Is religion the "opium of the masses" as Marx said?

i think this is just more from power corrupting people than religion numbing the masses and trying to keep them down. also, people in high places can get away with this sort of behavior simply because they are in high places with power. lower class people would more than likely engage in this sort of behavior if they had the ability to, but they don't.

i also think you are overestimating how much religion keeps people occupied. most people do their own thing even if they know it is wrong by religious standards. most people are not overly occupied with religion. i mean there are some fundamental things. when you look at america and your friends the people you know not everyone is gung-ho about being christian even if they believe in it. the same is true for muslim nations as well. maybe women don't get those chances but men certainly do.

also i dont get how #4 represents repressing the masses.

one more thing...being religious doesn't mean you can't be highly successful or wealthy. i mean thats what america was founded on. a hard work ethic based on religious values. also, the catholic church in latin america was one of the biggest economic powers around during colonial times. i'd be willing to be that most wealthy people have a belief in god.

i think it is cynical to think that it is simply an opiate for the masses. i hope i kind of got my point across.

 

I agree, but think you have to add television and lotteries as things that keep the poor from complaining.

 

religion has become a tool for the powerful to coerce(sp?) the less educated, less fortunate masses. just examine a history book. the things that have been done "in the name of religion" are appalling.

Jesus must be saddned by the things that are done supposedly in His name.

sad but true.

 

I think it would be helpful if you refined your question a bit. If you mean “religion” as in the corrupted, politicised and abusive power structures that have little to nothing to do with real faith, then I would agree with you to a significant extent. If you mean to say that genuine faith and spirituality are a myth, as it is commonly believed Marx meant, then I would very much disagree.

edit: I agree with SWTsig. I'll also note that Jesus addresses such abuses in very strong terms in Matthew 23 and other places in the bible.

 

not really, there are states that control the population quite well without religion, witness China for example, where the majority of the population is Atheist.

 

I think we need to distinguish between three aspects of religion to answer the entitled question: The purpose of religion, the function of religion, and the basis of religion.

 

Religion has always been used as a mechanism of control. It's the oldest trick in the book.

 

I don't get it. How has it been used to hold people who practice that religion down? I know it is something that is accepted by people as true, but I just don't see it as true. The examples glynch used I don't think justify what he is saying. Maybe I am shortsighted...I dunno. I am by no means religious, but I don't see religion as a form of control. Sorry..I should restate that....a form of organized control of people. Maybe you can make that argument for cults, but not the major religions of the world. They are too diverse. Yes they try to regulate people morally but they don't hold people down in other ways.

 

Organized religion is mind control for the weak

Organized religion tells you how to live, what to think, how to think, how to treat each other...instead of people deciding for themselves what is right and wrong, they are depending on something else to tell them...if that isnt mind control then what is?


I personally believe that I can decide for myself what morals/beliefs/values/ethics are worthy of being followed and adheared to...

 

Understand first what Marx was saying. It is important to note that Marx's interest in religion is what started his political ideals, and that he was originally responding to the Young Hegelian discourse on religion. The actual quote, from his Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right of 1844 is not a top-down critique, as in a state establishing religion to oppress the masses, but a more personal human to God interaction. The full quote:

"Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

Most people either don't know or don't understand Marx in regard to religion. There are some good works out there, though, that will clarify it and place him within the Young Hegelian tradition.

 

Ok who do you know personally that is mind controlled by religion? I know of no one. I know more people that are controlled by how they were raised, but I don't know anyone above the age of 10 who explicitly says "I'll go to hell if I use a cuss word" (I don't know I couldn' think of anything so I just threw it out there even though I know its ok to cuss). Is there anything wrong with promoting the idea treat others how you want to be treated? I think that is probably a pretty universal thing. I mean it just emphasizes having a conscience and thinking about others, which isn't really mind control at all. It's more just common decency. Overall people follow along the major things religion says not to do like stealing and killing, but most people would do that anyway without religion. People aren't inherently evil or bad. People who are treated poorly tend to treat others poorly. People who are treated good tend to treat others well even if they haven't been raised with a certain religion.

I hear the line that religion tells people how to think and act, but how many people actually follow that to exactly what is said? VERY VERY few.

 

Yeah, you can think for yourself, but your criticism of religion is some crap you got off a webpage or some lame book.

 

dude, have you been living in a cave the last couple thousand years?

We have people flying planes into buildings b/c of religion...

We have people blowing themselves up on buses b/c of religion...

 

yeah and those are cult extremists.

 

whatever you do, dont address any points of argument, but attact me personally...

classic

 

Actually, I did have a point.

Look, you choose to believe in various left wing ideas. Nobody forced you to do so, you thought for yourself, looked at the various arguments, and thought that those ideas were most accurate.

Now why can't you say the same for religion? Personally, I think people who follow religion do so because they sincerely believe it. Christianity has a lot of leaders who did not blindly follow the religion, there was the Protestant movement, and the Catholic Church also is highly steepd in reason.

I think Marxism is the opium of the college campus. We need to get off the drug. We've established it's a bogus fad, what's taking so long?

 

The old Josh Baskin technique, the second oldest trick in the book.


The Catholic Church has been steeped in reason since when? About 1:30pm today?

 

i was gonna make that point as well. the people who blindly follow things are not just susceptible to blindly following religion. when you look at religion it is not as if it is one solid homogenous thing. it is extremely diverse.