sociology topic3-Marxism and Religion

[sivaharimani]

Marx and Religion


In spite of his influence on the subject, Karl Marx never studied religion in any detail. His ideas were mostly derived from the writings of several early 19th century theologists and philosophers. One of these was Ludwig Feuerbach who wrote The Essence of Christianity. According to Feuerbach, religion consists of ideas and values produced by human beings in the course of their cultural development but mistakenly projected on to divine forces or gods.Feuerbach uses the term alienation to refer to the establishment of Gods or divine forces as distinct from human beings. Marx accepts the view that religion represents human self-alienation. He declared in a famous phrase that religion has been the opium of the people. Religion defers happiness and rewards to the after life, teaching the resigned acceptance of existing conditions in this life. Attention is thus diverted from inequalities and injustices in this world by the promise of what is to come in the next. Religion has a strong ideological element, religious beliefs and values often provide justifications for inequalities of wealth and power. In Marx’s view religion in its traditional form will and should disappear.

[Shalini]

thanku very much.how can i read about karl marks?

[sivaharimani]

hai shalini,
you can read the book" Das Capital by Karal Marx".The following are some details about him.,
One of the first and most persuasive advocates of modern capitalism was Adam Smith. The most serious challenge to Adam Smith and his followers came from Karl Marx, a nineteenth century German. The son of a Prussian lawyer, the methodical Marx was a worthy and resourceful opponent. He unfolded his economic theories in his monumental Das Kapital, a work on which he spent eighteen years of research and writing. Marx’s main objection to the capitalistic system was that it was unfair to workers. To show this, he developed his now famous theory of “surplus value.” This theory involves the relationship between the worker and his product and the employer and his profit. It implied that whatever profits the capitalist class acquired, it stole from the workers. Seventy years after his death about a third of the human race was living under governments that called themselves “Marxist”. Marxism is more that just a set of bright ideas which anyone, at any time, might have thought up. “It is rather a time and place phenomenon, which acknowledges that the very categories in which it thinks such as abstract labour, the commodity, the freely mobile individual and so on could have emerged from a heritage of capitalism and political liberal.
Thank you