Religion as an Opiate

559 Words2 Pages

Karl Marx’s most prominent quote on religion refers to the contentment of the maltreated oppressed and the satisfied oppressor due to the desensitizing effect of religion. This perspective derives from Marx’s direct contact with the immense complications and disparities of the proletariats as well as the over-abundances of the bourgeoisie of his era. Unfortunately, traces of the accuracy of this inference are evident in the world’s history as well as current society. Marx concluded that religion numbs those suffering and those who inflict the pain into a dazed state of contentment without correcting the root of the issue.
According to Marx, a belief in any religion caused the proletariats to accept less that what they deserved based on an illusion of a better life. By experiencing the harsh reality of their situations and unhappiness along the sides of his acquaintances, Marx found that many proletariats believed the only means of surviving a life of consistent disappointments is through the comfort of religion. He stated, “the abolition of religion as the deceptive happiness of t...

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