Karl Marx, writes in Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right:
Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.
I was born in a nation ran by religion, I learnt to obey the rules, and don’t ask questions. TV shows, books and everything was towards obedience and not asking Why?
I participated in religious demonstrations, and celebrations, I cried along side of other sheep and follow the same path. I frowned upon whoever was different from me and my religion.
Then I went to university, still the same with one difference, I had access to free media. I had access to internet. My blessed dad bought me a computer and it changed me.
I remember that I was in 56KB Internet, watching Porn secretly and enjoying every bit of it. Reading articles on religion, and things that I couldn’t come in term to talk about it at the time.
In the 3rd year of university I stumbled upon a man who asked me the questions that I was waiting for.
- Why do we have to pray in a certain way?
- Why do we have to follow a religion?
- Why do you think God is there to get you if you don’t obey?
Story
You might have heard the story of Monkeys and the Banana, a group of scientists confine a group of monkeys in a big cage. They put a bunch of banana on top of a ladder.
Every time a monkey would go up the ladder to get a banana, scientists would hose the monkeys with cold water. Days came and gone, now monkeys knew if anyone touches the banana everyone would be hosed down.
So nobody would dare to touch it. Then scientists replaced some of the monkeys with new monkeys.
Something very interesting happened.
Now when the new monkeys tried to touched the banana on the ladder, remaining generation one would stopped the monkeys so no one touched the banana.
By now new monkeys knew no one allowed to touch the banana, why? they didn’t know why. Generation two never been hosed down by cold water.
They learned it from others. Later on, scientists removed all of the generation one and replaced them with new monkeys.
No-one would touch the banana, it was sacred. No body knew why. Just sacred. Generation two was guarding it and teaching the other not do so.
Does this sound familiar?
This story was around 1996 and got viral by a Ted Talk and would you believe if I tell you this never happened. I just told you a story and in your mind whether you made a connection and accepted the logic or you have watched the video and amazed by.
In reality, just what I have done could proof how one can make up a story that sound logical and other could potentially follow.
Ask WHY? don't just accept it because it sounds logical, do your research.
Fear is the ruler
For thousands of years, wars among nation happened because of religion, still happening.
Still we sometimes address other people who done something wrong by they religion. Still we put the blame on religion.
Fear of unknown, fear of heaven and hell, fear of being punished based on old testament, fear of being punished based on Quran, fear of being punished based on Torah.
Do we think, if God would tell us, hey, no one would get punished, now you can do whatever you want to do, then would we all still be the same?
Nope, many of us have fear and worship another being because of it and hoping to go to a better place when we die. ( One might )
image by elpais.com
Opium
When I was growing up, I lived in a low socioeconomic part of the society. I had friends who use opium daily and I saw the effect on them. They would turn in to sheep. Relax and simply do whatever you ask them as they would be invincible in their mind.
Everything would look better, one would eat so much that can not move and still think that he can run 100 miles straight away ( a prank I pulled - not proud of it :(
I have never been around people who does the new generation of drug so I don’t know the effect first hand, so I stick with opium.
Different take on "Religion, the opium of people"
Head of the countries, needs to run a society with a tool, and in many countries that tool is fear.
They use religion as the cure, and simply pick and choose whatever suits them.
- Follow the leader or you go to hell and you will burn.
- Go into war because the other country is different from us.
- Blew up yourself so you can go into heaven.
- Don’t let the refugees come in because their religion has told them to blow us up.
- What is your religion? ( One asked in the job application? - we won’t discriminate against any religion !!!!! ).
Imagine if one of these sociopath could say:
- go and blew up yourself because I want to get more publicity
- don’t let the refugees in the country because I will lose votes in the next election
- go to war because I am a sociopath.
Bottom line, each ruler in democracy, theocracy, monarchy and others that I don’t know use some form of religion to shut people up, or push our youngsters in frontline.
More to come later...
I dedicate this article to all of the fallen soldiers of this planet
who lost their precious life for one or more sociopath who was so
cowered that didn’t have a gut to put aside his or her agenda.
One of my favorit quotes of all time:
Hooroo.