Karl Marx's quote "Religion is the opium of the masses" is a critique of faith and its function in society. Marx believed that faith was utilized by the gentility to keep the working class in a state of submission and passivity. He argued that religion was a tool utilized to sidetrack the masses from their genuine problems and keep them from challenging the status quo. He thought that religion was a type of false awareness, a method of masking the real concerns of inequality and exploitation. By offering a sense of convenience and hope, religion was utilized to keep the masses from acknowledging their true injustice. Marx argued that religion was a type of escapism, a way of avoiding the severe truths of life and enabling people to remain in a state of lack of knowledge and complacency.
"Well, I think any time you delve into this sort of religion, politics, as you well know, you're going to, you know, touch a few nerves. I wasn't - now - and this is the honest truth"
"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite"
"War is the greatest plague that can afflict humanity, it destroys religion, it destroys states, it destroys families. Any scourge is preferable to it"
"It's not just the effect of technology on the environment, on religion, on the economic structure, on society, on politics, etc. It's that everything now exists in technology to the point where technology is the new and comprehensive host of nature of life"
"Art is exalted above religion and race. Not a single solitary soul these days believes in the religions of the Assyrians, the Egyptians and the Greeks... Only their art, whenever it was beautiful, stands proud and exalted, rising above all time"
"We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart"
