Thanks to Dean from the Magnificast for pointing out this passage from Louis Althusser’s essay “A Matter of Fact,” which speaks to the case for church abolition:

“We should not, however, gloss over the fact that, given the present state of affairs, this positive reconquest of religious life through real criticism cannot be the collective work of the Church, which is satisfied with its alienation. It will be undertaken, in the best of cases, by small groups of activists… and social milieux whose structures have evolved to the point where religious alienation can criticize itself, and this real criticism can manifest and reflect itself in the concerns and spiritual quest of the best informed amongst the faithful.

But such groups are relatively small and terribly isolated in the immense world of the Church. They are active on its margins, in milieux that have themselves been severely shaken by the events of this century: they can hardly be active anywhere but there, in pockets of humanity that are already on the way to reducing capitalist alienation. Yet, even there, when they meet with men’s silence, they question themselves, wondering why their voice is not heard, without realizing that, even if they pursued their self-criticism to the point of being able to offer men a truth they could recognize as truly theirs, they could not by themselves counter the collective might of the Church or its language, precepts, and alliances. They continue to feel that they are of little moment because they are on the fringes of the Church and cannot seriously expect to shake it up from within, without inducing it to threaten or repudiate them. Although the objective conditions for a social emancipation of the Church through the proletarian struggle already exist, the conditions for a collective reconquest of religious life have not been created. To create them, the Church as a whole would have to be capable of undertaking its self-criticism; but it is subject to the law of structures which defend themselves, and will not tolerate being questioned. It is necessary, then, to shatter these structures and struggle against the forces protecting them.

We are already engaged in this struggle. The future of the Church depends on the number and the courage of those Christians who, day by day, are developing an awareness of the necessity of the struggle and joining the ranks of the world proletariat. It also depends on the concrete reduction, by these same men, of their own religious alienation. The Church will live thanks to those who, through struggle and in struggle, are once again discovering that the Word was born among men and dwelt among them – and who are already preparing a humane place for it amongst men.”