Karl Marx

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of Instructor]

[Subject]

[Date]

Karl Marx

Introduction:

Religion is the element of every society which indicates the norms, rituals, tradition, and the way of living in a society. Religion gives people a way of life. People follow religion to get the mercy and blessings of God. However, there are millions of people who do not believe in God. They think earth and all living things came into being through a systematic process and that there is no such power or body like God. These people are known as atheists. Karl Marx was the philosopher from Germany who claims different flaws and negative aspect of religion throughout the 18th and 19th century. He tried to tell people that society faces problems due to imaginary statements of religion and no religion makes society perfect or free of pain and issues.

Biography:

Karl Marx was a philosopher who born in Trier, Germany, on May 5, 1818. He belonged to a Jewish family. However, he converted his religion and became a Protestant. The reason for the conversion was to avoid persecution and anti-Semitic laws. He examined religion from a scientific perspective. He discussed a different aspect of the religion and their flaws which according to him make religion reflex of the actual world.

Marx an atheist or agnostic:

There are a number of people who believe that Marx was agnostic as he claimed that religion has no independent past. He was born into one religion and then converted to another which make people think that he could be anti-religion but not atheist. However, his claims and statements indicate that Marx was an atheist. In his book, he claimed that there is no independent history of religion "Die Religion ist das Opium des Volkesis" ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"czKEfduK","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}Karl Marx and Religion by Cyril Smith})","plainCitation":"(Karl Marx and Religion by Cyril Smith)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1160,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/EMJG9UJK"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/EMJG9UJK"],"itemData":{"id":1160,"type":"webpage","title":"Karl Marx and Religion by Cyril Smith","URL":"https://www.marxists.org/subject/marxmyths/cyril-smith/article2.htm","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",9,13]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Karl Marx and Religion by Cyril Smith). This statement is famous for atheism and they use it to explain to other religious people that religion is made up by humans and there is no reality of it.

At another point, Marx wrote that “The religious world is but the reflex of the real world.” This statement shows that he raised the issue on the nature of the religion ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"hEFXoGQP","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Joshi)","plainCitation":"(Joshi)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1164,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/7Y3K4MHK"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/7Y3K4MHK"],"itemData":{"id":1164,"type":"article-journal","title":"Religion and Marxism: Some Theoretical Problems","container-title":"Economic and Political Weekly","page":"2563-2568","volume":"26","issue":"45","source":"JSTOR","archive":"JSTOR","abstract":"We can locate a powerful spiritual source for Marxism which produced as much fervour to 'save' humanity as any other religion. It also produced the orthodoxy and the will to power, the claims to omnipotence and the intolerance of historically degenerated and ossified religious orders.","ISSN":"0012-9976","title-short":"Religion and Marxism","author":[{"family":"Joshi","given":"Shashi"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1991"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Joshi). He believes that there is no religion based on reality and every religion has hypocrisy in it. He didn’t just state these claims for Christianity but also for Protestantism to which he converted. In addition, his theories and beliefs can be applied to any religion which shows that Marx did not believe in any religion and therefore was an atheist.

Anti-religion:

The main reason to study religion was the scientific purpose as he wanted to understand the economic and historical realities related to society. Every society consists of people in which the majority of people believe in the same religion and that religion influence the behaviour and lifestyle of the people. For instance, In Europe, there are more Christians so people live and follow rituals presented through the Bible. Whereas in the Middle East or Arab, Islam is the main religion where people believe in Allah and follow the teachings of Prophet Muhammad and the Holy Quran. Therefore, the main objective of Marx was to indicate the socialist transformation of society. Marx was anti-religion and explained that there is no need for an explanation of the supernatural power of God. The principles are more important to make the society while history and information of "above nature" have no influence or impact on society. In addition, he believed that man is not a unique creature or born for a special reason; they are alike all other living things on earth. Therefore, there is no need to highlight anything for mankind ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"E0UQJrkp","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}Marx and Engels On Religion})","plainCitation":"(Marx and Engels On Religion)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1158,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/MVV9SQVE"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/MVV9SQVE"],"itemData":{"id":1158,"type":"webpage","title":"Marx and Engels On Religion","URL":"https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/subject/religion/index.htm","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",9,13]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Marx and Engels On Religion).

He also opposed the religion for sacrificing their wishes for the sake of God or afterlife. He believes that if someone is in hurdle, he cannot leave things on God or ask for help. He should achieve his desires and get material stuff which can provide him satisfaction. Marx disagreed to the concept of sacrifice and afterlife of religions like Christianity and Islam. He claims that everyone should make a decision rather than leaving something for others.

Reason for Marx views on religion:

The basic determinant of human history according to Karl Marx was economics. He believed in equality that means society can work when they exchange things in good values and live together in unity. This concept was disrupted by capitalism where people started working for-profit motive. Therefore Marx wrote that “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"HotDztnh","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Gasper)","plainCitation":"(Gasper)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1162,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/KU5KLA98"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/KU5KLA98"],"itemData":{"id":1162,"type":"webpage","title":"Marxism and religion | International Socialist Review","abstract":"Marx called religion the opium of the people, but that is only part of what he said","URL":"/issue/63/marxism-and-religion","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Gasper","given":"Phil"}],"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",9,13]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Gasper) Capitalism brought inequality based on status and wealth. Marx explained that religion does not teach people how to get free from suffering and pain. Instead, religion teaches them not to worry about pain and they should forget suffering by entering into the imaginary world of religion. He believed that people do not seek for the solution instead, they try to heal themselves based on religious information. Hence, this was the main reason he presented that anti-religious view to the people to tell them that no religion can help them. Religion is the reflex of the real world and people have to do something for healing their pain and suffering.

Conclusion:

It can be concluded that Karl Marx, who was a Jew and later converted to Protestantism, was born in Germany. He was a philosopher who examined religion for economic issues of the people. Marx was an atheist who believed that there is no supernatural power of God and no religion has an independent history or teaching to develop a society. Marx became an anti-religion and wrote to the people that they should not believe in imaginary beliefs of religion.

Work Cited

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Gasper, Phil. Marxism and Religion | International Socialist Review. /issue/63/marxism-and-religion. Accessed 13 Sept. 2019.

Joshi, Shashi. “Religion and Marxism: Some Theoretical Problems.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 26, no. 45, 1991, pp. 2563–68. JSTOR.

Karl Marx and Religion by Cyril Smith. https://www.marxists.org/subject/marxmyths/cyril-smith/article2.htm. Accessed 13 Sept. 2019.

Marx and Engels On Religion. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/subject/religion/index.htm. Accessed 13 Sept. 2019.