Re: The Opiate of the Masses

Subject:

Comments:
: Marx may have had a point about religion being an opiate of the masses in the time and place where he lived. Now of course, the "masses" have many opiates -- modern equivalents to the ancient Roman "Bread and circuses". Such opiates include: television, the internet, CDs, electronic games, and so on. : Those nasty old opiates seem to never go away really -- they just change form. You could almost say that opiates are an eternal wine that just changes bottles . . . : Mark : : You guys talked me into it... ;) : : ----- : : Perhaps the most famous quotation attributed to Karl Marx is "Religion is the opiate of the masses." This saying is anathema to most Americans, not only because Marx's ideas formed the basis of the Communist system that was America's chief rival for most of the twentieth century, but also because Americans don't take kindly to attacks on religion. The recent flap over the inclusion of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is certainly proof of this. But what was Marx really saying a century and a half ago? : : First, let's be clear that, while Marx may have been an atheist, he didn't say that "God" is the opiate of the masses. He said that "religion" is the opiate of the masses. Religion is not God. It is man's attempt to understand and relate to God. : : Second, consider the word "opiate." An opiate is a narcotic. It is a drug used to dull the mind and the senses. It's the morphine prescribed for patients recovering from surgery, and the heroin addicts use to mask the pain of their own existence. : : Finally, remember that Marx wrote about the conditions of European industrial workers in the mid-nineteenth century, before legislation and collective bargaining guaranteed a living wage and safe working conditions. Their lives were, in fact, quite miserable. And conditions were no better in the United States. : : With these points in mind, it is obvious that Marx was absolutely correct. It was to the advantage of the wealthy classes if the workers concentrated on the glory of the future world instead of the misery of the present one. What's a little poverty now compared to an eternity in paradise? Or, to borrow a line from an old Righteous Brothers song, "If you believe in forever, then life is just a one-night stand." In fact, owners of Appalachian coal mines often hired preachers to deliver this message on a regular basis, in the expectation that miners and their families would be more willing to settle for less. Of course, the wealthy didn't let their belief in the world to come detract from their own luxurious existence, but that's another story. : : The world has changed a lot since Marx's time, but millions of people still follow a religion oriented to the afterlife instead of the present life. Whatever one's beliefs about the world to come, we cannot ignore the here and now. When Ralph Waldo Emerson was asked about the next world, he replied, "One world at a time, fellows, one world at a time." Religion should never cloud the mind and dull the senses. Rather, it should engage the mind and sharpen the senses, and lead to a greater realization of who we are and what we are called to do. : : When Jesus told his audience that the Kingdom of God was among them, he wasn't talking about some time in the distant future. He was speaking in the present tense, two thousand years ago. The Kingdom of God is still among us today. Let us work for peace and justice, and bring it forth.

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL: