Karl Marx: Religion as agent of Economic Oppression

Name:
University:
Name:
Course:
Date:

Karl Marx: Religion as agent of Economic Oppression
Introduction
Throughout the period of 18th and 19th century religion has acquired a more naturalistic method; Karl Marx on the other hand took a scientific method. His analysis and skepticism is well known as well as his focus on economics and society. According to Karl Marx, economies are a composition of the human life and past bringing about division of labor, class rivalry and the social departments that are meant to keep the status quo. The social set ups are based on economics that are completely reliant on material and economic realities.
On the other hand, religion has been of focus which is a social institution that is reliant on the material and economic aspects in a community. It is not reliant on the past but the issues of productive forces. Religion has been used so as to bring about a pleasant feeling better regarding the distress they undergo due to poverty and exploitation (Pals, 2008). This is the source of the saying that religion is the “opium of the masses”. This paper aims to focus on the issue of religion as an aspect of material fact and the economic oppressions. Hence the issues on religion are basically a problem of the society.
Karl Marx applied the belief that the human past is reliant on economics; humans are not encouraged by great ideas but by material issues like the desire to eat and stay alive. This is the basic notion of a materialist aspect of the past. At the start of the mankind, people were engaged in togetherness and developed their lives well. However, with the rise of agriculture and issues on private ownership of assets, these products brought about division of labor and separation of classes with regard to power and wealth. This brought about social oppression that controls the society.
This becomes disastrous with capitalism that improves with disproportion in wealth and labor. Conflict that arises is not easy to prevent as they are controlled by their pasts above anyone’s ability to manage. Moreover, capitalism brings about another new oppression which is the oppression of the surplus value.
According to Marx, an ideal economic model would be composed of transaction of the same value where value is acquired by the size of work being created. Capitalism does away with this thought through the creation of a revenue motive, which is the desire to create an irregular transaction of limited value for a much better value (Pals, 2008). Hence profit is acquired at last form the excess value that has been created by the industries.
A worker may create sufficient value to feed his family in two hours, though he keeps working for a complete day- according to Marx’s time this will be half a day. The added hours show the extra value created by the worker. The owner of the company has done nothing to acquire this, though he still exploits it and keeps the variation as profit.
In this regard, communism has two objectives; the first is meant to discuss the realities to individuals that are not conversant with them, the other one is meant to call people in the labor sections to get themselves ready for conflict and change. This insists on action as opposed to just philosophical aspects which is a vital point in Marx’s program. According to Marx, the philosophers have acquired meaning from the world in a number of ways, though the main intention is to later it.
Society
Economics is composed of the human life and past; starting from division of labor, class conflict and social set ups that are meant to sustain the status quo. The social set ups are wholly reliant on resources and economic facts. Marriage and arts among others are easy to know when assessed in regard to economic forces.
Marx used to the term ideology so as to advance the companies. The individuals that worked in this set ups came up with art and philosophy among others. The notions arise from the need to acquire the truth, though it is not true. However, reality, they show the desire and conflict (Pals, 2008). They show reflections of a need to keep the status quo and sustain the economic aspects. Of consideration is that the people in positions of power have had the desire to keep the power and justify it.
In relation to Karl Marx, the religion is similar to social set ups that is reliant on the resource and economic aspects in a community. It is not reliant on the past; on the other hand it is the bringer of creative forces. According to Marx, the religious stage is the reflex of the world. He went further to state that religion can only be comprehended in association to other social models and the economic models of the community. Adding to this, religion is just reliant upon religious aspects. This is the functionalist definition of what religion ought to be; the comprehension of religion is reliant on the social objective that it has and not the content of thought.
Marx’s notion is that religion is a misconception which offers reasons and excuses so as to make the society to continue to work. Adding that capitalism acquires labor and does away with value, religion acquires our best ideals and does away with them, showing it to god.
Marx does not like religion due to three reasons. Religion is an irrational aspect, it is delusion and worship of what is not there and does not consider facts. There other reason is that it accords human beings value through offering them servile and agrees with what they see as the status quo. Lastly, religion does explain in a clear manner, it evades the truth (Pals, 2008). Though it offers important principles, it tends to support the oppressors. Jesus supported the less fortunate, though the Christian community joined with the oppressive roman rule, getting involved in slave trade of human being for a number of years. In the past, the church spread news about heaven while it took control of assets and power.
People like Martin Luther taught about the desire for every person to interpret the Bible, though he supported the aristocrats and never supported the poor farmers that were not for economic and social pressures. On the other hand, Marx took that Christianity; Protestantism was a new form of economic ability when capitalism grew. The new economic facts acquired a new religious model that could be supported.
Religious pressure is a show of real pressure and protest against it. Religion is a sign of pressured creature, the heart of the world as it is in the spirit sense. Its end has the happiness for complete happiness, the desire to give away an illusion on the condition that requires an illusion.
Marx criticizes the society as having no heart and it being partial. Even though he demonstrated anger and rivalry towards it, he did not make religion an enemy of workers and communists. Moreover, he goes on to state that religion is supposed to offer an illusion of fantasy to the less fortunate. Economic facts hinder them from getting the truth about success in life; hence religion will acquire joy in the coming life. Marx does not have sympathy: individuals are suffering and the religion does not have solace, only that individuals are physically heart. Religion does not offer support for a person’s suffering, it offers a base to forget it and look to the future where the pain will come down as opposed to alter the present instance.

References
Pals, Daniels (2008). Introducing Religion: Readings from the Classic Theorists. London: Oxford University Press.