From Marx to Mao, Communists have belabored religion as the opiate of masses. From Pius IX to Paul VI, Roman Popes have denounced the evils of Communism. Last week, at the arch bishop's palace in Salzburg, Austria, 250 scholars from both sides of the argument concluded an amicable symposium on Christianity and Marxism.
The meeting, sponsored by West Germany's Paulist Society for Christian lay men, included such topnotch theologians as Jesuit Karl Rahner and Herbert Vorgrimler of Freiburg as well as three observers from a new Vatican secretariat for nonbelievers, which is...