One of the better known quotes (actually it’s a paraphrase) of Karl Marx is this statement about religion. “Religion is the opiate of the masses.” By it, he meant to castigate religion as a means used by the elites to pacify the masses, to make the ills of this world bearable.
A statement by Czeslaw Milosz, a Polish poet who lived under both the national and international forms of socialism, shows a much better understanding of the issue. “A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death – the huge solace of thinking that our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders are not going to be judged.” (from a review of Milosz: A Biography in World magazine, 12/8/18 issue.)
Like almost everything Marx said, his statement was wrong. Religion, with its call for justice and an end to oppression and a hope for a better life, kindled a fire for freedom and justice in the hearts of man, not dreamy illusions. That cry for justice, fairness, the realization for God’s promises of peace and prosperity has been part of man’s yearnings since earliest times. So has the desire to see wrongs righted, to see violence and oppression recompensed. A hope and belief in the ultimate prevailing of justice is a necessary part of a healthy psyche.
It is the fondest dream of the blackguard that their betrayals, greed, and oppressive activities will go unpunished, that using others for their ends will be okay, that Nietzsche’s superman ethics are true, and death proves that truth. If death ends it all, then the antics of blackguards — from the political strong man to the dictatorial boss to those using others as their stepping stone — will, most likely, never be judged, never punished. What a solace for their souls! Now that’s a most powerful opiate!!
But as World concluded the article: “Real solace comes from believing in life after death, with a righteous and compassionate Judge.” Blackguards beware! Opiates generate illusions!
Askance Eye Miniblog 