Religion, the opium (or opiate) of the masses

Young Karl Marx

Most people have heard Marx's famous pronouncement and think they understand it; leftists as an uncompromising denunciation of religion, right-wingers as an elitist put-down of the silent majority.

A recent posting of the quotation, in context, in an online forum, reminded me that few remember or perhaps have ever read the passage in its entirety. Doing so causes one to be struck by the lack of condescension, and the abundance of sympathy toward the pious, no matter what you think about Marx's conclusions.

"Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. 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 illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo." - Karl Marx