Is Religion the Opiate of the Masses?

Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.
Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right

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Is Religion the Opiate of the Masses? Is Religion used by the Capitalists to keep Workers enslaved ? In my opinion Religion tells Workers to suffer Hell on Earth for a reward of Heaven after death.

No, prescription pain pills are, religion is more like the acid of the masses.

Yes and TRUE spirituality is the "hallucinogen" of the masses...

One provides a false sense of comfort, while the other rips the comfort away, strips you naked, and throws you head first into a tsunami of truth! One promotes ego, while the other completely annihilates it in a tidal wave, and when the wave passes, the ego comes back completely broken and shattered, wondering 'WTF!?' and cowering and shivering with some form of PTSD....

Think it got replaced by television didn't it ? Don't think Karl Marx saw that one coming.

Originally posted by BellaMente
Yes and TRUE spirituality is the "hallucinogen" of the masses...

One provides a false sense of comfort, while the other rips the comfort away, strips you naked, and throws you head first into a tsunami of truth! One promotes ego, while the other completely annihilates it in a tidal wave, and when the wave passes, the ego comes back completely broken and shattered, wondering 'WTF!?' and cowering and shivering with some form of PTSD....

edit on 19-10-2011 by BellaMente because: 2nd

I think I like you.

Quite well said on the last few posts of yours I've seen today, and I have to agree again here.

duplicate

Christianity is by no means a comfortable religion. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar.

Though I think a great deal of people flock to religion only to provide themselves with a sense of security for the afterlife, I disagree with Marx on the point that religious distress is an expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. This implies that the distress caused from trying to follow the teachings of one's religion is merely an illusion. I can assure you from first hand experience that it is very real. "Religious distress" comes out of questioning one's faith. Real distress comes out of trying to follow the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus and knowing you'll never be good enough. It's not just the problems that exist in this world that cause "real" distress, it's also the solutions that will never exist.

A number of the famous have swung along with this little ditty. I see where they are coming from but it think its sentiment is utter rubbish.

Religion is a completely separate entity to spirituality and left that 'field' when leaders realised what a useful tool they had through manipulating those who believed in it. Prime example Christ says "Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's" like hell he did; regardless whether he was the actual Jewish King or a normal Jew. No occupied people took the "Oh let him have his taxes." and smiled. However, if the populace thought Christ had condoned paying Rome its taxes, of course it would be much easier to collect them. No opiate there, just crafty diplomacy and the use of the velvet glove by Constantine.

From my experience of religion and religious people, we have the 'elders' within a church, those who run all the charity stuff, the church etc. They also form the judgement mob when someone elects to walk off or decides a bit of swopping around would be nice. Again the only thing happening is not supernatural, just humanity often at its most hypocritical.

I think we lost the real experience of spirituality a long, long time ago with the bible itself. The Shamanic travelling and transcendence was pushed right away from the masses. In a way we took ourselves out of the equation and substitutde an artificial entity to whom we enslaved ourselves.

I suspect our current drug laws, apart from the pharma profits have something to do with the experience certain drugs produce, which leads some to spiritual frontiers today's religions can't attain, or have forgotten or worse, chose not to share. I would say that a very concerted effort has been carried out to detatch mankind away from the spiritual and to cement his feet firmly in the mundane, physical world and all that entails.

Whenever one sees people attempting to get in touch again with the ancient belief of man being at one with the planet, all life on it as well as a wide spiritually based relationship linked to both the planet and the cosmos, the MSM immediately uses its little poisonous darts of mockery. We, en masse, did our part in the past and laughed mockingly also. However today, more and more have become disgusted with the superficial values of today's world and are attempting to detatch and rediscover the real opiate of life which does not come from those who run religion or the world today.

It most definitely is. It's really because people are afraid of death. Nobody wants to believe that death is actually the end, but all evidence we have suggests it is. Religion is more of hope or pipe dream to help keep people from being afraid. If people think they have eternal life then it distracts them from the issue of death. In reality it's just based on fear, however. But we all know that the sacredness of religion instantly disappears when there is a war to be fought. All religious laws suddenly do not apply so that the leaders can have you do their dirty work. No true Christian should EVER support a war that isn't forced on us by an invading force or attack. Murder is murder no matter how you look at it and goes against exactly what Jesus taught. Religion is used purely for political purposes today.

You don't need to be religious to be made complacent with the status quo. There are plenty of people out there indoctrinated with a slave mentality who will defend to the death their economic masters and the ultimate fairness of being made to slave away at minimum wage jobs just for the privilege of surviving.

Religion is a lot more common and usually more effective, but I just wanted to point this out. TPTB are so good at what they do, they even have us little folk running around arguing that we should be happy little slaves.

There is a spirit in man that should tell you something I don't think most here who have commented have not contended with. There is more than live a few short years and the end, there is no sense in that. I don't buy into that kind of thinking. There will be a day of great reckoning and then all will see for sure but you know, it will be too late then, I say get it straight today while it is still day.

reply to post by mikejohnson2006


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Splinter in the Mind - blog by Bronte Baxter

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