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Religion is the opium of the people

By the Rev. Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and Saint Vlassios, fr. Hierotheos

Source: http://www.parembasis.gr/2007/07_05_01.htm

Published in the Magazine Daphne

The expression Religion is the opium of the people is one of the best-known sayings of KarlMarx, which also became the ideological slogan against Religion and Christianity in general.

It is on this saying that I would like to express a few of my thoughts.

1. Marxs theory

To begin with, I should clarify that Karl Marx was a German Jew, born and raised outsideBonne, and, as was to be expected, he lived his childhood years and his teens in the aura of

Jewish Rabbis. He had also turned to Greek philosophy at a very early stage, and his diatribewas about Epicurus. In his diatribe, he wrote as a preface: In brief: I harbor hatred towardsall gods

Parenthetically, I would like to underline that ones hatred towards God and religion is areligious fact, as odd as this may seem at first glance, because if one does not believe in theexistence of God, one does not become enlisted in the battle against this nonexistent (in hisopinion) God. Hatred towards God is interpreted from the point of view that it manifests

itself in the name of some other faith some other deity of ones own choice. Hatred andpolemic towards God applies to an existent God, because one never hates or fights against aGod which he believes does not exist.

Coming back to the subject, I would like to stress that the philosopher Nicholas Berdiaev,who had commenced his philosophical work by pursuing the Marxist theories, eventuallyinterpreted Marxs thoughts in a truly remarkable manner. He argued that Marx, on accountof his Jewish descent, believed in the Messianic idea in the coming of the kingdom of God,which meant the betrayed people. Given that he ceased to believe in the coming of theMessiah, the way that Jews had, he secularized that Messiah and attributed that role to theproletariat the class of industrial workers. The new Messiah according to Marx is nowthe proletariat, which is exempt of the cardinal sin and it is to these people that all truthsshall be unfolded; it is the proletariat that will uncover all self-delusions and will put an endto the battle of the classes, upon which, it will restore humanity back to unity, and thus thenew kingdom will prevail on earth.

In interpreting the Jewish substructure of the Marxist theory, Berdiaev wrote: Theproletariats triumph will split the worlds History into two parts. It will bring on a new age.The proletariat will be the only form of conscience; the true humanity and its interests willcoincide with those of collectivity.

Thus, we have a new Messianic people (the proletariat), a new Moses (Marx), a new PromisedLand (the class-less society), and a new Law (equality and justice).

The fact is that Marx, when stating that religion is the opium of the people (the paternity ofwhich is attributed by some to Feuerbach), had in mind only three religious traditions, that is,the Jewish religion with its Messianism; the Christianity of the West, which had linked itself to

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scholasticism, capitalism, crusades and wars, but also to the Buddhist views of the Far East,according to which, people applied themselves to yoga and to transcendental meditation inorder to avoid their return to life, because every life is an affliction and in reality, this allowedthe mighty of the earth and every tyrant to exploit the peoples pain. Viewed in this sense,these religious traditions that exploit man and subject him to other, arbitrary powers canindeed function as the opium of the people, inasmuch as it either puts their minds to sleep,or it intoxicates them and throws them into warfare, for the destruction of others.

I am inclined to believe that if Marx had acquainted himself with the Orthodox Church theway that the major Fathers of the Church had expressed it, and the way it is lived in thegenuinely Orthodox Monasteries that still preserve the hesychast spirit and the renouncing ofpossessions he would probably have had an entirely different point of view on thesematters.

2. An interpretation of the Marxist theory

In one of his texts, Michael Raptis (aka Pablo) also makes reference to the Marxist statementof religion is the opium of the people.

He writes that this phrase is derived from two different interpretations. The oneinterpretation has to do with the placating of existential questions, which exist inside everyperson when religion is seen as a certain innate tendency of an evolving being; in otherwords, religion in this case calms mans existential anxieties. The other interpretation is thatbecause people are purposely being misled and disoriented by each and every governingauthority for the sake of peace in society, it could be that religion is being used by everysystem, for that precise purpose in other words, to put mans social concerns to sleep.

Further along, he analyses that Marx attributed the second significance to his phrase and thathe omitted whatever had to do with mans existential concerns and speculations, to whichreligion does give a solution. However, he also gives another dimension to the Marxist theoryon religion. He writes:

Marx insists on the view that religion is also a protest against mans actual socialimpoverishment, and that Marx subsequently does not condemn religion or the religiousperson. Religion is the human beings sigh in a heartless world, but also its healing balm,not only for his social misery and change, but also for his unclarified existential problems.

I cannot know whether this was indeed the actual interpretation that Marx attributed toreligion, and how it relates to the phrase religion is the opium of the people; it would be amatter for research and analysis. The fact remains, though, that Marxs thought had a Jewishsubstratum to it, from which he could not, of course, alienate himself.

3. Religion and Church

By studying religions and Christian confessions, one can discern that certain ideas are used at times to disorient their followers, at other times to fanaticize them, and at yet other timesto render them ideologists. For example, scholastic theology and the capitalist mentality ofWestern Christianity (the way Marx knew it), the Jewish mindset and especially the Zionist

mentality which is a purely political choice that politically utilizes the religious views of theOld Testament (which can be seen from the differentiation of the Hassidim), orientalmeditation and mysticism, but also the sorcery that is observed in oriental religions, all givethe same impression; i.e., that religion in varying degrees- is indeed the opium of the

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people, from the aspect that it places man at the margins of society, thus creating free spacefor every tyrant to act and to exploit the people.

However, when I often refer to this quotation by Marx, that religion is the opium of thepeople, I always insist that it is not referring to the Orthodox Church also, given that theOrthodox Church the way that the great Fathers had designated it is NOT a religion,because it is not discerned by the elements that the other religions have; it is a Church. The

(Greek) word for Church ECCLESIA denotes a calling together of the townspeople to solvevarious problems. The Church never functioned as a religion (I do not have enough time toanalyze this point), only as a Church; a congregating of clergy and laity, together with God,the Holy Mother and the Saints. Anyone who has read the memoirs of General Makryiannis(lived during the time of the Greek Nations uprising against the Turkish occupation) willdiscern that this was the way he too perceived the Church, and that in the name of thatChurch, he headed the struggle for independence, so that constitutional rights would begiven to the people.

This is the reason that makes me believe that the Orthodox Church functions more as aspiritual hospital a therapeutic society which takes a person from the state he is in, and

frees him of his assorted dependencies; it de-ideologizes him and de-fanaticizes him.

We all know that apart from the opiate essences, there are also psychological and ideologicalopiates; apart from narcotics, there are also psycho-narcotics. If one desires to truly livewithin the Orthodox Church, with Her sacramental and ascetic lifestyle, one will be rid of allsuch dependencies.

In my last book, titled Religion and Church in Society, the reader will find many views beinganalyzed around this topic.

In closing, I would like to point out that unfortunately nowadays, the slogan religion is the

opium of the people appears to prevail in many religious communities; however, equallyprevalent is the following slogan: opium is the religion of the people. Narcotics aretormenting young people, the ruling class - as well as a portion of champion athletics -withtheir capitalist mentality and organization. These assorted psychotropic drugs are the opiumof the people. It is not only religion now, but power also, which are the new opiates of thepeople.

The prophet Isaiah condemned those who become inebriate without wine: he was referringto those who exercise various forms of power. Unfortunately, we are rendered witnesses ofthis fact, every day.

Published in the magazine Daphne

Translation: A. N.