religion is the Opium of the people this is one of the most famous quotes from Carl Marx but like many famous quotes it's probably one of his most misinterpreted too opium is made from the dried milky fluid from the Opium poppy the fluid contains the alkaloid morphine which blocks the transmission of pain signals to the brain when smoked opium causes short-term feelings of relaxation reduced anxiety pain relief along with impaired core ation and alertness because of these physiological responses people often interpret the quote religion is the Opium of the people as meaning religion is an escape mechanism a feel-good buffer against reality as people escape into a silly world of Illusions and hallucinations but this doesn't quite capture what Marx is trying to say sure Marx might have agreed with that interpretation and the same quote he calls religion the elusory happiness of the people but check out the whole quote in context religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions it is the Opium of the people the abolition of religion as the elusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness now the first line is key religion is the sigh of the oppressed people so Marx isn't so much calling religion a painkiller he is calling religion the product of oppressed people it's people projecting their needs and desires onto an ideal realized existence because Factory workers in 19th century Europe really couldn't get that happiness in real life as sociologist Meredith McGuire says Marx considered the distress that people expressed in religion to be real but religion itself as an illusion preventing people from doing anything effective to remedy their condition so for Marx religion has a social function distracting people away from their oppression into thinking that their state is somehow the natural order of things instead of what it really was the status quo being maintained by Elite powerful men so let me rephrase the question that this video poses instead of asking is religion the Opium of the people we can ask is religion oppressive something that conservatively holds back social change and maintains the status quo or is religion a liberating Force something that subverts the status quo and encourages social change you'll find that the answer is sometimes both so let's tackle the first question does religion uphold and maintain the status quo well in some ways yes Marx wasn't a stupid guy there was a good reason why he argued this certain aspects of religion are inherently conservative and resistant to social change and by this I mean religious adherents have a vested interest in the continuity of their tradition passing on their beliefs and rituals down through the generations another example of this would be how religion is used to justify and legitimate political power like when a king proclaims his ruler is divinely mandated by God or the king legitimates going to war by saying it is a holy war inspired by God in these examples religion has legitimating power and we see this in cultures all over the world for thousands of years especially when kings act as priests or mediators between the people and divine powers like the Roman Emperor declaring himself ponteix Maximus the high priest of the Roman people religion can also be used as a means for social control public shaming or shunning individuals for deviating from social rules can inhibit social change discouraging people from acting out of line so in some respects Marx has a point religion can discourage social change and the upper classes of society have often used religion as a means to maintain control over Society but this isn't the whole story religion and Society are super complex so we can't say that religion is always an oppressive Force holding back social change there are plenty of examples throughout history where religion was actually the Catalyst to social change and therefore subverted the status quo in fact religion has proven to be one of the most powerful forces for social change because of its ability to unite and direct people's actions Meredith Maguire who I quoted earlier uses the example of a prophet a religious leader that speaks out against the dominant social structures of their community so for example the Buddha living a life renouncing worldly pleasures or the prophets from the Hebrew Bible who constantly railed against the kings of Judah and and Israel for not following God's will more recently in American history you have leaders like Martin Luther King who worked through religious channels to fight racism in America these religious leaders and Prophets have what the sociologist Max vber calls Charisma and charismatic religious leadership is often revolutionary like literally revolutionary religious movements have overthrown governments like what we saw with the Iranian Revolution in 1979 against the Sha of Iran or how Haitian vodu helped spark the Haitian revolution against French colonialism in the late 18th century so history shows us that religion has huge potential to subvert the status quo and encourage social change so all this to say religion can inhibit social change and religion can promote social change it can be socially oppressive and it can be socially subversive too so next time someone misinterprets Marx's opium of the people quote you'll be ready as always thanks for liking and subscribing and I'll see you next time so a lot of the research for this video came from Meredith Maguire's book religion the social context it's pretty hard to understand a lot of jargon very academic but if you're interested in the sociological approach to religion I highly recommend it and as always this episode is brought to you by our patrons on patreon because of you guys religion for breakfast continues to exist and continues to bring you great content on religious studies if you'd like to become a patron yourself check out patreon.com religionforbreakfast and subscribe thanks again and I'll see you next time