Marx and Religion

Marx attributed the creation of religion to the domination of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie. He saw it as a product of what he called social alienation. He understood the entire existence of humanity as being “divided against itself by the social-class cleavages of society.” He therefore saw religion as a means to comfort the lower classes and keep them docile. In terms of capitalist societies he understood religion as a way to control labor by providing some kind of reward in the after life for living such an unbearable existence here on earth.

Marx thought that by removing industrial capitalism we could eliminate any comforting illusions religion had provided to the proletariat. This to me seems unlikely since religion is the product of broader human emotions. There are example of religion and spirituality in societies that had no large class structure. In small Native American tribes in which a real class system did not exist and resembled more of a commune style of self governing we see evidence in art, and in the accounts of European settlers of the Natives exhibiting some concept of divinity and a basic understanding of a supreme being. Religion may be a coping mechanism, but I don’t feel you can entirely attribute it to being a latent function of class warfare.

Putting my personal religious beliefs aside, and trying to understand it from a more sociological perspective, religion is in my opinion a product of three emotional concepts; fear of the unknown and death, a longing to be helped, and a desire for reward and punishment. Death becomes less of a mystery if we know there is a place to go after we die. We tend to seek out God or religion usually when we feel we have no one else to turn to or when there is no one on earth that will or can help us. Probably the most socially important aspect of religion in society is rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior in the afterlife when it is not done here on earth. This aspect of religion is most closely related to what Marx’s idea of religion is, but less conflict theorist and more functionalist. Religion helps keep society in check even when the law can’t. Marx may be right in the assertion that religion is the “opium of society”, but I disagree on what that opiate is treating.