Marxism And Religion

Assess the usefulness of Marxist theories for our understanding of religion today

Marxism is a conflict theory, based on the division between the ruling and subject class in a capitalist society.Marxists see religion as benefiting the ruling class at the expense of the subject class, and thus take a negative approach to studying religion. This would be criticised by Functionalists who saythey ignore the benefits religion has, such as helping people deal with life crises. Traditional Marxists see religion as benefitting the ruling class by maintaining capitalism. This means they see it asa Conservative force as it stops societal change by preventing revolution. One way it does this is by helping the subject class deal with their alienation.
In a capitalist society the subject classare cut off from their work and the people around them. They work for an individual wage instead of for the community, do not own the goods they produce and would have to pay the ruling class if theywished to buy them. This alienation oppresses them and may lead them to want to revolt- only according to Marx; religion helps them deal with this issue. He describes religion as the ‘Opium of thepeople’ (comparing it to a drug) and says that as it offers hope and the promise of a great afterlife to people and therefore dulls the pain of their exploitation.
Another way is by maintaining thesubject class in a state of false class consciousness. They are unaware of their exploitation and oppression as they are brainwashed by the ruling class ideology that hides the truth of a capitalistsociety. This ideology is transmitted partially through religion, which teaches people the norms and values of capitalist society. For example, religion states that everything that happens is controlledby supernatural powers, which means they have no control and would not be able to change their position. This encourages them not to resist their exploitation as it would lead them to believe they...