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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. This is the origin of his comment that religion is the “opium of the people” — but as shall see, his thoughts are much more complex than commonly portrayed.
The given article suggests that the well known father of communism, Karl Max, is surely against religion. He states "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." His similar reference to another well recognized philosopher named Friedrich Nietzsche emphasizes the proposition that religion supports a slave morality, which is when some is in favor of the weak and the poor rather than supporting those who are strong-willed. In that context, it can be concluded that Marx is trying to establish in terms of pessimism that religion is the weak mans pitiful attempt to escape from the oppression of life. The given article also discusses Karl Marx’s perspective towards the Germans and their arousal of beginning to criticize religion; he says that by criticizing religion these Germans are truly criticizing a society of people who use religion to create the illusion of happiness and to disregard the horrible conditions that they live under. Since the Germans are beginning to criticize religion, radical thinking is beginning in Germany . Marx also says that a man who criticizes religion will begin to think and act like a logical man with no illusions. Karl Marx believes that philosophy is suppose to get rid of the illusion of religion and once you get rid of the illusion of religion you will begin to criticize other aspects of life such as politics, theories, and laws. In the second part of...