MARXISM and RELIGION
(LET'S LEARN MARXISM -- PART 2)
Religion -- Opium of the People
Man, who looked for a superhuman being in the fantastic reality of heaven and found nothing there but reflection of himself, will no longer be disposed to find but the semblance of himself, only an inhuman being , where he seeks his true reality.
The basis of irreligious criticism is; man makes religion, religion does not make man. Religion is the self-consciousness and self esteem of man who has either not yet found himself or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being encamped outside the world.Man is the world of man, the state, society. This state, this society, produce religion, an inverted world-consciousness, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of that world, its encyclopaedic compendium, its logic in a popular form, its spiritualistic point d'honneur, its enthusiasm ,its moral sanction, its solemn complement, its universal source of consolation and justification.It is the fantastic realisation of the human essence because the human essence has no reality. The struggle against religion is therefore indirectly a fight against the world of which religion is the spiritual aroma.
Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and also the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of the heartless world, just as it is the spirit of spiritless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
To abolish religion as the illusory happiness of the people is to demand their real happiness. The demand to give up illusions about the existing state of affairs is the demand to give up a state of affairs which needs illusions. The criticism of religion is therefore in embryo the criticism of the vale of tears, the halo of which is religion.
Criticism has torn up the imaginary flowers from the chain not so that man shall wear the unadorned, bleak chain but so that he will shake off the chain and pluck the living flower. The criticism of religion disillusions man to make him think and act and shape his reality like a man who has been disillusioned and has come to reason, so that he will revolve round himself and therefore round his true sun. Religion is only the illusory sun which revolves round man as long as he does not revolved round himself.
The task of history, therefore, once the world beyond the truth has disappeared , is to establish the truth of this world. The immediate task of philosophy, which is at the service of history, once the holy form of human self-estrangement has been unmasked, is to unmask self-estrangement in its unholy forms.Thus the criticism of heaven turns into the criticism of the earth, the criticism of religion into criticism of law, and criticism of theology into criticism of politics.
(Marx - Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Law - Marx-Engels collected Works (MECW) - Vol. 3 - pp.175/76 (1843-44 )
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All religion , however is nothing but the fantastic reflection in men's minds of those external forces which control their daily life, a reflection in which the terrestrial forces assume the form of supernatural forces. I n the beginning of history it was the forces of nature which were so reflected , and which in the course of further evolution underwent the most manifold and varied personifications among the various peoples. This early process has been traced back by comparative mythology, at least in the case of Indo-European peoples, to its origin in the Indian Vedas, and in its further evolution it has been demonstrated in detail among the Indians , Persians, Greeks , Romans, Germans and, so far as material available, also among the Celts, Lithuanians and Slavs. But it is not long before , side by side with the forces of nature, social forces begin to be active - forces which confront man as equally alien and at first inexplicable, dominating him with the same apparent natural necessity as the forces of nature themselves. The fantastic figures , which at first only reflected the mysterious forces of nature, at this point acquire social attributes, become representatives of forces of history. at a still further stage of evolution, all the natural and social attributes of the numerous gods are transferred to one almighty god, who is but a reflection of the abstract man. Such was the origin of monotheism, which was historically the last product of vulgarized philosophy of later Greeks and found its incarnation in the exclusively national god of Jews. Jehovah. In this convenient, handy and universally acceptable form, religion can continue to exist as the immediate, that is, the sentimental form of men's relation to the alien, natural and social forces which dominate them, so long as men remain under the control of these forces. However, we have seen repeatedly that in existing bourgeois society men are dominated by the economic conditions created by themselves, by the means of production which they themselves have produced, as if by an alien force.The actual basis of the reflective activity that give rise to religion therefore continues to exist, and with it the religious reflection itself. And although bourgeois political economy has given a certain insight into the causal connection of this alien domination, this makes no essential difference. Bourgeois economics can neither prevent crisis in general, nor protect the individual capitalist from losses, bad debts and bankruptcy, nor secure the individual workers against unemployment and destitution. It is still true that man proposes and God ( that is, alien domination of the capitalist mode of production) disposes. Mere knowledge , even if it went much further and deeper than that of bourgeois economic science, is not enough to bring social forces under the domination of society. What is above all necessary for this, is a social act. And when this act has been accomplished, when society, by taking possession of all means of production and using them on a planned basis, has freed itself and all its members from the bondage in which they are now held by these means of production which they themselves have produced but which confront them as an irresistible alien force; when therefore man no longer merely proposes, but also disposes - only then will the last alien force which is still reflected in religion vanish; and with it also vanish the religious reflection itself, for the simple reason that th there will be nothing to reflect.
Herr Duhring, however, cannot wait until religion dies this,its natural death. He proceeds in more deep-rooted fashion. He out-Bismarks Bismark; he he decrees sharper May laws not merely against Catholicism, but against all religion whatsoever; he incites his gendarmes of the future against religion, and thereby helps it to martyrdom and a prolonged lease of life.Wherever we turn, we find specifically Prussian socialism.
( Engels - Anti-Duhring - pp.433/35 )
Religion and Hollowness of Man
Carlyle complains about the emptiness and hollowness of the age, about the inner rottenness of all social institutions.The complaint is fair; but by simply complaining one does not dispose of the matter; in order to redress the evil, its causes must be discovered; and if Carlyle had done this, he would have found that this disultoriness and hollowness, this ''soullessness'', this irreligion and this ''atheism'' have roots in religion itself. Religion by its very essence drains man and nature of substance, and transfers this substance to the phantom of an other-worldly God, who in turn then graciously permits man and nature to receive some of his superfluity.Now as long as faith in this other-worldly phantom is vigorous and alive, thus long man will acquire in this roundabout way at least some substance. The strong faith of the Middle Ages did indeed give the whole epoch considerable energy in this way, but it was energy that did not come from without but was already present within human nature, though as yet unperceived and undeveloped. faith gradually weakened, religion crumbled in the face of the rising level of civilization , but still man did not perceive that he had worshiped and deified his own being in the guise of a being outside himself. Lacking awareness and at the same time faith, man can have no substance, he is bound to despair of truth, reason and nature, and this hollowness and lack of substance, the despair of the eternal facts of the universe will last until mankind perceives that the being it has worshiped as God was its own, as yet unknown being, until- but why should I copy Feuerbach.
The hollowness has long been there ,for religion represent man's action of making himself hollow, and you are surprised that now, when the purple that concealed it has faded, when the fog that enveloped it has passed away, that now, to your consternation, it emerges in the full light of day.
( Engels - MECW - Vol.3- pp.461/62 (1844)Clergy
The clergy, that bearer of the medieval feudal ideology,felt the influence of historic change just as acutely, Book-printing and the claims of growing commerce robbed it of its monopoly not only in reading and writing, but also in higher education.The division of labour also made inroads into the intellectual realm. The newly rising judicial estate drove the clergy from a number of the most influential offices. The clergy was also on its way to becoming largely superfluous, and demonstrated this by its ever grater laziness and ignorance. But the more superfluous it became, the more it grew in numbers, due to the enormous riches that it still continuously augmented by all possible means.
There were entirely distinct classes among the clergy.The `clerical feudal hierarchy formed the aristocratic class; the bishops and archbishops,abbots, priors and other prelates. These high church dignitaries were either imperial princes or reigned as feudal lords under the sovvereignty of other princes over extensive land with numerous serfs and bondsmen.They exploited their dependents as ruthlessly as the knights and princes, and went at it even more wontonly. In addition to brute force they applied all the subterfuges of religion; in addition to the fear of the rack they applied the fear of communication and denial of absolution; they made use of all the intrigues of the confessional to wring the last penny from their subjects or to augment the portion of the church. Forgery of documents was for these worthies a common and favourite means of swindling.but although they received tithes from their subjects in addition to the usual feudal services and quitrents, these income were not enough for them. They fabricated miracle-working sacred images and relics, set up sanctifying prayer-houses, and traded in indulgences in order to sqeeze more money out of the people, and for quite sometim with imminent success...
The plebeian part of the clergy consisted of rural and urban preachers. These stood outside the feudal church hierarchy and had no par in its riches.. (Engels- The Peasant War in Germany -MECW - Vol. 10 -pp.404/05 (1850)
RELIGION AND THE STATE
The Social -Democrats ( Marxists ) further demands that everybody shall have full and unrestricted right to profess any religion he pleases.. Everybody must be perfectly free , not only to profess whatever religion he pleases, but also to spread or change his religion. No official should have the right even to ask anyone about his religion; that is a matter for each person's conscience and no one has any right to interfere.There should be no "established " religion or church. All religions and all churches should have equal stayus in law. The clergy of the various religions should be paid salaries by those who belong to their religions, but the state should not use state money to support any religion whatever, should not grant money to maintain any clergy.
( To the Rural Poor- Lenin - Collected Works - Vol.6 - pp.404 (1903 )RELIGION - A SPIRITUAL BOOZE
Religion is one of the forms of spiritual expression which everywhere weighs down heavily upon the masses of the people, overburdened by their perpetual work for others, by want and isolation. Impotence of the exploited classes in their struggle against the exploiters just as inevitably gives rise to the belief in a better life after death as impotence of the savage in his battle with nature gives rise to their belief in gods, devils, miracles and the like. Those who toil and live in want all their lives are taught by religion to be submissive and patient while here on earth, and to take comfort in the hope of heavenly reward. But those who live by labour of others are taught by religion to practice charity while on earth, thus offering them a very cheap way of justifying their entire existence as exploiter and selling them at a moderate price tickets to well being in heaven.Religion is the opium of the people. Religion is a sort of spiritual booze, in which the slaves of capital drown their human image, their demand for a life more or less worthy of man.
(Socialism and Religion - Lenin - Collected Works - Vol. 10 - p. 83 (1905 )RELIGION - A PRIVATE AFFAIR
Religion must be declared a private affair. In these words Socialists usually express their attitude towards religion. But the meaning of these words should be accurately defined to prevent any misunderstanding. We demand that religion be held as a private affair so far as the state is concerned. But by no means can we consider religion a private affair so far as our party is concerned. Religion must be of no concern to the state, and religious societies must have no connection with governmental authority. Everyone must be absolutely free to profess any religion he pleases , or no religion whatever, i.e., to be an atheist, which every socialist is, as a rule. Discrimination among citizens on account of their religious conviction is wholly intolerable.Even the bare mention of a citizen's religion in official documents should unquestionably be eliminated. No subsidies should be granted to the established church nor state allowances made to ecclesiastical and religious societies. These should become absolutely free associations of like-minded citizens, associations independent of the state.. Complete separation of church and state is what the socialist proletariat demands of the modern state and the modern church.
(Socialism and Religion - Lenin - Collected Works - Vol.10- pp.84/85 (1905 ) RELIGION AND MARXIST PROGRAMME
Our programme is based entirely on the scientific, moreover the materialist, world outlook. an explanation of our programme , therefore necessarily includes an explanation of the historical and economic roots of the religious fog.Our propaganda necessarily includes the propaganda of atheism, the publication ofthe appropriate scientific literayure, which the autocratic feudal government has hitherto strictly forbidden and persecuted, must now form one of the fields of our party work. We shall now probably have to follow the advice Engels once gave to the German socialists; to translate and widely disseminate the literature of the eighteenth bcentury French Enlightners and atheists.
But under no circumstances ought we to fall into the error of posing the religious question in an abstract, idealistic fashion, as an intellectual'' question unconnected with the class struggle, as is not infrequently done by the radical-democrats from among the bourgeoisie. It would be stupid to think that, in a society based on the endless oppression and coarsening of the worker masses, religious prejudices could be dispelled by purely propaganda methods.It would be bourgeois narrow-mindedness to forget that the yoke of religion that weighs upon mankind is merely a product and reflection of the economic yoke within society. No number of pamphlets and no amount of preaching can enlighten the proletariat, if it is not enlighten by its owm struggle against the dark forces of capitalism. Unity in this really revolutionary struggle of the oppressed class for the creationof a paradise on earth is more important to us than the unity of the proletarianopinion on paradise in heaven.
That is the reason why we do not and should not set forth our atheism in our programme; that's why we do not and should not prohibit proletarians who still retain vestiges of their old prejudices from associating themselves with our party. We shallalways preach the scientific world-outlook, andit is essentialfor us to combat the inconsistency of varioua ''Christians'. But that does not mean in the least that the religious question ought to be advanced to the first place, where it does not belong at all; nor does it mean that we should allow the forces of the really revolutionary economic and political struggle to be split up on account of third-rate opinions or senseless ideas, rapidly losing all political importance, rapidly being swept out as rubbish by the very course of economic development.
(Socialism and Religion - Lenin - Collected Works - Vol.10 -pp. 86/87 - (1905 ) 
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