Steve asked:

How are Marx & Engels, Sivaraksa, and Christ's points of view interrelated on the subject of Religion,
Society and Politics?

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The short answer is that, apart from Marx and Engels, they aren't interrelated. Marx and Engels,
Sivaraksa and Christ (which is a title meaning 'the anointed of God') — but I assume you mean Jesus
of Nazareth — belong to different worlds. Marx and Engels themselves belong to different worlds
within the same world: Engels was a wealthy patron and industrialist, Marx was a political exile, an
impoverished journalist and philosopher. Although they collaborated upon their political writings, they
belonged to different classes in a class-ridden society. Jesus was Jewish and, it seems, heir to ideas
of 'the end of time' and the 'Messianic promise'. Sulak Sivaraksa is a Thai social justice activist from
Buddhist culture.

The point is that 'religion', 'society' and 'politics' are not words that refer to things that remain constant
across time and place. We may not treat these words as if they were universals. We may translate
'religion', 'society', 'politics' into the relevant language (ancient Hebrew or Aramaic, German or Thai)
but the use and meaning these words have in those languages, especially with historical periods
intervening, is very different.

Matthew Del Nevo

www.sicetnon.com