Religion Is The Opium Of The People Philosophy Essay

Religion Is The Opium Of The People Philosophy Essay Religion is the opium of the people Karl Marx, Critique of Hegels Philosophy of Right, 1844 The construct of two uniquely different terms being used together often raises the eyes of persons who focus on strategies to influence the thinking and actions of many persons. In this case, religion represents those persons around the globe who hold strongly held beliefs. Opium, conversely, often represents an addictive substance that shifts the ability of individuals to maintain control of their own faculties, abilities, or behaviors. Each term provides numerous images in the minds of people who value either religion or the use of substances. In this case, however, the terms are used in a statement of emphasis that demands that one see the critical direction that Karl Marx was approaching in 1844. According to Oxford Dictionaries (2009), Religion is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. Opium is a reddish -brown heavy-scented addictive drug prepared from the juice of the opium poppy, used illicitly as a narcotic and occasionally in medicine as an analgesic. The opium of the people is a thought and action-reaction regarded as inducing a false and unrealistic sense of contentment among people. In this case, it is Religion, according to Marx. History reports that the majority of people believe that Marx criticizes religion as being a relief for the masses, in the way that it creates an illusory fantasy to the poor, assuring them that even if they are living in misery in this life, they will find true happiness in the afterlife, thus only masking the problem and not solving it. However, based on the sudden change in the 19th century (period in which Marx lived) of how opium is perceived, the quote can be assessed in two way s; positively and negatively. This makes it interesting for us to analyze it since history plays a big part on how it should be understood. Since prehistoric times, opium has been used worldwide. From Egypt to China, it was highly regarded and used for many things, such as to relieve pain, to bring courage and strength to soldiers, to reach a feeling of ecstasy or to get in touch with the divine. These practices continued and spread, until the 19th century, when its negative effects were being detected. At this point, opium was found to be addictive, sometimes lethal and had started to be regulated. The impact and harm that was done through the use of opium caused societies to consider changing the perspective held on the use of the drug. Eventually, the use of opium became illegal because its damage was significant to the members of every society where it was used. Parenthetically, it was and sometimes still is being used for medical experiments and pain-reduction, delusional practices to this day and remains the most efficient pain-killer. However, despite the illegalization of opium and its derivatives, it was and is still being used by a wide variety of people in all parts of the world, most commonly in the form of heroin, in order to achieve a feeling of pleasure and to escape from reality. In the 19th century, opium was responsible for two wars that took place between the United Kingdom and China. The Opium Wars occurred because China illegalized the drug though the United Kingdom continued to traffic it in China, through India. After having had an overview on the history of opium, we can now deduce the different possible meanings that Marx conveys in his quote. In a first perspective, Marx could imply that religion is the opium of the people in a positive manner. This being the case, Marx meant that opium provides comfort and relief. Since Marx was a big supporter of the proletarian movement, which in his time was working in horrible conditions and leading miserable lives in cities, Marx might have insinuated that religions purpose was to create illusory fantasies for the poor as opium did for drug abusers and addicts. Economic realities often prevented the poor and to a large extent, even the aristocrats, from finding true happiness in this life; so religion tells them that this is OK because through a belief in God, through accepting the power and authority of God; through dying and going to heaven, one will find true happiness in the next life. Additionally, religion might bring comfort to people in hard times, for example during times of war, when people would pray for God to protect them, or after the death of a loved one, thinking thi s person would go to heaven and be at peace. Another argument would be that religion and opium give courage to people. Christians and Muslims believe that God Allah is always with them, protecting them and loving them, which could boost their confidence and make them feel they can do anything with God on their side. Lastly, religion can give, for some, a purpose to life based on the principles and tenets of God suggesting that God has a plan for each human being. Moreover, it explains all that science is unable to explain, for example the creation of the Human race. Effectually, what is not scientific is created by faith often unchallengeable in the eyes of rational thought. To conclude, Marx could be stating by his quote that people are in distress and religion provides solace, just as people who are physically injured receive relief from opiate-based drugs. On the other hand, Marx could very well be criticizing religion. First of all, opiates do not fix a physical injury, they merely make you forget pain for a limited time; this is a good thing only if you work on solving the underlying roots of the pain. Equivalently, religion doesnt fix peoples pain, it simply conceals their reasons of suffering and causes them to look ahead to an illusory future when the pain will cease, instead of working on changing their present condition. In other words, Religion as opium creates an imaginary world that prevents people from being accountable for their own lives and their own futures since they believe their path is traced and controlled by a certain God. They are thus led to let things happen and not be responsible for the situation in which they are. Moreover, religion is used as a control mechanism that gives power and authority of some over the masses. The desire to create a collective unconscious that diminishes the power of man to an acquies cing to the power and authority of a higher power often unseen and unknown. Because of the unknown nature -there is a concern that the higher power is infinite; man is finite, and in that finite nature, man can never be in control of his own destiny. Thus, man must acquiesce to the power of the higher authority, and its emissary on earth the Church. However, the church is the work of man and is bound to be flawed. For example, regarding Christianity, Jesus advocated helping the poor, but the Christian church merged with the oppressive Roman state, taking part in the enslavement of people for centuries. In the Middle-Ages the Catholic Church preached about heaven, but acquired as much property and power as possible. Finally, religion, just like opium, is a cause of war. Opium was the cause of two wars between the United Kingdom and China in the 19th century. Similarly, religion was the cause of the crusades, a war between Christians and Muslims that lasted nearly two centuries. This could be one of the reasons why Marx associated the word opium with religion. The quote Religion is the opium of the people can apply to the two major religions: Christianity and Islam. Both religions believe in one God, and both believe in a final judgment, where a person is judged according to their actions on earth, and then sent to either Heaven, place of joy and bliss where they will be happy, either in Hell where they will spend an eternity of misery. On the other hand, other religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism believe in reincarnation of the spirit, which means the person might or might not be happy in his new life, and this excludes Marxs theory of religion being a comfort to the people.

Use of Credit Cards :: essays research papers

The use of credit cards is much more dangerous than use of checks or cash. Paying with cash is very easy; for knowing how much money is available and how much can be spent makes it very hard to get into debt. When paying with a check the process is a bit trickier; the exact balance has to be kept on the account at all time. Knowing what this balance is and continuously replenishing it can be quite hard. Nevertheless, even with a check consumers can not get into a lot of trouble. If more money is spent then the shopper has on the current account, the last written check will be rejected and account will be suspended until the balance is paid off. With credit cards however, every year more and more people get into debt. According to American Bankers Association (ABA), Americans owe more then $387 billion on their credit cards. This frightening number, averaging about $3,900 per family, is just as bad for the economy as it is for the consumers. In September of 1995, for example, The AT&T Universal card charged $15 per month for late fee to people who paid their bills just one day after the due date. Visa, on the other hand, was charging the penalty feesfor as little as a dollar over the limit, plus an interest of up to 24.9 percent per year. In the second quarter of 1995, overdue payments as a percentage of outstanding balance hit 3.267 percent. That is the highest mark since recession of 1991. "The picture is, some consumers are very, very deeply in debt," says Charles McMillion, chief economist with MBG Information Services. A swipe of the card has become so natural that many consumers do not realize how much they have charged, nor that it will take them forever to pay that debt off. Seventy percent of respondents to a recent ABA survey said that it would take them at least two months to pay off their holiday expenses. Unfortunately, there are more ways to use a credit card than ever before, making it very hard for consumers to refrain from spending a lot of money. Shopper can charge groceries, teeth cleanings, and on-line services to their credit cards. Introduction of rebate cards – which offer users credit towards new vehicles, frequent-flyer miles,

Huck Finn Comparison Essay

Justin Esteves 1/18/12 Puddn’head Wilson and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Comparison Essay There are several differences that are evident between Puddn’head Wilson and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. One of the major differences between the two books is the characters that are involved in the stories. They have different personalities and react differently to different situations.The twins in Puddn’head Wilson are young men from noble descent from Italy who left their country. They are smooth talking, but really don’t lie about a situation. However the Duke and King in Huckleberry Finn aim to trick people in different towns by selling the people tickets to a show that never existed. In one instance a man dies and they pretend to be related to him so they can get his inheritance. The ages of the main characters are different as Huck is a boy while the characters in the other story are adults.In Puddn’head Wilson it is said not to have a spe cific plot line, but in Huck Finn the story follows the classic plot line scheme. There are many similarities between the two stories. One of them is that the settings are very much the same as they both take place on the Mississippi River. Actually when I was reading Huck Finn, I couldn’t get the picture of the setting of Puddn’head out of my head. Another similarity is that the twins and the King and Duke are similar characters since they are together in pairs all the time in the book.The final similarity is the involvement of death in both books. The whole story of Puddn’head is based around a murder. In Huck Finn, Huck makes it look like he was killed to escape from Pap and the town. After Mr. Wilks’ death, the Duke and the King go after the money in his will. Another death in Huck Finn was Pap who was found dead in a house during a flood. Overall The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a lot better than Puddn’head Wilson.After reading several re views more readers liked Huck Finn and some people really disliked Puddn’head Wilson. Both books were about life on the Mississippi River from a long time ago. It was interesting to see how people lived in that period of time. Even though the stories took place many years ago, there are many similarities between the people from then to now as to how they treat each other. People were the same then as they are now and have the same outlook on life. The books and life follow Mark Twain’s quote, â€Å"The damned human race. †

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