Why do atheists say that religion is "the opiate of the masses" and "the cause of all wars"?

Question

This is a contradiction. How can you say that religion pacifies the masses but at the same time causes all wars? Can you see how both statements are anti-religion propaganda intended to deceive?

Most wars are for power and territory, not religion.

Answer 1

I most certainly can see how those statements are anti-religion propaganda. But people fear/hate what they don't understand.

Answer 2

Hey wait a minute there Huntjames. Organized religion is what stopped people from saying "a demon made me do it" for every crime. Religion means believing something, not believing anything. The older, simpler superstitions are full of inevitable dooms and curses that supposedly force people to do things. The great monotheistic religions are full of responsibilities and laws that tell a man (among other things) that he alone chooses what he does.
As to that other poster's line about "so follow science"...isn't there some irony in telling people everything they ever follow is a product of blind physical or subconcious influences, then giving them something else to follow? Fact is most athiests i've dealt with have little more than prejudice and the name of Galileo to account for their negative view of Christianity. They call us all dupes and intellectual cowards, people who use belief in God to take away some fear they imagine we can't face and they can. They think they know what Christianity's contribution to human thought is when they have never even heard of Thomas Aquinas. Seems like an awful lot are all too ready to judge quickly. You're right about one thing though, a truth-seeker always questions his own views, so how about some honest questions. Why do so many athiests think nobody can believe in the supernatural without being an idiot, while they know that 90% of the people in history (including 90% of the geniuses) have believed in it?

Answer 3

Carl Marx said so. What is funny -actually not funny, Ironic - isthat Communism has killed more people than most religions. That bastard Stalin alon killed 3 million.

It is true that Religion is the undercurrent of many wars..that is because when there is no llgical reason to go attack and exploit other countries, the Politicians and priest get togather and concoct a spiritual justification to invade other countries.

Right now there are 12-15 conflicts going on in the world -Islam is at least on one side of all conflicts, Pope Pius XII blesses Hitler's Holocaust; In the name of spreading the last revealation of God, Muslims have done the most barbaric things to rest of humanity for 1400 years now. Crusades were not what Jesus would have wanted in His name.
Now tat I think of it, It is mainly Islam and CHristianity through the centuries but Christians have got wise over last 10 years and do not attack anyone in the name of religion now....Muslims are not bothered with the tag of intolerant barbarians....they will keep fighing and killing in the nameof Allah till there is no human being left to kill.

Answer 4

While I do think religion is an opiate of the masses I don't think that they are the cause of all wars, just most.

Most people stay with a religion because it is a family tradition. Most religions give people a moral code to live by without having to think about what they truly believe about people and modern issues. Most religions use fear in order to keep their parishioners in the fold (hell). Most wars are started by the misconceptions about what they think that God wants.

If people lived by the creed "Do what you will, harm none" the world would be in much better shape than it currently is.

Answer 5

The idea thjat religions spawns all wars is demonstrably false. national Socialism's philosophical roots were drawn from the Enlightenment, and had nothing to do with religion. And religion certainly did not spawn the cold war.

And I doubt many atheists who bandy that accusation about would be comfortable knowing the spiritual affiliation of history's greatest genocidal murderer, Josef Stalin (yes, an atheist.) Other contestants in that grim race have been atheists as well, such as Pol Pot.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to make the countercase that atheism causes wars. Simply using the incongruity of the available evidence to show how silly such accusations are....

Answer 6

propaganda? Did the pot just call the kettle black?

opiate of the masses- originally stated by Karl Marx. This is an implication that nothing rules over peoples actions and thoughts more than religion. And, this goes hand-in-hand with war. People have fought countless wars in our history over religious fundamentalism. There is no deception in those statements, just the ugly truth. Religion has done more to stifle humanity than to help its progress.

Answer 7

It's not a contradiction. Religion does placate the masses. But, it is the civil and religious authority that uses the masses for whatever purpose they desire.

Religion is also responsible for most of the worlds conflicts. The Crusades, the Inquisitions, Christian Missionary Imperialism are just a few examples. A war started on the basis of patriotism and wrapped in religion is a tough combination.

"Onward Christian soldiers, marching off to war..."

So, it is not actually the Christians who started the war, it's their leaders using the Christians for their own benefit. Problem is that Christians are not conditioned to think for themselves. Most of them will buy whatever BS the government comes up with.

They get that holier-than-thou look on their faces and forget that it was Christians that burned Joan of Arc at the stake, sacrificed babies. Stifled Copernicus and Leonardo DaVinci and executed a whole slew of witches in Salem. And, they never give a backward thought to the colonization of Hawaii or the Phillipines in God's name. I don't know whether it was intended as a joke, but one of the most prosperous slave ships was named "Mercy of God." The Catholic Crusades roamed Europe and the Middle East slaughtering Christians, Muslims and Jews in the name of God.

How could there be a God who would condone such carnage in his name?

Answer 8

Its not just atheists that believe that.

Religion gives some people a way of coping with life much the same way heroin does for a drug addict.

Religion is a major cause of war, it is not the only cause.

Mostly the followers of Religion are the ones who try to deceive.

Answer 9

The quote was by Karl Marx, who wasn't an Atheist. He was a communist. Opiate means resembling opium, which is a drug that messes with your mind. He viewed religion as deceptive and unture. As for the wars, the crusades were motivated by religious ideology. The war in Iraq is probably a result of tensions between religious groups.

I can't believe I just defended Marx

Answer 10

For starters it was Marx who claimed that religion was the opiate, but he did not mean that in a pacifistic sense, the two comments are not mutually exclusive if you know source and context. Also I believe if you read your history, you'll find that even wars steeped in religious ideology are actually motivated for far more materialistic goals. A history of the Knights Templar would be a good place for you to start your studies.

Answer 11

You don't think that religious wars are for power and territory? That's what ALL religious wars are about!

It's called the "opiate of the masses" because it gives people a way out of thinking for themselves. They just have to believe in what someone else tells them.