JAMES TOEWS
Religion is the opiate of the people

“Religion is the opiate of the people!” wrote Karl Marx in 1844. This famous declaration defined an emerging materialism in opposition to established religion. Marx, along with Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud, defined a new way of looking at the world. Truth would no longer come from the church. It would now come from the free thinkers of the university. Other scholarly materialists had their own version of Marx’s statement: “Religion is a crutch for those who are too weak to face life alone.”

For nearly 150 years, Christian thinkers have responded to the materialists’ challenge, saying, “Christianity is no opiate – it is God’s healing truth!” “Christianity brings freedom, not oppression!” “There is more to life than bouncing atoms!”

However, the clearest indictment of Marx’s view came not from carefully crafted arguments, but from the collapse of the Soviet empire. The social order designed around the teachings of Karl Marx suddenly disintegrated, revealing a nation with unprecedented moral and spiritual bankruptcy. A society built on pure materialism proved to be an empty shell. All that has been left behind from that monstrous experiment is a deep hunger for meaning and truth.

But it was well before the fall of the Berlin wall that Marx’s declaration lost its power. Somewhere along the way, religion again became fashionable. It seems that every time a football player scores a touchdown, he will find some way of giving credit to God. The vindication of faith and religion seems to be complete. Marx has been defeated.

But before we celebrate, perhaps we should ask the question, “What kind of religion has the Western world embraced?”

It is a religion that declares that there is meaning in “the circle of life”, but never bothers to define what that meaning is. It is a religion that allows me to feel good about who I am but never calls me to account for the corruption of my soul. It is a religion that can be called on as an ally whenever it is required but yet can be dropped when it is expedient. It is a warm drink on a cool night, a gentle, sentimental story with endless happy endings. It is a self-serving religion that is entirely invented by our own passion for self-fulfillment, with no more objective basis than the dreams of a child at Christmas time.

Why did Karl Marx call religion the opiate of the people? It was because he felt that through myths and empty promises, religion dulled people’s senses to their true condition. Once so dulled, the people could never take hold of the truth.

Life without God is meaningless, tragic and, in the end, desperately lonely. But who will ever seek the peace and joy offered by the Creator of the Universe as long as the senses are dulled by the opiate of our own imaginations?

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life!” (John 14:6, The Bible). Jesus is not an opiate. He does not offer comfortable meaningless answers. He offers us the truth about our condition and the future. He offers life, joy, peace, love – but only to those who will commit themselves to follow him.