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Lots of anti-religious sentiment being echoed here. Marx said the right thing for the wrong reason when he described religion as “the opium of the people/masse

Lots of anti-religious sentiment being echoed here. Marx said the right thing for the wrong reason when he described religion as “the opium of the people/masses”. I definitely believe that religion can be effectively misused to pacify people who are suffering injustice. I would imagine in all major religions there are “clergy” (I hate both the word and the concept it represents) who tell people “it’s OK if you’re oppressed and poor while bad people literally get away with murder, everything will be righted in the next life”. Or, even worse, they use religion to whip people up into a frenzy and justify religious wars and genocide. All while amassing wealth and influence for themselves. However, as a practicing, fairly conservative Muslim, I know first-hand there are many religious scholars who live very modest, even impoverished lives while being a force for good and fighting against all forms of injustice. In fact, I would say the majority of dedicated scholars are not wealthy and not OK with injustice. The problem isn’t organized religion, it’s that we live in a time, perhaps unprecedented in history, when the world is generally rotten. The existence of charlatans and hypocrites is a reflection of that reality, and the ones who ally themselves with dictators and corrupt politicians are the loudest and most visible. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water.

vba616 3y ago
What was Marx's "wrong reason"? I had the impression his point was that religion distracts people from improving this world, not that he had a substitute. > we live in a time, perhaps unprecedented in history, when the world is generally rotten It has been argued - I forget by who - that this was the normal view of history across cultures for thousands of years, that there was a golden age before writing now fallen into decay, until Western progressivism became a prominent ideology. It seems to me there is a lot of religious scripture in support of the idea that history is a cycle of decline, corruption, false prophets, and indiscriminate punishment from God.
geoduck14 3y ago
>The problem isn’t organized religion, it’s that we live in a time, perhaps unprecedented in history, when the world is generally rotten I'm a Christian. One belief that I hold to is that all of creation is broken and needs to be fixed - and can only be fixed by the Creator God. Until that happens, we will continue to see people do bad things
- jfengel 3y ago
  Unfortunately, many of those Christians are among the reasons the world is so generally rotten. In some cases, it's directly connected: they feel that God is going to fix it for them, momentarily, and nothing they do matters. I do not blame Christians in general. People of both faith and lack-of-faith do rotten things, and fail to do beneficial things. But I would very much like to see Christians do a better job at holding each other to account. There are too many situations where Christians use their Christianity to make the world a worse place, and I will not stand for "God'll fix it!" as an excuse. Neither should other Christians.

vba616 3y ago

What was Marx's "wrong reason"? I had the impression his point was that religion distracts people from improving this world, not that he had a substitute. > we live in a time, perhaps unprecedented in history, when the world is generally rotten It has been argued - I forget by who - that this was the normal view of history across cultures for thousands of years, that there was a golden age before writing now fallen into decay, until Western progressivism became a prominent ideology. It seems to me there is a lot of religious scripture in support of the idea that history is a cycle of decline, corruption, false prophets, and indiscriminate punishment from God.

geoduck14 3y ago

>The problem isn’t organized religion, it’s that we live in a time, perhaps unprecedented in history, when the world is generally rotten I'm a Christian. One belief that I hold to is that all of creation is broken and needs to be fixed - and can only be fixed by the Creator God. Until that happens, we will continue to see people do bad things

jfengel 3y ago
Unfortunately, many of those Christians are among the reasons the world is so generally rotten. In some cases, it's directly connected: they feel that God is going to fix it for them, momentarily, and nothing they do matters. I do not blame Christians in general. People of both faith and lack-of-faith do rotten things, and fail to do beneficial things. But I would very much like to see Christians do a better job at holding each other to account. There are too many situations where Christians use their Christianity to make the world a worse place, and I will not stand for "God'll fix it!" as an excuse. Neither should other Christians.