Karl marxs oppinion on religio
Karl marxs oppinion on religioWhen Karl Marx said, "Religion is the sign of the oppressed creature, the feeling of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of unspiritual conditions. It is the opium of the people." He was trying to summarize his very controversial point of view, that religion is a crutch that people fall back on to escape the physical reality. People use it as a reason to get up in the morning and suffer another day of backbreaking labor so they can afford to buy bread to feed their families, as opposed to stealing what they want / need (for fear of being punished in the after life.) He felt that religion gave people a way to deal with grief and problems in their lives, but like opium he felt that religion took hold or peoples lives and gave them a false sense of hope.
Needless to say Marx was an Atheist (from the Greek a "without" and theos "deity",) which commonly and loosely refers to denial of the existence of a higher power. The meaning of atheism has varied considerably in history: even the earliest Christians were labeled "atheists" because they denied the existence of the Roman gods. In Western culture, where monotheism has been the dominant religious belief, atheism has generally referred to the denial of the existence of a transcendent, perfect, personal / creator of the universe. To be an atheist does not mean no religious beliefs. For there are "high" religions, such as Buddhism and Taoism, that do not assume the existence of a supernatural being.
Marx was a militant critic of religion generally and of Christianity particularly. He pointed out the ultimate conflict of interest in the Catholic Church during the 19th century (The time when he lived). The fact that the church was telling people that their lives would be better in heaven (if you gave money to the church) and that life on earth was a test. Well at the same time taking the peasants money and getting rich. Which made the peasants more depressed, which caused them to come back to the church. Marx saw human nature as being ideally suited for social living and collaborative work, but he saw people as exploited and oppressed by capitalism and religion. He envisioned a community of social work and education, which he would create by starting a revolution, which he felt, would lead to communism. Communism did take off many different places at different points in history, with varying degrees of success.
In recent years, many Buddhist leaders have lost their influence, and...
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