Marxism and the New Age movement aspire for profound societal or global transformation. For Marxism, this means a classless society; for New Age thinkers, it’s often a spiritual awakening or harmonious coexistence. In 1843, Karl Marx (1818-1883) started A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. It was finally published in Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher in 1844 in Paris. For context, during the 1840s, Germany was experiencing dissatisfaction with the German Federation. There was an economic depression that caused a halt to major industries and a significant spike in the unemployment rate.
Marx’s writing intends to persuade the reader to agree that religion is a social construct used to control others through fear; religion justifies those in a position of power. Religion is one part of society that works as part of a whole system to promote the social stability of the masses. In other words, religion serves more than one function in society. Marx writes, “Religion is the sign of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, as it is the spirit of spiritless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” The metaphorical opium serves to ease the pain of the sick, just as religion serves to reduce a person’s suffering in life; there is an illusion of a glorious afterlife.
Belief systems make people feel better about their circumstances, just like opium. For Marx, religion supports cultural values that validate the ruling class and is one component of many that prevent a complete socialist revolution. In other words, religion is a vehicle that helps maintain the status quo. In Marx’s argument, once capitalism is eliminated, religion will dissolve along with alienation and unequal social classes—the proletariat and the bourgeoisie will be defeated.
Religion is the Opium of the People (1844) presents a sound argument for the time it was written in 1843. Marx’s perspective on religion argued for change and criticized the function of religion in the modern world. For Marx, the only way for society to progress is to expand his economic theory to include societal social structures; this restructuring of society’s values would one day lead to the upheaval and devastation of the capitalist system. Marx writes, “Religion is only the illusory sun that revolves around man so long as he does not revolve about himself.” People will have to acknowledge that religion is an illusion and give up that illusion for a viable revolution.
Another strength of Marx’s treatise is using opium as a metaphor. At the time of the writing, opium was used as a recreational drug as well as a medicine at this time. Similar to opium, religion can be seen as a blessing or a curse – it causes and also cures people’s hopes and fears.
For Marx, religion is inherently unreasonable even though people have faith. Marx’s presentation of the truth of religion should be enough to set his readers free from alienation and find freedom from the restraints of religion. Religion in its present form justifies the oppression by the ruling classes. However, people have “blind faith” and do not adhere to religious practice from a reasonable stance. Marx argued that the fundamental function of religion is to keep people in their class and complacent.
Further Reading
Religion: opium of the people? website
Author: mountshastamyths
Lurking around here with more questions than answers