Marxism

Despite his influence on the topic, Karl Marx was not religious and never made a detailed study of religion. Marx's views on the sociology of religion came from 19th century philosophical and theological authors such as Ludwig Feuerbach, who wrote The Essence of Christianity (1841). Feuerbach maintained that people do not understand society, so they project their own culturally based norms and values onto separate entities such as gods, spirits, angels, and demons. According to Feuerbach, after humans realize that they have projected their own values onto religion, they can achieve these values in this world rather than in an afterlife.
Marx once declared that religion is the “opium of the people.” He viewed religion as teaching people to accept their current lot in life, no matter how bad, while postponing rewards and happiness to some afterlife. Religion, then, prohibits social change by teaching nonresistance to oppression, diverting people's attention away from worldly injustices, justifying inequalities of power and wealth for the privileged, and emphasizing rewards yet to come.

Although people commonly assume that Marx saw no place for religion, this assumption is not entirely true. Marx held that religion served as a sanctuary from the harshness of everyday life and oppression by the powerful. Still, he predicted that traditional religion would one day pass away.
However, Althusser criticised Marxâs view of alienation, regarding it as unscientific, it canât be conceptualised meaning it canât be quantified or measured, because it is based on a romanticised idea that human beings have a true self. Marxâs theory proves to be an inadequate one when trying to outline the function of religion. Even so, neo-Marxistâs have now criticised Marxâs theory on the basis that it is too outdated to deal with the functions of a modern society, for example, liberation theology, which was a movement in Latin America, which used religion to retaliate to the capitalists and...