Karl Marx wrote, "Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sign of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."
People often misquote Marx when he spoke of religion being the opium of the people, or they misunderstand what he meant. According to Karl Marx, religion is not a disease, but an expression of economic injustice and our material realities. Marx argued that religion is used by people in power to lessen the distress the average person feels about being poor and taken advantage of. Think slaves of the old South. They relied on western religion (it was forced on them) for comfort while at the same time suffering from oppression and exploitation by slave owners who used their religion to both justify their immoral behavior against blacks and control them.
Teach people that a god cares about them and will reward them in the next life and you have less discontent and more control over people. What they can't get now they will receive later. Just be good and do what my god says. Don't kill, honor your government and respect authority. Today people still utilize religious faith to comfort them in hard times. Leaders still use religion to control people, continue irrational traditions, justify dogma and become powerful. Political groups use religion to promote values based on their religion and today, religion has become a test for office.
Religion is a human movement and as such is an expression of our humanity. It, by itself, isn't good or bad. It is a vehicle for people to justify what they are already, will become, or what they wish.
Bill J.
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