Marxist Theories of Religion

Religion as ideology

Religion operates ideologically to legitimate the suffering of the poor as something inevitable and god-given.
Misleading the poor into believing that their suffering is virtuous and will be rewarded in heaven, (easier for camel to enter eye of a needle). Creating false class conscienceness because it prevents the poor from acting to change their situation.
Lenin - Religion is 'spiritual gas' that intoxicates and confuses the poor to keep them in their place, the ruling class manipulate the masses & stop any revolutions by creating a 'mystical fog' that obscures reality.
Christian Fundamentalist groups in the U.S have a history of opposition to communism/socialism, they also believe and prosperity is a sign of God's favour; whilst poverty, or homosexuality are indicators of sin.
Religion legitimates the power & privilege of the dominant class by making their power appear to be divinely ordained, e.g, Divine Right of Kings - the king is God's representative on Earth and if you disobey it's illegal and a sinful challenge to Gods's authority.
Also the Hindu Caste system which is a social stratification based on ascribed class status, you're born into the same caste as your parents and can't marry between castes. Lowest are the untouchables who don't have a caste.

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Marx - Alienation is becoming seperated or feeling out of control from something that one has produced or created.
Under capitalism workers do not own what they produce and have no control over the production process, they can't express their true nature as creative beings.
The peak of alienation in capitalism is in the factory where the worker repeats the same meaningless, skilless task in dehuminising conditions.
Religion acts as an opiate for the masses, dulling the pain of exploitation but it is only a mask that doesn't tackle the cause of the pain.
Religion becomes a distorted view of the world that offers no solution to earthly misery. Illusory happiness distracts the attention away from capitalism - the true source of suffering.

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Functionalism - Ignores positive functions of religion, such as psychological adjustment to misfortune.
Neo-Marxists - Certain forms of religion can develop class-conscienceness.
Althusser - Rejects alienation as unscientific and based on a romantic idea that humans have a 'true self', making it an inadequate basis for a theory of religion.
Religion doesn't always function effectively as ideology to control the population, in a pre-capitalist society Christianity was a major element of ruling-class ideaology but it only had limited impact on the peasantry.

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