Religion is the opiate of the people
People of the communist way of thinking hold that religion is the opiate of the people, i.e., people can be lulled into obedience by the state through religion. It is a fact that during the Middle Ages in Europe, the Church helped the rulers in their despotic rule and prevented the people from rising against tyrannies. But that was not because of religion as such but because of the political system and the form of the Church. Religion, in its true sense, brings to man the understanding of things beyond this material world. Whatever one may say in support of the scientific view of life, the physical universe fails to explain the working of the human mind, the world of imagination and intuition. Whether we accept the entity of the human soul or not, we cannot get away from the fact that the human body by itself is not the complete man. There is something, which is not of the matter, which science fails to comprehend, that sustains life. Religion explains this phenomenon and brings solace and peace to the mind of man. Religion is not an opiate in the sense of this quotation though it may be in the sense that it can make man oblivious of the tribulations attending human life on the earth.
