“Opium of the People” is a critique of religion by Karl Marx. Marx’s point was that religion functions like opium in a sick or injured person. It reduces people’s immediate suffering and provides them with pleasant illusions which gives them the strength to carry on. It is actually harmful because it prevents people from seeing the class structure and oppression around them. It discourages people from seeking a true solution to their problems.
Marx’s critique may be correct when it applies to man-made religion which teaches people to be passive, to accept suffering as unavoidable and as karma. True faith in the truth, however, should liberate. It frees people from their bondage. It gives people hope. It gives people the courage and the strength to face up to the source of oppression and suffering - and to live in truth.
Some religious leaders, however, are turning the true faith into opium. They may or may not be doing it on purpose. But what they teach end up putting self-imposed limits on the true faith. They preach that faith, which should liberate the whole person, applies only to personal conduct and righteousness. “Leave the problem of justice in society to God, ” they say. “Do not take justice into your hands.” “Our concern is only the soul.” “The most important thing is to bring people to Christ, to bring them into the church.” “Let other people worry about poverty, hunger, illness, oppression, injustice.” “Thank God we have enough masks for ourselves.” “Thank God we and our family are safe.” “Thank God we have each other carrying for each other.” “Thank God the virus in our community is under control.”
Truth is supposed to liberate us from sin, from guilt, from fear. To be hopeful, courageous, magnanimous, merciful, and loving people. Instead, these leaders have turned believers into timid, inward-looking, small-minded people who care only for themselves, the people they love, the people who are like them. They live within the church only. For them, the world outside is condemned and unredeemable. God will come back one day to judge the world. In the mean time, believers should try to stay safe within the warmth of the church community. Live righteously as an individual. Do not worry about justice in the world. It is God’s prerogative, it is not our concern, they say.
This type of thinking matches well with Marx’s critique. This type of religion is truly opium for the people. It gives believers the illusion that they are safe, that the evils of the world do not touch them. There is no need to tackle the oppression in the world - it is God’s prerogative, not ours. It is like tying up crabs for sale, to be slaughtered in the end.
Faith in God is supposed to be liberating. But some people are turning it into opium. No wonder so many people find this type of religion not very appetising.
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