marxist view on religion Flashcards
religion as an ideology
Marx:
-Religion acts an ideological weapon used by the bourgeoisie to legitimate the suffering of the proletariat: keeps the poor poor
-Misleads the poor into believing their suffering is virtuous and they’ll be rewarded in the afterlife
“easier for a camel to pass through an eye of a needle, than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven”
-Keeps the poor in a state of false class consciousness- prevents the poor from changing their situation
Lenin (1870-1924)
-Religion acts a spiritual gin, blurring the working class to confuse them and keep them in their place
-The ruling class use religion to manipulate the masses and prevents a revolution, creating a ‘mystical fog’ that distorts reality.
-Religion legitimates the power and privilege of the dominant of the ruling class by making their position appear divinely ordained. e.g. in the 16th century they believed in the divine right of kings, that the king was put on earth as God’s representative.
Alienation
Marx (1844):
-Religion alienates the proletariat, distracts people from the true reality of things.
Opium of the masses
Marx (1844):
-Religion dulls the pain of exploitation.
-Rather than treating the cause, it numbs the pain of exploitation
-Religion promises the afterlife that creates an illusory happiness that distracts people from the true source of happiness.
evaluation
-Ignore positive functions of religion such as the support it offers during periods of mourning.
-Feminists would evaluate marxists by saying it ignores the oppression of women in religion.
-Not as many people are religious anymore, as a society we’ve become a more secular society, so ‘opium of the masses’ doesn’t apply to the masses anymore.
-Out-dated
-When you begin to realise how bad your situation is, you’ll become class conscience and want to begin a revolution: some religions actually sell us the idea of a utopia, which could pose a risk to capitalism
