The religion card

Type :

Term papers

Pages :

5 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

05/18/2009

Category :

Philosophy & literature

Sub category :

Linguistics

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Summary :

Introduction
Marx's view on religion
Analysis of The Communist Manifesto
The situation in the Protestant Church
The success of religion as the vehicle for fueling division
Religion as a force to maintain hope and sanity
Conclusion
Bibliography

Abstract

Marx's theory of the trajectory of the dialectic relationship between the bourgeoisie and proletariat argues that internal homogeneity within each class is a crucial prerequisite to class action/revolution. This is because internal homogeneity gives rise to class consciousness within each class; this is a consciousness of one's relative position in terms of the means of production. As illustrated in Leon Uris's Trinity, the ruling class (exemplified by characters such as Sir Frederick Weed and Lord Roger Hubble), is already acutely class conscious and is thus able to employ certain tactics that prevent the rise of class consciousness among the destitute Irish workers. It is in the self-interest of the ruling class to maintain ties with England in order to benefit from trade concessions which allow them to undercut prices of English goods through the exploitation of Irish peasants. Class consciousness and power allow the elite to "shape the means of mental production" among the working classes in order to serve these interests. In Uris's novel, religion works as an extension of elite interests and effectively conditions the ideology of the working classes in three major interrelated ways; first, powerful interests are able to directly influence church policies by force and by exploiting the desire of clergy to be on the favorable side of the ruling class; second religion acts as what Marx called an "opiate" that leads the poor to immerse themselves in what character Seamus O'Neil called "the fantasy of Jesus and Mary" and consequently become subservient and numb to their class situation; third, religion was used as a means to divide the working class between Catholics and Protestants so that they would always fear and fight against each other (with the Protestant side simultaneously fighting for the British) instead of against their oppressors (Uris 260).