Marx believes that religion is an ideology of the ruling class and, therefore, supports the status quo. In this approach to explaining religion, subordinate groups come to believe in the legitimacy of the social order that oppresses them by internalizing the ideology of the ruling class. Marx is often quoted as saying that “religion is the opium of the people”. Marx advocates that people should reject other-worldly values to focus on the here and now and work for rewards in this life (Johnstone 2007). The film A Question of Miracle confirms that Marx’s theory is true based on the activities taken place. The film leads viewers and participants to believe in miracles through the faith of being a Christian. In the film, members of Pastor Hinn’s …show more content…
Church and other religious entities are being told that Jesus Christ is a form of weapon that can cure any form of disease and heal any form body deformities–– terminally ill, crippled, or brain issues. Members of the church are subdued to Pastor Hinn’s ideology and become dependent on his words by following his demands. For instance, people who are terminally ill, crippled, or have family members in need of a miracle are encouraged to donate thousands of dollars in order to receive a miracle. A participant of this event is the Rekush Family that converted from Hinduism and gave two thousand dollars in the hopes that their son’s brain tumor would be healed. Pastor Hinn’s also told his members that “one must have faith, or this shall not work” and the Rekush Family confirmed their beliefs by following the words of Pastor Hinn (Hinn 1999). Instead, the Rekushs’ son died nine months later, which was a distressing moment for them. Marx maintains that the happiness and rewards promised by religion are merely illusions (Johnstone 2007). In this view, religion helps maintain social inequality by justifying oppression and is an institution that justifies and perpetuates the ills of society. Specifically, rather than resolving conflict or curing social injustice, the conflict analysis approach views religion as the basis of intergroup conflict (Johnstone 2007). Further, the inequalities and social injustices that exist in society are reflected within the religious institutions themselves (e.g., race, class, or gender stratification). People use religion as a form of weapon that emphasizes the difference in faith to prove that they are right. Religion can be involved in a conflict, for example, bourgeoisie, societies or communities are in conflict against one another. Like opium, religion offers consolation for suffering but does not deal with the origin of the suffering. It also legitimates the suffering of the poor and the privileges of the ruling class. Marx believes that people also use religion to justify equality and injustices (Johnstone 2007). Therefore, if religion agrees with it, then it must be right. For example, according to the Bible, “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Those who are in a better situation, then God loves them. The film A Question of Miracle was also able to prove that Pastor’s style of worship and religion, both had a psychological and sociological on followers, which left viewers under the impression that Pastor Hinn is a swindler.
On the other hand, members of Pastor Hinn’s Church did not feel that way, instead, they became followers of his words (Hinn 1999). According to Marx, the dominant religion in any society legitimates the interests of the ruling class. This is true because those who control economic production (the bourgeoisie) also control the production of ideas in society through institutions such as the church, the education system, and the media (Johnstone 2007). The bourgeoisie uses these institutions as ‘weapons’ to legitimate inequality. It legitimates the power and privilege of the ruling class by making their position appear to be divinely ordained (Johnstone 2007). For example, Pastor Hinn explains that he has to ride on a private jet so that he can prepare to preach the word of the Lord. On the other hand, the members of Pastor Hinn’s Church are depending on his words “members should pay their tithes because no matter what the economic oppression nothing will happen to your family” (Hinn 1999). For that reason, Pastor Hinn’s members continue to make a pledge even though they are not economically stable with the hopes seeing a miracle. It is being said that Jesus has the power to heal, but he does not and people are skeptical about that. People like Pastor
Hinn who has the power to manipulate people has to do with value judgment based on historical facts (Hinn 1999). For instance, during demonstrations with Hitler and the Nuremberg laws viewers were able to see civilians raising their hands, similar to Pastor Hinn’s service members would raise their hands as well (Hinn 1999). In the end, the film A Question of Miracle was able to prove that the people that were presumed to be healed by Jesus were actually not. Instead, it was a placebo effect––mind over body; a patient's condition can simply be improved because the person has the expectation that it will be helpful (Hinn 1999). Religion provides a sense of healing and people turn to religions for that reason although there are medical alternatives. Religion can sometimes have a narcotic effect, where it draws others into believing the religion. It is like an opium. Marx says, “man makes religion. Religion does not make man. Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again” (Johnstone 2007). The purpose of religion is to create an illusion, fantasy, or oppress poor people. Marx has sympathy and realizes that poor people are in distress and religion provide them with hope. The drug fails to fix the injury, but the injury is still there, meaning, you are numb. The drug helps you to forget your pain and suffering. Religion does not fix the underline cause of your pain and suffering, but it helps you to forget it. Therefore, Marx’s theory that religion is a tool that helps maintain the status quo in society by making the lower classes content with promises of great rewards in the life after death is true.
Howard Thurman in his book, “Jesus and the Disinherited” presented Jesus as a role model for the oppressed on how to find strength, freedom and peace within God and oneself. Thurman shares the story of how Jesus offered an alternative to accepting the Roman rules, like the Sadducees did in hope of being allowed to maintain their Jewish traditions; A solution to remaining silently obedient, like the Pharisees, as hatred and resentment destroyed them from within. Jesus provided an alternative solution to the Zealots of his day who resorted to physical force to advance their justified cause, often paying the ultimate cost, their life. Jesus taught love. Love of God, self, neighbor and especially your enemy. Thurman stresses that Jesus know that “it is man’s reaction to things that determines their ability to exercise power over them”.(Thurman, 18) Jesus taught and modeled the art of strength through humility. He
In the book’s introduction, Walter Rauschenbusch has written “It follows that the relation between Christianity and social crisis is one of the most pressing questions for all intelligent men who realize the power of religion, and most of all the religious leaders of the people who give direction to the forces of religion” .
Andrew Carnegie and Walter Rauschenbusch represent two opposing sides in the integration of Christian faith into society. Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth stated that the rich must reinvest their earnings into social programs that would benefit the poor without providing excess money that would enable them to spend frivolously on items that would not actually improve their overall situation. In contrast, Rauschenbusch was more concerned with the physical well being of those in lower classes. Both men wrote their works as a moral response to the rapid changes industrialization produced in their economies; similarly, today’s economy is rapidly changing as a result of technological development. However, morality has struggled to keep up with the exponential advancement in technology, leaving people with little
In the article “God’s Heart for the Poor,” Dr. Jay W. Richards, a famous author, claims that Christians should have both heart and mind in order to help the poor and become a true, good neighbor. He uses some Bible verses to teach the readers about the importance of being a good neighbor and uses The Piety Myth to explain how Christians should “exercise prudence” and connects this concept to the economics.
According to Marx, religion comes from the imagination of the mind, “Man makes religion.” (H/R,p.11) Marx believes in Atheism and that religion is simply justification to our actions and behaviors as “followers.”
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World demonstrates key principles of Marxist literary theory by creating a world where mass happiness is the tool used by positions of power known as the Alphas to control the masses known as the Epsilons at the cost of the people's freedom to choose. The social castes of Brave New World, Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons, draw parallels to the castes applied in Marxist literary theory, the Aristocracy, the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat.
A perfect religion cannot exist, truths about the nature of religion in a materialistic culture is conveyed in Chirtosper Moore in Lamb: The Gospel according to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. Showing the unnecessary problems religions brought by mainly the roman catholic and greed in society. This is shown in the story of Biff and Jesus in their journey seeking the perfect religion, a journey starting from childhood filled with magic, healing, kung-fu, summoning of corpse and demons. Realizing that all religions are corrupt starting from Islam in Jerusalem to Hinduism in India. Therefore a religion reflects the needs of a superstructure, due to the greed of capitalism in a materialistic culture. Alienation caused by the bourgeoisie origins, the desire for change in belief and lastly the new belief reveals to reflect the values of the superstructure. Making gods word a new language, using this they are able to exploit the proletariats.
“Americans are harder working and more productive than ever, yet the rewards of that productivity flow into the pockets of fewer and fewer people (Ketteler, 2006).” This relates to the previous articles in that the wealth are becoming wealthier, while the poor are becoming poorer, and this is something that goes against everything the common good stands for and the teachings of the church for so many years. As we can see over and over again, people become greedy and selfish and only do what is in their best interest, and this goes against the teachings and the actions of Jesus Christ. Father Ketteler writes that Jesus chose the poverty life, to be close to those who are in need most. “Jesus lived out a preferential option in standing on the side of those most in need, physically and spiritually (Ketteler, 2006).” Father Ketteler finishes with saying that when we love one another, nobody is a burden and everything that is produced is shared equally among all men and women, “civilizations of love abandons a mentality in which the poor as individuals and as peoples are considered a burden, as irksome intruders trying to consume what others have produced (Ketteler,
Williams, O. F. Catholic Social Teaching: A Communitarian Democratic Capitalism for the New World Order. Journal of Business Ethics, 1993.Vol.12, no.12 p. 919-923.
" Political Theology 10.2 (2009): 287-303. Academic Search Complete. Web. The Web. The Web.
Marx argues that religion is just a man-made thing to create a community because humans can’t survive without community. He says that the communist government can replace the feeling of “being equal in God’s eye” to “being equal in the eyes of the law” (Wolff, 2003). Marxism fights for the freedom of the working class, who are usually paid minimum wage just to survive (Blunden, n.d.).
Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism lays a theoretical basis for the creation, development, and sustainability of modern industrial capitalism. This in-depth work shows the extent to which Weber managed to connect the various fields of sociology, history, economics, and religion into one cohesive argument. This work is an example of a broad-reaching work of social theory, and needs to be studied not only for the ideas contained therein, but to understand the methodological approach behind such a sociological masterpiece.
Marx saw religion as an evil that existed in society and that it brought down all the people that believed in that religion. Marx said that, ?It [religion] is the opium of the people,?[1] and in saying this, Marx meant that religion was contagious on society. Once the society had a taste for the religion, they became totally engulfed it in, and then they do not want to get out of that way of live because they see it as a good way to live. Then even if people wanted to get out of the religion it was hard to get out because the whole society had already been infected by the ?opium.?
According to Marx “religion is the opium of the people.” This notion illustrates that religion creates an illusion of fantasies to the less fortunate people in the society. In these economic hard times life has become unbearable to many thus to Karl Marx religion is used as scapegoat from the reality. Although this came as a criticism Marx was sympathetic as he provided solace; people are in distress and religion constantly offered refuge. He related this to physically injured people who were given relief from opiate-based drugs for relief. Religion therefore does not provide solution to peoples underlying problems but eases the pain and makes them seek for supreme power instead of trying to change their circumstances. According to Marx religion signifies the discontent and cons...