Karl Marx wrote it in the introduction to his book "Contribution to Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right" from 1843. It also often translated from the German it was written in as "Religion is the opiate of the masses".
The phrase "opium of the masses" was coined by Karl Marx to describe religion as a tool used by the ruling class to keep the working class passive and content with their oppressed conditions. It suggests that religion can be used to distract and pacify people, preventing them from seeking social change.
You mean "opium of the people". Opium is a narcotic. It make people less analytical.
"The opium of the people".
The phrase "pipe dream" refers to people smoking opium out of water pipes. Many years ago, when opium was legal to smoke, people would smoke opium out of these water pipes to get a dreamy feeling.
As opium is drug which leaves the mind in a state of false images or false realities. So do some religions confuse those who partake in its doctrine. There are confused as to what is truth. Confusion is not of God for His house is a house of order. religion become opium to the people because they have different views of what they believe and knows .
Karl Marx "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."
Marx states that religion is the opium of the people. By which he opines that religion is used to keep people in their place and docile, unlikely to seek a change in their circumstances. He thinks this is not a good thing for the proletariat and benefits the established order.
Karl Marx and his followers called religion the "opium of the people." He concluded religion is used by the upper class to give false hope to the lower class.
Opium kills pain. Many religious people use religion as a drug to take away the pain of an unjust society.Opium also makes one dreamy and complacent--if one is happy on their drug, they don't want to make the needed changes in society.
He described religion as the opium of the people, an illusion designed to make them accept the status quo.
Marx meant that religion functions as a tool for keeping the oppressed masses passive and content with their circumstances by offering a form of comfort and distraction. Just as opium can dull physical pain, religion can numb the psychological pain of exploitation and inequality, thus preventing people from seeking genuine solutions to their suffering.
Marx believed that religion was the opium of the people, meaning that it was imposed upon the common person to control him. He believed there was no such thing as a God or gods.Some things Marx said about religion:On religion's lack of rationality:Religion is ". . .a complete negation of all reasoning."It ". . .explains nothing."On religion's use as a tool to keep the people in place:Priests ". . . calculate on the cowardice of the congregation.""It is the opium of the people."On religion's hypocrisy:". . . the English Established Church, for example, will more readily pardon an attack on 38 of 39 of its articles than on 1/39 of its income."