"Religion...is the Opium of the People" - What did Marx Mean?

by cofty 82 Replies latest social current

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  slimboyfat

  Religion, Marx, Mother Theresa... are there any points where your views differ from Hitchens? On the Iraq war perhaps?

  I recently watched a very scathing critique of Hitchens' book on Kissinger by Niall Ferguson. He points out that Kissinger is a man whose life is documented in greater detail than almost any other, with thousands of sources available, yet Hitchens relies on barely a handful of primary sources to make his case against him. I guess that's the difference between journalism and scholarship. Hitchens is a smart conversationalist and debater but ultimately very shallow in terms of his research and analysis on even those few topics he has claimed as his own.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtXqZQn_adE
• 

  cofty

  Its impossible not to agree with his very insightful opinions about religion, I have explained why I agree with him about MT.

  As for Marxism in general I have no idea I have read very little of his writings on politics. You may well be correct about him being a lazy journalist I have no opinion.

  Edit - oh yeah I almost forgot, I could not disagree with him more regarding the case for the Iraq war
• 

  slimboyfat

  I have read his book "God is not Great". It was entertaining in parts, such as his "no child's behind left" line, (which I think was a play on works, ironic allusion to George Bush's education policy that may have been lost on many British readers) but I don't think I learned very much. He gives the impression of someone who doesn't actually know all that much about religion or Christianity in particular. Most of his points could have been gleaned from a few "everything that's wrong with the Bible and Koran" type websites, in fact maybe they were.
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  Nickolas

  Can you provide a specific example of where Hitchens was in error in "God is not Great", slimboyfat?
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  slimboyfat

  I didn't say he was in error. I doubt there are factual errors but the analysis is shallow.
• 

  glenster

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Is_Not_Great#Critical_reception
  http://creation.com/review-irrational-atheist-by-vox-day
  http://mimobile.byu.edu/?m=5&table=review&vol=19&num=2&id=653

  Again, videogames, except in some extreme cases, aren't opiates that prevent
  people from staying up to speed with the real world and contributing to it,
  although they can be nummy.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH4wSR-dwZU
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  Curtains

  wow cofty, that was an awful character assasination on Mother Theresa by Hitchens. Imo she would have done her work amongst the poor regardless of whether or not she became famous. Her fame imo results from her being used as a pawn by those who more powerful than her and who did/do have an agenda. I don't understand why Hitchens cannot see this and attacks the victim instead.

  As to her jetting off to America when she was sick - how much say did she have in that?

  It is probably better to see Hitchens work as a work of fiction and the Mother Theresa he depicts as a fictitious character who bears some resemblance to the real Mother Theresa - okay then, in that case I'd be prepared to consider his points as there is much validity there.

  But Hitchens does not seem to criticise the political and economic structures that have always used religion to keep people anaesthetized and to build their own power bases whereas Marx does. (mind you I have not studied Marxism and am only going on what I have read on the internet. Haven't read God is not Great either and am basing my comments on what has been shared on this thread and of course on my own study of the origins of religion)
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  Curtains

  here is a wiki entry on Christopher Hitchens - lots here I can agree with (bolded). Did not realize how much I have in common with Hitchens

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens

  8 ] He argues that the concept of God or a supreme being is a totalitarian belief that destroys individual freedom, and that free expression and scientific discovery should replace religion as a means of teaching ethics and defining human civilization. He wrote at length on atheism and the nature of religion in his 2007 book God Is Not Great.

  Hitchens often speaks out against the Abrahamic religions, or what he calls "the three great monotheisms" (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). He said: "The real axis of evil is Christianity, Judaism, and Islam".

  In a June 2010 interview with the New York Times, he stated that: "I still think like a Marxist in many ways. I think the materialist conception of history is valid. I consider myself a very conservative Marxist". [ 50 ] ]

  On the issue of abortion, Hitchens prioritizes in affirming that he believes a fetus should be regarded as an "unborn child", but opposes the overturning of Roe v. Wade and supports the development of medical abortion techniques, and fundamentally believes in access to contraceptives and reproductive rights as "the only thing that is known to cure poverty", and in order to prevent surgical abortion altogether. [ 81 ] [ 82 ]
• 

  PSacramento

  Please have a look at this three part video that will explain further why I share Hitchen's contempt for Mother Teresa and her ilk

  The woman was not wiothout her faults, that is a given, she was human and as short-sighted, but you are looking and only ONE part of the story.

  Have you read abouyt those that where THERE and that she helped? or those that went their and saw all the good that she was doing?

  This woman gave lepers love and physical contact, do you realise what that meant for a leper in India?

  To NOT make he out to be a saint is fine, to have CONTEMPT for her, well...to each their own.

  I remind us all the whole " splinter in neighbours eye, log in ours", thing.
• 

  PSacramento

  Hitchens is just stating his peronsla opinion and he does make that clear an dsince he is "nothing more" than a writer his views carry as much weight or as little as they do to those tha agree or disgaree, he never makes himself out to be an expert on anything.

  It's quite "OK" for him to be wrong or bias against religion and to say silly things like ""The real axis of evil is Christianity, Judaism, and Islam".

  That is his opinion and he is entitled to it.