Religion and karl marx: Marxism

Religion is a term used to describe various forms of human spirituality, including stories and beliefs. It typically possesses a transcending aspect that gives participants’ experiences of life purpose. It is always accompanied by elements like meditation, music, and prayer. It may emphasize supernatural assertions about reality, which results in a set of guidelines that help its adherents adopt a specific lifestyle. Different theories regarding what religion is have been examined and developed by certain theorists. Their points of contention might center on the social or even psychological value that religion offers for individuals. Marx says that religion is an illusion which gives a reason which keeps the society to remain the way it is. The same way capitalism takes the productive labor of people and the same time alienating people from their value, religion also alienates people from their ideas and aspirations. They are then projected onto an alien and an unknown being called a god (Fromm, 2014). He believes that religion denies humans the ability to think productively and prosper.

According to him, religion can be seen as hypocritical. In as much as it gives valuable principles, it also works hand in hand with oppressors. The Jewish people voted for helping people, but again the Christian church worked with the Roman state which was oppressive to its people. It is known that it took part in enslaving people, charging high taxes and brutally collecting them. Fromm says that The Catholic Church preached about heaven during the middle ages, but still, they acquired a lot of property and power (2014). They preached about the ability of each to integrate the Bible, but they collaborated with the aristocratic leaders against peasants who were fighting against the economic oppression. This shows that the religion only existed to oppress people particularly the poor both socially and economically.

Additionally, he says that religion is there to create illusory form fantasies for the poor. The existing economic realities in the society prevent the poor from finding true joy in their life. It believes that there true happiness to be found in the next life and for this reason; it tells people that all is OK since they will find happiness later. Just like opiate drugs give relief to people who are physically injured, religion also provides solace to the people who are in distress (Fromm, 2014). People only forget their suffering, but religion does not fix the primary cause of their suffering hence making them move forward to a future which is imaginary instead of solving the problem now. Worse, the religion is offered by the people who are responsible for the suffering they are undergoing.

Sigmund Freud

On the other hand, Freud says that religion had no future since it is an illusion. He says that religion is entirely an attempt at escapism. It has a role in making people to avoid the main fact about life and makes people live a life of making wishes. He believes that in the future, science will take a step further than education and also reason will take the position of faith in God. He adds that religion gives a defense against the feeling to correct the demerits of civilization hence religious beliefs are just illusions and easily influenced by proof (Marcus, 2016). Modern man should mature, use reason and leave religion to childhood; where it belongs.

Freud argues that religion was a portrayal of the kid`s physical relationship with the father. He associated the origin of to the psychological link between the Oedipus complex and totemism. The desire of a child to the mother and thus developing the feeling of killing the father is a basis of the origin of religion. He analyses the behavior of primitive tribes having rules that do not allow incest and hence creating taboos regarding the action (Marcuse, 2015). He says that this idea of killing the father has its origin in religion which is even practiced up to now.

He looks at religion as the unconscious mind`s want for desire fulfillment. Everyone needs to feel secure and at the same time to absolve themselves on the guilt inside them. Hence, people decide to choose to place their belief in God who is portrayed as a powerful father (Marcuse, 2015). The idea of power is what makes people feel secure and the fact that he forgives sins; people can lessen their feeling of guilt.

Additionally, he argues that religion is an attempt to gain control over the sensory world in which people are placed. He refers to this world as a world of the wish which people put themselves in it due to the biological and the physiological needs (Marcus, 2016). If someone decides to attempt on assigning to religion specifically about its place on man’s evolution, it may not be a lasting acquisition since it is parallel to the neurosis in which all the civilized people must go through from childhood to maturity.

Emile Durkheim

Durkheim Emile looks at religion as a spring of solidarity and identification of people within the society. This means that religion provides a meaning for life, it gave authority figures, and the most important is that it reinforced the social norms and also the morals that all people in the society hold. Not dismissing religion as mere imagination, He saw religion as a crucial part of the society despite the fact that it originates naturally. He argues that it provides social management, purpose not forgetting cohesion to all the people in the society (Durkheim, 2014). It is looked at as a way of communicating with people and gathering them to interact and bolster social norms.

Durkheim looks at the separation of various aspects of life into the sacred and the profane. He argues that the things and behaviors that decree sacredness was considered part of the religious realm. All were part of rites, objects of respect, or just behaviors that looked unique by the religious belief. The thing that was profane referred to those in the world who have no meaning related to religion. As much as the two aspects are separately defined and put apart, they interact and also depend on one another for survival. It is true that the sacred world cannot exist without the world of profane. In other words, something is neither profane nor sacred; it all depends on the value attached to it (Durkheim, 2014). One thing can become the other depending on whether people choose to look at its features not considering the instrumental value.

When looking at religion, Durkheim is concerned on the social cohesion. As mentioned earlier, religion has a function of bringing people together and in this case, mentally and physically in the form of religious assemblies. By this, it strengthens the morals and the beliefs in the minds of the people in the society. The importance behind this is that if people are left on their own for a long time, the convictions of people will grow weak (Durkheim, 2014). Religion is seen to maintain the influence of society and society stands for the norms held by people in a certain group

All these three theorists look at religion to have the role of making people have faith in beliefs. For instance, Freud and Marx have the idea that religion brings illusory fantasies to people. All this has the aim of making people anticipate for a good future that has no problems that they are facing now. Also, Durkheim adds that it is these beliefs that hold all the people together and have solidarity in the society (2014). He is concerned about the maintaining the social norms and cohesion in the society, something that only comes from religion.

On the other hand, Freud and Marx view religion as having an illusion of the poor and those who want to escape the fact of life. The look at it as a way of people cheating themselves on a hope of the good future life that does not exist instead of solving their present circumstance. On the contrary, Durkheim feels like religion has an importance to the society of making people come together (2014). He sees that religion as a way of maintaining a society which holds the norms of and values of its people.

Durkheim is also concerned about elucidation of the functions of religions other than just defining the different forms of religion. The major functions may also include disciplinary and elation social forces. He argues that the religious rituals have the function of preparing people for a social life by enacting the self-discipline in them as well as a certain bound of asceticism. The ceremonies in religion bring people together hence act as a way of strengthening the people’s common connections hence fostering social solidarity. Religious observances energize the social heritage of people and help to translate the values to coming generations (Durkheim, 2014). It has a euphoric function thus helping to counteract the feelings of loss of faith by reestablishing a sense of well-being in people.

In conclusion, people live in a world where they should uphold the element of solidarity. All humans must work together in harmony to see that they develop the world into a better place. When theorists like Freud and Marx majorly look at the illusory side of religion, Durkheim focuses majorly on the solidarity in it brings to the society. Durkheim is concerned with togetherness and upholding of the norms of the society. He argues that all things in the society can be right or wrong depending on the meaning that people decide to attach to it. Therefore, Durkheim has the best explanation of what religion is.

Reference

Durkheim, E. (2014). The rules of sociological method: and selected texts on sociology and its method. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Fromm, E. (2014). Marx and Religion. In Reclaiming the Sane Society (pp. 95-99). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Marcus, S. (2016). Freud and the culture of psychoanalysis: Studies in the transition from Victorian humanism to modernity. Crows Nest: Unwin Hyman.

Marcuse, H. (2015). Eros and civilization: A philosophical inquiry into Freud. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.