Marx View Of Religion Essay

Marx views religion as a drug that gives the people temporary relief from their unhappiness, which inhibits them from conducting social change. To better understand Marx’ view of religion one must question, why is it so important that human beings stop looking to a metaphysical world for happiness? What is real happiness? And why does social change depend upon abandoning religion? Marx examines the importance of why human beings must stop looking to a metaphysical world. This can be translated into, why must humans stop turning to religion to be happy and fulfilled. Humans live their lives under the impression that they must obey g-ds orders, and fulfill certain requirements to live a happy life. It is believed that if these orders are fulfilled

Marx views religion as a “universal source of consolation and justification.” (Marx 8) Meaning that humans are upset with something in their lives, but rather than facing what is upsetting them they turn to religion to forget about their problems. However, the problem with this is, religion does not solve any unhappiness or problems one is facing. Religion only gives temporary relief. It is for this reason Marx believes, religion is “the opium of the people” (Marx 8) because similar to the drug, religion gives temporary relief that makes one feel good but once one is addicted to relying on religion, they become powerless. It is for this reason that Marx sees the urgency for abandoning religion. Man must focus on making himself more powerful. Marx recognizes “man is the highest being for man, hence with the categorical imperative to overthrow all relations in which is debased, enslaved forsaken, despicable being.” (Marx 9) The meaning of this quote is to

For a social change to occur, humans must realize that a change must be made in the first place. Marx claims that the only way the people will have this epiphany is by abandoning religion, to see what is upsetting them in life. As explained earlier, religion is a form of “consolation and justification” (Marx 8) which allows the people to feel relief from their problems. Marx believes “the criticism of heaven turns into the criticism of the earth, the criticism of religion into the criticism of law and the criticism of theology into the criticism of politics…” (Marx 9) the meaning of this is that once humans criticize and question the meaning and importance of the metaphysical and religion, they will begin to criticize everything else in life. By criticizing the laws and politics that humans follow, flaws will be noticed therefore a need for social change will be recognized. Marx believes that for our society to work properly everyone should be viewed as equal. If there exists no social classes and large institutions dictating our actions, society will then be able to flourish. Ultimately, Marx views man as an extremely powerful being. He recognizes that since the people were powerful enough to create a social institution as powerful as religion, we must be capable of being strong enough to forget about religion entirely. Marx has hope that once logic and understanding of the matter reach the