Christianity, Islam,Buddhism Hinduism and Karl Marx and his opinion for religion?
At the time of saying "religion is opium" do Karl Marx possessed the knowledge of Buddhism and Hinduism also or he was just had knowledge about Christianity or Christianity and Islam?
It is doubtful that Marx had any first-hand experience of Islam, let alone Buddhism or Hinduism.
He was a Jew who was brought up in the midst of a Christian culture at a time when "Christian society" and "advanced society" were virtually synonymous.
Marx, would have known of the existence of the eastern religions, but when he was condemning religion he would have been thinking primarily of Christianity.
At the time Marx said that religion is the opium of the masses, opium was the only widely available pain killer and Marx himself had taken it in that context on several occasions.
no he said opium is the opiate of the masses, what he meant is that religion is what people turn to when the pain of life is too much, opium at the time was a pain reliever not an illegal drug
he wasn't saying religion was bad thing he was saying religion exists to to turn to when your pain gets to great, he was an educated German, the British had owned India for several hundred years so he would have had an knowledge of Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, Jainism, Gnosticism and Zoroastrians
of course he had knowledge of a wide variety of world religions, but he was speaking mainly in a political and societal context, about how the ruling classes all over the world use religion to subdue and manipulate their people.
"Praise for one who left you broken down and paralyzed...he did it all for you..." -----Maynard James Keenan
Christianity, Islam,Buddhism Hinduism and Karl Marx and his opinion for religion?
