The Duality of Religion- Great Emancipator or Mechanism for Control?

The Duality of Religion- Great Emancipator or Mechanism for Control?

Karl Marx argued that “religion is the opiate of the masses”, and to some extent, he was correct. It was not however, out of a desire to free the human mind and spirit from the shackles of religion that his communist disciples turned to atheism, though that may have been their false pretense. Their motive was in fact to control those shackles for themselves. Thus throughout history have dictators attempted to control or supplant religion in their efforts to control their populations.

All forms of dictatorship seek to either control, co-opt, transform, and ultimately destroy religion. Communist states like the former Soviet Union imposed atheism on its population from the top down, replacing God with State, substituting one ultimate authority with another. Fascist Germany, on the other hand, sought to control the Catholic Church by steadily eroding its independence and slowly turning it into a mouth-piece for the state. Communist China, interestingly, has utilized both strategies. Note the “Cultural Revolution” in which Maoist zealots destroyed Buddhist temples and ancient statues (see the “Longmen Grottoes” for an example of the defacement of these ancient relics) in an effort to “purify” society from religion. Today, China seeks to control religion, by co-opting the Catholic Church, insisting that bishops and priests be appointed and approved by the government. Once a religion is co-opted by the state, it becomes yet another mechanism of control for the government, which seeks to maintain the subservience of the minds and spirits of its population. When a religion has reached this point, it has lost its moral authority, and as a result, is destroyed, if not in fact, then in substance.

Most religions, by their very nature, seek to control people’s thoughts and minds by asking them to accept certain moral and ideological precepts based on “faith” alone. The danger of religion lies in the fact that when one accepts anything based on “faith”, without regard to “reason”, they may be controlled by an unchallengeable moral authority. This unchallengeable moral authority is both a temptation and burden for dictatorships: control religion, and you control the people. Let religion flourish, and risk losing your moral authority to a “higher power”. Perhaps in acknowledgement of this dilemma, and to remove this temptation from future political leaders, the writers of the U.S. Constitution had the foresight to insist upon “separation of church and state”.

On the other hand, religion can also serve as an immensely positive force. Religion inspires people to help others, to act charitably, and to generally lead honest and moral lives. Perhaps most importantly, it provides hope. Hope for a better life, now, and in the afterlife. It teaches people that they “deserve better” and it shows people that there is a power greater than “the state”. It is this hope that can drive people to question authority, to push for something better, to not accept the status quo, and most importantly, to believe that man is worthy of all the glory that the world (or God) has to offer. This belief in human “worthiness” inspires greatness in people, and great fear in those that seek to control human greatness.

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