Karl Marx on Religion

As a dialectical materialist, Marx had the view that ultimate reality is material. Religion, then, is established on divine revelation and deductive logic. There is no empirical the theological doctrines of various religions way to know that the theological doctrines of various religions are really true. The most that a particular religion can base its claims on is faith, which really amounts to superstition. If people are to know and understand the real world, they must give up superstitious beliefs because they have a narcotic effect on the mind. As an opiate, religion drugs people into thinking they have found a form of security and salvation. However, this comfort is actually an illusion. Progress cannot be made in society until mankind has discarded the drug-like effects brought on by the superstition of religion--so Marx is saying.

J.B. Priestley makes this observation: "Marx and Engels succeeded where other and perhaps sounder theorists failed, chiefly because they created a new myth when a new myth was urgently needed. What they did ultimately, without be

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narcotic effects of religion cannot possibly improve. Knowledge, for Marx, can only be attained through the scientific method and inductive logic. However, philosophy has historically acknowledged two ways with which people may come to know whatever there is to be known. One way is the method advocated by Marx: empiricism; while the other way is: rationalism and deductive logic. This brings us back to one of the reasons Marx disliked the rational approach. The weakness of the rationalist position is that the only truths which have the capability of being proven under laboratory conditions are not in the twilight zone of metaphysics. According to dialectical materialism or any other materialistic philosophy, deductive logic and intuitive reasoning alone are not sufficient to prove or demonstrate any concerns of fact and reality--these can only be attained from experience. And so, for Marx, this is as true concerning religion as it is for other areas of learning. If God exists, He is not a mere idea, but a definite reality outside of us (Kung 226). Thus, if the truth of God's existence is to be known by human beings, He must show Himself in some manner by way of their experience. If social changes are to manifest themsel
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Approximate Word count = 1582
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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