L/O To explore what functions Marxists

argue religion play in society

Starter

What would Marxists say about the following

images?

Capitalism a Love Story

49 minutes:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw6OD76EInU

Explain this famous quote…

Religion…

“…is the opium of the people”.

Karl Marx (1844)

But was Karl Marx as critical as people thought?

"Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”

Now annotate the rest of the passage. Look for any positive or negative functionsThe abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.

Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and pluck the living flower. The criticism of religion disillusions man, so that he will think, act, and fashion his reality like a man who has discarded his illusions and regained his senses, so that he will move around himself as his own true Sun. Religion is only the illusory Sun which revolves around man as long as he does not revolve around himself.”

Howard Zinn (On Marx and Marxism: 1997)

“He saw religion, not just negatively as “the opium of the people,” but positively as the “sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, the soul of soulless conditions.”

This helps us understand the mass appeal of the religious charlatans of the television screen, as well as the work of Liberation Theology in joining the soulfulness of religion to the energy of revolutionary movements in miserably poor countries.”

Francis Wheen (Karl Marx: 1999)

“Religion was a justification for oppression but also a refuge from it” (p58)

The quote has been selectively been used in the main especially by Lenin et al. What has been ignored is that Marx understood that religion helped people especially the ‘poor and wretched”.

For Marx if we lived in a communist society there would be no need for

religion.

Religion dulls the pain of oppression

It leads the proletariat into a false state of consciousness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvtJja2ihYQ

‘Man makes religion, religion does not make the man’Karl Marx 1844

Religion as Compensation

Religion promises happiness although

the happiness it promises is just an

illusion.

True happiness can only be obtained by the

exploited shaking off the oppression and

practicing their freedom.

Religion and Social Control

• Religion distorts reality – encourages the belief that supernatural beings control events and there is nothing humans can do about it.

• Religion legitimises the inequality which exists in society.

• Engels – In the 1800’s British Bourgeoisie spent large sums of money in supporting mainstream Christian organisations.

Social ControlMatthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.

Social Control AgencyIt is a Mechanism of Social Control. By using religion as a cell form which it is hard to escape the ruling classes keep the system of exploitation alive.

• Religion reinforces class relationships. • It keeps people in their places. • It stops people from attempting to change their

situation – the more drugged up you are, the harder it is to think straight and get yourself out of it

False Class Consciousness

Religion produces a sense of False Class Consciousness i.e. the working class subconsciously believe that their class is right for them and their unfortunate situation – it was meant to be… It prevents them blaming the ruling class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT_oDqOEGpc

Matthew 19:24

“Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

How do you think Marx would interpret this kind of message from the bible?

EvaluationYou have a point

Karl…

Anthony Giddens (1993)

• Marx is right to claim that religion often has ideological implications serving to justify the interests of ruling groups at the expense of others; there are innumerable instances of this in history.’

The HegemonRuling classes also adopt religious positions because it justifies their position.

Bush:• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUJRukYNS0c• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4oZSwdlsHA

Blair:• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG77Jhr28BI

Obama:• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk6iB30L4tQ

The HegemonInfluence of religious leaders on the state:

The Anglican Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Bishops of Durham, London and Winchester and the 21 senior diocesan bishops of the Church of England have seats in the House of Lords.

Fenn (2000)

The religious elite often:“…seek to own and control access to the sacred. The usual justification for such a monopoly is that such knowledge is too dangerous for the uninitiated and requires someone with the advantages of special training and personal capacity in order to protect the larger society from unpleasant surprises.”

Steve Bruce (1988)USA – conservative Protestants often support Republicans.

Bush – an exit poll found that two thirds of voters who attended church more than once a week voted for him. The new Christian Right support a more aggressive anti-Communist foreign policy, less central government interference, more military spending…

Religion is an ideological weapon used to legitimate inequality and suffering.

The best way to control a country

is to dish out some spiritual

gin

Yes, but I also called it a mystical fog which I thought was quite clever

So you’re basically ripping off my

opium comment.

That is quite clever actually. I wish I’d thought of that.

The Caste System

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgDGmYdhZvU

Myth makingReligion is an aspect of the superstructure and is a series of myths which justify and legitimises the subordination of the subject class and the domination of privilege of the ruling class. It is a distortion of reality which is a form of ruling class ideology maintaining ‘false class consciousness’.

Medieval Social Control

Medieval myths? Marx felt the supernatural realm had no reality. God

did not create mankind but mankind created God. Rulers promoted the myth that their position was given by God hence the ‘divines right of kings’. In medieval Europe for example the Church taught that the various unequal ‘estate of the realm’ – monarch, barons and bishops, knights, freeman and serfs – were God’s creation. This meant that attempts to change the social order would have been not merely acts of treason against the monarch but also a blasphemous rejection of God’s plan.

Christianity - Lutheranism

German reformation – Martin Luther

Laymen became priests

“He freed the body from the chains only by putting the heart in chains” (1844)

Religion as Compensation

• Religion compensates for the misery of those who have been exploited.

• Christianity, Judaism and Islam are examples of religions which offer the escape of heavenly rewards.

• Hinduism and Buddhism teaches its followers life may be better in later reincarnations.

The function of religion

In a classless society religion would not

exist

Hey Goldstein, what do you love most about life on

the kibbutz?

Communism and faith just make such good bed

fellows

How could you criticise this view? (AO2)

EvaluationReligion can bring social

change

Engels

Engels recognised that religion can play an active role in society and lead to revolutionary social change.

He used the example of early Christian sects opposing Roman rule and compared them to communist and socialist political movements.He considered that religion could start as a response to exploitation and become a source of resistance and change

Gramsci (neo-MarxistRejects traditional Marxist views that the cultural superstructure reflects the social infrastructure.

Gramsci suggested that the church could work alongside the working class – religion could empower the working class.

He recognised the role that the hegemony of the Catholic Church in Fascist Italy played in serving ruling class interests, but said that religion doesn’t inevitably play this role.

Maduro (neo-Marxist)Religion has some independence from the economic system.

He denies that religion is always conservative and says that sometimes it can be revolutionary. He states that the clergy have revolutionary potential for voicing the troubles of the oppressed and leading to action.

Liberation theology: In Latin America catholic clergy have become increasingly critical of oppressive regimes and been involved in popular struggle

The involvement of Catholic clergy in anti-communist activity in Poland before the abandonment of communism

Martin Luther King

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CwK_d9drIU

Desmond Tutu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeVtTOFxNWQ

There can be equality with a religion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hk496McrzE

Further Evaluation

Modifying Marx’s ideasLouis Althusser – Neo Marxist

• Religion was part of the ideological state apparatus but it exists independently of the economy. However, it still worked towards the same outcome – the ruling class control over the working class.

• Jones (2005) notes that in feudal times the church dominated ideological socialisation but this has now been replaced by the hidden curriculum.

TurnerAlthough religion does relate to the economy it does not necessarily promote ruling class ideology.

He questions whether religion was ever as important for peasants and serfs in feudal times as it was for feudal lords. It was important for them as a way for the ruling class to control sexuality and ensure primogeniture, as well as providing monasteries for surplus males from ruling class families.

Religion is not necessary for the promotion of dominant ideology in today’s society.

Further Limitations• Phenomenolgists and postmodernists

have criticised the general structural determinism of Marxist explanations. What about individual conscious awareness?

• Gollwtizer (1970 – theologian) argues that even when regimes have tried to stop religion, it continues unofficially