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Karl Marx understood very well the role of religion. He is often quoted as saying that religion is the “opium of the people”. But he said a lot more than that, and it was in this work that he shows a deep understanding of why people are religious. He explains that, to ask them to give up on their religious illusions, this means removing the conditions that require that illusion.
Written: 1843-44;
Source: Marx’s Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (1843);
Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1970. Ed. Joseph O’Malley;
Translated: Annette Jolin and Joseph O’Malley;
Transcribed: Andy Blunden;
HTML Markup: Andy Blunden and Brian Baggins (2000).
Marxist.com version: HTML reworked, November 2019.