.... Nor were there problems with animist groups or any other type of religious group, nor were there problems with Catholic believers: problems arose with the Catholic institutions, which is not the same thing," Fidel explained in his interview with Frei Betto.

After referring to other profound religious processes such as the French Revolution, the October Revolution and the Mexican Revolution, he said, "Our revolution was a profound social revolution. Nevertheless, there wasn't a single case of a bishop or a priest executed, not a single case of a priest who was physically mistreated or tortured. In regard to this, I would say that it is even more notable that there wasn't a single case of this sort involving a priest or a layperson. Because since the time we were in the Sierra Maestra, and when we made the laws I told you about against the torturers and killers, we established a deep consciousness in all our fighters about respect for human life, respect for human beings, rejecting arbitrariness, injustice, physical violence against persons and against prisoners."

He pointed out that there were cases of complicity by the clergy with serious counterrevolutionary activities that could have led to trials with very severe sanctions such as a firing squad, but the harshest punishment was not applied. "We always tried to give priests special consideration. Nor was any church closed. The right of some priests to remain in Cuba was suspended, especially those of Spanish origin, because of their militant counterrevolutionary attitude, although others were authorized to take their place in religious work."

In a relatively short period of time, the initial difficulties with the Catholic Church were normalized and eliminated, "without any trauma, in part because of the attitude assumed by the Apostolic Nuncio in Cuba," Monsignor
Zacchi, until today, when existing relations are described as good and open, including a dialogue.

Common Viewpoints
Further on in the same interview, President Castro expressed that in no way does the concept of profound social change, socialism and communism involve an invasion of the individual's internal life, nor does it deny any human being the right to his or her own thoughts and beliefs. "It seems to us that that belongs to the most intimate part of a human being and we see the rights recognized in our Socialist Constitution of 1975 not simply as a political question, but something which is more far-reaching, as a question of principles, of respect for the person to profess the belief that he or she considers appropriate. That is in the essence of socialism, it is in the essence of communism and it is in revolutionary ideas regarding religious beliefs." It should be added that since the 4th Party Congress, persons with religious beliefs can be members of the Communist Party of Cuba. In addition, the 1992 constitutional reform sanctions all types of discrimination based on religious beliefs.

Throughout these years, Fidel has had numerous encounters with Latin American, Caribbean and U.S. religious communities. In one of these exchanges of opinion, he stated that "there were many things in common between the doctrines of the Church and those of the Revolution." Among these points of contact, he cited the Ten Commandments, "which are very close to our tenets."

He has often pointed out and praised the efforts of religious orders which lovingly work in hospitals and homes for the aged, some of which are more efficient and economical than those administered by the Cuban state. "I've always mentioned the attitude of those nuns as models of Communists, because I really believe that they have the characteristics that we want for every Communist Party member.

"From a strictly political point of view - and I think I know something about politics - I even think it's possible to be a Marxist without stopping being a Christian, and to work together with Marxist Communists to transform the world. The important thing is that both should be sincere revolutionaries anxious to eliminate man's exploitation by man and to fight for a just distribution of social wealth, equality, fraternity and the dignity of all human beings; in other words, to be bearers of the most advanced political, economic and social consciousness, even though - in the case of Christians - this may come out of a religious concept."

According to Armando Hart in his note to the Cuban edition, two of the most important historical trends of human thinking and emotion, Christianity and Marxism, "presented as irreconcilable by the adversaries of human progress," found in the book Fidel and Religion new and surprising paths to understanding, "something which all men and women sincerely concerned about the fate of humanity are sure to be interested in considering."

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