CONTENTS

• Introduction
• What is Marxism?
• Why Marx deny religion?
• Reasons
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
INTRODUCTION
Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a philosopher, author, social theorist, and an economist. He is

well-known for his theories about capitalism and communism. In 1848, Marx along with

Friedrich Engels, published a political document, The Communist Manifesto; later he wrote Das

Kapital (the first volume was published in Berlin in 1867; the second and third volumes were

published posthumously in 1885 and 1894, respectively), which discussed the labor theory of

value. Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818, in the German city of Trier. His family was Jewish

but later converted to Protestantism in 1824 in order to avoid anti-semitic laws and persecution.

Therefore, Marx in his early youth itself rejected religion and made it absolutely clear that he

was an atheist.

WHAT IS MARXISM?

The theory of socialism developed by Karl Marx and Frederich Engels in the mid-19th

century is known as Marxism or scientific socialism. The basic principles of Marxism are

Dialectical – cum – historical materialism, class struggle, surplus value, theory of state,theory of

revolution, and the dictatorship of the proletariat and the withering away of the state. The

economic and political thought developed by Karl Marx, along with Friedrich Engels, especially

the doctrine that “the state throughout history has been a device for the exploitation of the masses

by a dominant class, that class struggle has been the main agency of historical change, and that

the capitalist system, containing from the first the seeds of its own decay, will inevitably, after

the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat, be superseded by a socialist order and a classless

society”(Dictionary.com). The core beliefs of Marxism are based on the analysis and outcomes

of class struggle.
WHY MARX DENY RELIGION?

Karl Marx was a German philosopher who endeavored to consider religion

from an objective, scientific perspective. Marx’s most famous statement about religion comes

from Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Law i.e., “Religion is the opium of the Masses" ("Die

Religion ist das Opium des Volkesis") is perhaps one of the most famous and most quoted by

theist and atheist alike. Marx doesn’t spend much time looking at religion in general; instead, he

focuses on the religion with which he is most familiar, Christianity. He suggested that people

were happy with their existence, no matter what its condition, because of religion. Marx did not

believe in unseen truth and identified religion as an example of such. Marx says that religion is

the chicken soup of the masses. Marx actually said very little about religion explicitly; in all of

his writings, he barely ever talks on religion in a systematic and scientific fashion, nevertheless

he touches on it frequently in books, speeches, and pamphlets etc. The reason is that his analysis

of religion forms simply one piece of his overall theory of society therefore, understanding his

analysis of religion requires some understanding of his analysis of society in general.

According to Marx, “religion is an expression of material realities and

economic injustice. Thus, problems in religion are ultimately problems in society. Religion is not

the disease, but merely a symptom. It is used by oppressors to make people feel better about the

distress they experience due to being poor and exploited” (Cline). This leads to the origin of his

comment that religion is the “opium of the masses”—but as shall see, his thoughts seems to be

more complex than commonly portrayed. Marx’s opinion was that religion is an illusion that

provides reasons and excuses to keep society functioning just as it is. Much as capitalism takes
our productive labour and estranges us from its value, religion takes our uppermost ideals, and

hopes and alienates us from them, projecting them onto an alien and incomprehensible being

called a god.

REASONS

Marx has many reasons to fond in atheism.

a) First, it is irrational—religion is a delusion and worship of appearances that avoids

recognizing underlying reality.

b) Second, religion negates all that is dignified in a human being by rendering them servile

and more amenable to accepting the status quo. In the preface to his doctoral dissertation,

Marx adopted as his motto the words of the Greek hero Prometheus who defied the gods

and brought fire to humanity: “I hate all gods,” (Cline) with the addition that they “do not

recognize man’s self-consciousness as the highest divinity” (Cline).

c) Third, religion is hypocritical. Although it might profess valuable principles and

doctrines, it sides with the oppressors. Jesus encouraged helping the poor, but the

Christian church combined with the oppressive Roman state, participating in the

enslavement of people for centuries. In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church preached

about heaven but assimilated as much property and power as possible.

 d) Fourth, Marx is saying that “religion is meant to create illusory fantasies for the poor”
(Cline).

e) Five, metaphysical or dialectical materialism which considers matter as the supreme and
unique cause of everything;

f) Six, historical materialism, according to which the economic factor is the principal and
decisive factor, and the economic structure is the carrying structure of all the other
structures that compose society.

g) Seven, absolute humanism, which sets man at the summit of the cosmos: man is the
supreme being.

One of the prominent Marxist and agnostic Bertrand Russell in his History of Western

Philosophy created this dictionary of Marxist concepts:

o Yahweh = Dialectical Materialism

o The Messiah = Marx

o The Elect = The Proletariat

o The Church = The Communist Party

o The Second Coming = The Revolution

o Hell = Punishment of the Capitalists

o The Millennium = The Communist Commonwealth

This all shows the depth of atheism in Marxist ideology.

Conclusion

Atheism was the original starting point of Marx’s philosophy. Atheism is a natural

and inseparable part of Marxism, of the theory and practice of scientific socialism. Atheism

understood as a denial of any god belongs to the essence of Marx’s philosophy .Marx agreed that

the existence of religion always indicates an incomplete emancipation. Karl Marx's religious

views have been the subject of much interpretation. He famously stated in Critique of Hegel's

Philosophy of Right about the atheistic nature of Marx. There are several writers and

philosophers state that the ideology of Marx is not against religion. Marx did not consider

religion itself the root of all evil. “Religion is the opium of the people” it actually is a gross

misquotation taken out of context. What actually said was institutional religion is a perverted

consciousness of the world. According to Prof. Jan Lochman (the Czechoslovak theologian, in

his book ‘encountering Marx’) His protest is mainly against two phenomena: the misuse of

political power by Christendom and the worship of mammon in the religion of the time.

According to Howard zinn, Marx 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”.
 Bibliography

Chambre, Henri and David T. McLellan. “Marxism”. Encyclopedia Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. 02 Oct 2019. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Marxism

Cline, Austin. “Religion as Opium of the People: Karl Marx’s View on Religion and

Economics”. Learning Religion.Dotdash. 27 Apr. 2019. https://www.learnreligions.com.

Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/marxism.

Lochman, Jan. Encountering Marx: Bonds and Barriers between Christians and Marxists.Christian

Journals. 1977.

Marx, Karl. Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right. England. Cambridge UP. 1977.

Russel, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy. New York. Simon & Schuster. 1945.

Zinn, Howard. “Marx is not Dead”. Howardzinn.org. 08 May 2004.

https://www.howardzinn.org/marx-is-not-dead/
A History of Western Philosophy. NewYork. Simon & Schuster.1945