Is religion truly an opium for people?

IS RELIGION TRULY AN OPIUM FOR PEOPLE?

Mario D’Couto

            In as much as life is beautiful, it has its own challenges and sometimes the road may not be smooth enough. We may have to experience the occasional bumps and knocks or sometimes the situation can be so bad that we may fall down in a ditch and struggle to get back up.

            The above title is based on a statement made by Karl Marx who said that religion is the opium of the people. If we go to dig into its meaning, the implications behind it could be a bit alarming. For instance, if you have examined or seen people into drugs or mental patients in hospital or even animals in a veterinary, whenever they become restless, a dose of injection is injected to tranquilize the person or the animal. In a similar way, Marx equated religion as a ‘drug’ that was used by religious leaders or priests (in particular) to ‘tranquilize’ people whenever they went through any rough patches in their livers. Statements such as, “It must be God’s will” or “God has a better plan for you” and other such statements were typical examples quoted and used to attack religion.

            The purpose of this article is to defend, not so much about the statement but rather to show or explain the true meaning of religion. Marx was an atheist and therefore for him to talk about religion didn’t mean anything. But for me, as a Christian, I believe when suffering looked at in the proper way, is actually transformative. When a statement like “God has a better plan for you” is understood in the proper way, suffering is seen not so much as painful or a negative experience but as a moment of discipline. The Bible talks about how silver is tested in fire and likewise suffering is a means to something higher. In this regard, there are 3 quotations that come to my mind,

“Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver, I have tested you in the furnace, of affliction.” (Isaiah 48:10)
“So that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and however at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:7)
“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11)
          Suffering for the sake of suffering is useless. But suffering for the sake of a higher good is truly a transformative experience. I have heard some people tell me before, “The more the suffering, the more it means God loves you.” Suffering is therefore not a punishment but a means to introspect one’s self as it provides the opportunity to find out and reveal those areas that we need to grow. For instance, we could find ourselves in a tough situation where our faith is tested or may be, certain circumstances may put us in a tight spot. Simply praying for faith doesn’t just happen, it grows. As someone told me, if we pray to be more loving, God put us in a situation where it calls for it or if you pray for more faith, God puts you in a situation where your faith is tested. It is only when we are put in situations and circumstances that our qualities grow. They just don’t happen. Of course, human as we are, we could or would fall in the process. But God, in His infinite mercy, understands our weakness and always gives us another chance.

        Finally, to conclude, you may or may not agree with what I have written above. But these words are just a personal reflection of what I believe. In the end, it is in our hands to respond to situations as they come and when we are in the grace of God, life takes on a new meaning. I am not a saint nor a mystic, but I think the words of the angelic doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, fits in very well in what I have been saying all this while, “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” Our faith in God is not some sort of blind belief and definitely not an ‘opium’ to satiate or tranquilize us in our suffering and difficult moments but we have proof in the life of Jesus Our Lord who became one of us, shared our human condition with all its joys and sorrows and finally paid the ultimate price for our sake with His life. He is the reason to live and that is why I would like to say, “Reason without faith is lame and faith without reason is blind.”



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