Marxism

• Marx views religion as “opium of the people”, as it alleviates the pain of poverty by offering an escape after death, solving their earthly problems
• religion dulls the pain of oppression and preventing the people from revolting, creating a false consciousness
• religion offers hope of a supernatural intervention in which people’s earthly problems are resolved, this builds a reliance on religion, to the point where people don’t do anything significant in hopes of improving their conditions
• religion makes a virtue out of suffering, teaching that such social inequalities are part of ” God’s Will” and therefore inevitable
• social control

  • in feudal England, the bourgeois were in allegiance with the Church, the former generously funding the latter
  • this meant that the church legitimated social inequality, this maintaining the established social order of that time
• criticism

  • just because it is often used as a tool of oppression, this doesn’t explain it’s existence, religion is universal in nearly all societies worldwide, indicating that it fulfils other individual and societal needs, possibly in a more positive way as functionalism states
• it teaches people that revolting is a futile attempt at social change, and that they should just accept the status quo, as prejudiced as it may be
• ”blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth“ indoctrinates adherents to essentially remain weak rather than seek higher power, instead looking forward to rewards in the afterlife, this keeps them in a state of false consciousness
• the ruling class uses religion to manipulate the masses which keeps them from attempting to overthrow the ruling class by creating a “mystical fog” that taints the truth
• religion also serves as an opiate for the masses, distracting them from their misery through hopeful promises of eternal life or paradise, thus preventing rebellious action against the capitalist system.
• religion is a ” spiritual gin “ which drowns the slaves of capital
• Engels argued that the British bourgeoisie gave generous donations to the Protestant Church in the 1800’s as a means of getting them to side with capitalism during the Industrial Revolution
• “it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” states that being spiritually rich is more important than being materialistically rich, this romanticised perception of poverty facilitates false class consciousness
• The Indian Caste system teaches that your position is society is assigned to you by God