Is Religion Really Necessary?

IS RELIGION important to you? Are you, perhaps, a member of a religious group or church? If so, you have much in common with people who lived back in 1844, the year when the German philosopher Karl Marx wrote: “Religion . . . is the opium of the people.” In those days almost everyone went to church and religion had a strong influence on every level of society. Today, that has changed drastically, and religion plays little or no part in the lives of hundreds of millions of people. If you go to church, you are likely in a minority in your community.

What caused the change? For one thing, Karl Marx developed an antireligion philosophy that became very influential. Marx apparently considered religion an obstacle to human progress. He claimed that mankind’s needs could best be met by materialism, a philosophy that left no room for God or for traditional religion. This led him to state: “The first requisite for the people’s happiness is the abolition of religion.”

Marx’s philosophy of materialism was further developed by the German socialist Friedrich Engels and the Russian Communist leader Vladimir Lenin. It came to be known as Marxism-Leninism. Until recently, over a third of mankind lived under political regimes that followed to a greater or lesser degree this atheistic philosophy. Many men and women still do.

The Growth of Secularism

But the spread of the Communist philosophy was not the only thing that weakened the hold of religion on mankind. Developments in the field of science also played a part. For example, the popularization of the evolution theory led many to question the existence of a Creator. And there were other factors.

The Encyclopædia Britannica mentions “the discovery of scientific explanations for phenomena formerly attributed to supernatural causes” and “the elimination of the influence of organized religion from spheres of activity such as medicine, education and the arts.” Developments like these have led to the growth of secularism. What is secularism? It is defined as “a view of life . . . based on the premise that religion and religious considerations should be ignored or purposely excluded.” Secularism is influential in Communist and non-Communist lands.

But secularism and Marxism-Leninism were not alone in weakening the influence of religion. The churches of Christendom must share the blame. Why? Because for centuries they had abused their authority. And they had taught doctrines based on unscriptural traditions and human philosophies rather than the Bible. Hence, many in their flocks were too weakened spiritually to withstand the onslaught of secularism.

Further, the churches themselves for the most part finally gave in to secularism. In the 19th century, religious scholars in Christendom came up with a form of higher criticism that destroyed, for many, the credibility of the Bible as the inspired Word of God. Churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, accepted the evolution theory. Yes, they still claimed to believe in creation. But they allowed for the possibility that the body of man evolved, while only the soul was created by God. During the 1960’s, Protestantism came up with a theology that proclaimed the “death of God.” Many Protestant clergymen condoned a materialistic life-style. They countenanced premarital sex and even homosexuality. Some Catholic theologians developed liberation theology, mixing Catholicism with revolutionary Marxism.

The Retreat of Secularism

Thus, secularism came to predominate, particularly during the 1960’s and up until about the middle of the 1970’s. Then things changed again. Religion, although not, for the most part, the mainstream churches, seemed to make a comeback. All around the world, the late 1970’s and the 1980’s witnessed a proliferation of new religious groups.

Why the resurgence of religion? French sociologist Gilles Kepel [male] stated that “secularly educated lay people . . . maintain that secular culture has led them to a dead end and that by asserting their liberation from God, men are reaping what they have sown by their pride and vanity, namely, delinquency, divorce, AIDS, drug abuse, [and] suicide.”

The retreat of secularism has gathered fresh momentum since the recent apparent collapse of Marxism-Leninism. For many people this atheistic philosophy had become a veritable religion. Imagine, then, the bewilderment of those who put their trust in it! A Washington Post dispatch from Moscow quoted a former rector of the Communist Party Higher School who said: “A country lives not only on its economy and institutions, but also on its mythology and founding fathers. It’s a devastating thing for any society to discover that their greatest myths are based not on truth but propaganda and fantasy. But that is what we are experiencing now in the case of Lenin and the revolution.”

Speaking of both Communist and capitalist worlds, the French sociologist and philosopher Edgar Morin admitted: “Not only have we seen the collapse of the brilliant future held out to the proletariat but we have also seen the collapse of the automatic and natural progress of secular society, wherein science, reason, and democracy were supposed to advance automatically. . . . No progress is now assured. The future we had hoped for has collapsed.” Such is the empty feeling of many who put their faith in man’s efforts to create a better world without God.

Renewed Interest in Religion

This worldwide sense of disillusionment is causing a number of sincere individuals to recognize the need for a spiritual side to their lives. They see the need for religion. But they are dissatisfied with the mainstream churches, and some also have doubts about the new religions​—including healing cults, charismatic groups, esoteric sects, and even groups of Satan worshipers. Religious fanaticism is also rearing its ugly head. So, yes, religion is making a comeback of sorts. But is such a return to religion a good thing for humanity? Indeed, does any religion really answer the spiritual needs of mankind?

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“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless condition. It is the opium of the people”

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Photo: New York Times, Berlin​—33225115

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Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin saw religion as an obstacle to human progress

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Musée d’Histoire Contemporaine​—BDIC (Universitiés de Paris)

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The Marxist-Leninist ideology had raised high hopes in the hearts of millions of people

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Musée d’Histoire Contemporaine​—BDIC (Universitiés de Paris)

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Cover photo: Garo Nalbandian