Take that as you will.
I believe atheism is as much a religious concept as any religion, based on a faith in an unprovable premise.
There is atheism without communism.
But communisms goals are indeed “religious”.
We said at the beginning of this foreword that Marxism cannot he conceived without atheism. We would add here that atheism without Marxism is incomplete and inconsistent.The communists do not take that notion for granted.
Foreword to Lenins Religion
From a Marxist viewpoint, an atheistic mind is already three-fourths conquered.A mere heresy of an existing religion makes its holders still think they are part of whatever religion it claims to be a tenet of. Communism makes no such claim.
The Naked Communist, chapter 12