Karl Marx was born in Prussia in 1818. After getting education from there he got his Doctorate degree from Jena in 1841. He was impressed with the philosophy of Hegel and Feuerbach. He wrote extensively on materialism and atheism while being in Koln, Paris and Brussels. In 1849 he moved to London in 1849 and settled there. During his stay in London he dwelled on his political and economic theories, which ultimately resulted in his book ‘Das Capita’, meaning ‘The Capital’.
Karl Marx spent his days in sheer poverty. At times he did not have enough money to pay the rent of his apartment. One day his personal luggage was thrown out by the apartment owner due to non payment of the rent. He was not the only one who suffered at the hands of cruel system of the society. It seems that Marx was deeply impressed by the miserable condition of the poor and the workers that he developed sheer hatred against the capitalists. The flames of revenge against the capitalism ignited an inferno in his heart. When he pondered over the causes of this, he felt that the Christianity had kept hostage the hearts and souls of the poor and the weak for the last two thousand years. The religious leaders had kept these segments of society in a state of intoxication on the promises of the ‘Kingdom of the Heavens’ in such a way that capitalists have found it very easy to exploit them at will. Due to this Karl Marx developed the sentiments of hatred and revenge against Christianity also. He possessed a philosophical mind and was impressed by Hegel’s philosophy of dialectical materialism. He writes in his book, ‘Critique of the Philosophy of Law of Hegel’:
“Religion is the product of human mind and man is not the product of religion. Only that person can remain attached with religion who is either misinformed about his status of a human being or the one who has lost this status after acquiring it. Religion is nothing but the screams of the victims of cruelty, the stone-heart of the indifferent world and has nothing to do with the spiritualism. The true human pleasure can be attained only with the extinction of religion. The morality, the religion, the super naturalism and all the concepts related with it, are the enemies of the real freedom and liberty of man. They have no history. History only encompasses the material human being”.
Why Karl Marx was so against the religion can be understood by the writings of the renowned thinkers of those times. Robert Briffault writes about Christianity his book, ‘The Making of Humanity’:
“The major crime of Christianity is that through out its history it has sided with the oppressors and have strengthened them. The Church has never exercised its influence power for the liberty of the weak or against the tyranny of the cruel. It has always favored the coercion and domination of the powerful segments of society”.
Then he quotes the writing of a Spanish professor Dr. Falta De Gracia:
Rule of the Church
“The concept of justice is alien to Christianity like the intellectual honesty. The Christianity has shown its sympathy with the down trodden but has always overlooked the tyranny of the oppressors. The Christianity has invited the poor and the sufferers to love, to have mercy and to forgive. The priests have reminded them of the benevolence of God but they have never worked to propagate general social justice and general honesty. Jesus Christ has is portrayed as descending from the heavens for the consolation of the poor and for healing sufferings of the victims of society, but to find out the causes of these miseries and their eradication is probably beyond his scope. The true concept of good and evil is beyond the comprehension of Christianity. The cruelty and oppression of this world is destined from God for the sinners and is unleashed by the governments that have been established due to their ‘divine right’.
Feudalism was always supported by the Church
“St. Vincent inspects the prison in France that is a replica of hell on this earth. He propagates the message of love there and asks the sinners to confess and repent. But he cannot comprehend the malicious causes and the failures of society due to which this ‘hell’ like prison is established. The mankind may keep screaming while in the shackles of the oppressors, the human minds and lives may keep strangulated in the cords of slavery, their bones may crack, they may be extinct, the Christianity will console them but will never try to think of eliminating the cruel. Christianity feels absolved from the responsibility of liberating the mankind from the chains of such a slavery. The Christianity could get unstable on violations of the principle like non resistance, quiet obedience, getting slap on one cheek and turning the other one for getting the second slap etc, but it will not be affected by any demonstration of vicious and ruthless behavior on the part of exploiters.”
Tyranny of the Feudal Lords
This was the perception of Christianity at that time, for which Karl Marx termed the religion as ‘opium’ for the poor and the weak. Lenin writes in his book ‘ Hammer and Sickle-Mark Patrick’:
Witch-burning:Tyranny of the Religious Priests
“The invisible forces of capitalism have created a sense of fear in the minds of the people, that in turn created the concept of a supreme being. This being was then named as God. So unless the concept of God is not removed from the human mind, this curse cannot be done away with.”
In ‘Labor Monthly’, Lenin writes:
“The religion is like opium for the people, so according toe Marxism all the religions and the Church are the tools of capitalism. Through the religion the rights of the working classes are infringed and they are deceived. So it is imperative for every proletariat to fight against religion till it is totally eliminated from the world”.
The Christianity confronted by Marx was not the one brought by Jesus Christ
My Opinion
The theory of Socialism emerged as a reaction to Christianity. Rather the present day progress and development of Europe and the West was made possible only when those nations separated the Church from the politics. With the shackles of Christianity even the scientific progress and economic development would not have been likely. A religion that puts the human thinking, logic and reasoning at the back burner cannot be helpful in solving the problems of the mankind. By this I do not intend to undermine a particular religion, rather my point is that the religion which was brought by Jesus Christ was a mercy for the mankind and a healer for all the ills of the humanity. However, with the passage of time, the clergy adapted Christianity to suit their own interests and fulfill their designs. In this way Christianity got cut off from the people and their sufferings. The force of history thus gave birth to a new theory (Socialism), which the considered to be a savior of the poor and the weak.
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It’s a cute distinction you make in ending, but let’s be real:
The sheep herder ( Sheppard ) takes care of the flock, heals the flock, feeds the flock, but ultimately … He leads the flock to their doom: the slaughter.
If you’re really interested in morality, humanity, healing, ethics… you should know that the Jesus teachings are actually of poor quality compared to ancient greek teachings and buddhist teachings.
It is important to remember that Marx was a personal failure, failed at academia and business and had to rely on a patron to keep his family sheltered. Every day he walked to the warm library leaving is wife and child in a cold flat, and wrote out his fantasies of how it would be when intellectuals like he were in charge.
Something that other failed and un-failed intellectuals still love to do.
@ Dumnezero
Jesus Christ was a prophet and a messenger of God. Like all other prophets, he was sent to the mankind with a book and wisdom in order to guide people towards the right path. A prophet of God is inspired directly by His words which are revealed on the heart (mind) of the prophet. The mission of a prophet is not only to show sympathy with the sufferers and to arrange charity for the poor, rather is to liberate the mankind from the shackles of the man-made cruel systems of exploitation and oppression. He preaches equality of human beings, social justice, and elimination of coercion and devises ways and means to set up a system that is conducive to the development of human physical and spiritual abilities. In short, a prophet is always the greatest revolutionary of his times. That is the reason the people, particularly those with power and economic resources are always so hostile to him that they even desire to kill him, so that they could save their interests and assets. The tyrants and the exploiters (which normally form the ruling class) are never afraid of a new religion, but are scared of the new system that directly threatens their authority.
Jesus did the same and struggled for the same. He and his disciples might not have succeeded during his life time but the influence that he wielded over the humanity did create a revolution after sometime. The people who lived a life of slavery, became the masters of huge empires. He provided light to the ‘blind’ to see and comprehend reality, he heeled the ‘lappers’ to make them active and dynamic members of society and he resurrected the ‘dead’ nation to harness the powers of the world. Christianity is still the largest religion of the world which owes its accolade to no other person but Jesus. What the followers of Jesus Christ, the clergy and the religious leaders have done to the his teachings and to the mankind, is a separate story altogether.
Unfortunately the life of Jesus from his birth till he left this world is shrouded in mystery. His disciples and followers then converted those mysteries into mythologies; hence the original teachings still remain obscure from the mankind. The events of history and also the intention of the clergy of initial days interpolated and distorted the words of God to such an extent that the Bible which we have today no more exists in its original form. A day will come that the truth will unfold itself and people will come to know that Jesus was not the type of person which is being portrayed today and the real freedom of mankind can be found only in the divine teachings given to us by the prophets of God, no man-made philosophy or system can be equated with that.
The face of Jesus of Nazareth, the Anointed
By: Luis Barbou, 05/10/2011
With the most modern science has made a study of its iconography, it is very difficult to reconstruct the true face of Jesus, if not impossible, but given the descriptions and pictures old has made an approach to the possible image of the holy prophet and spiritual leader of most of humanity.
Who was Jesus?
He had something like a whirlwind on the forehead and some hair fell over her, was very long nose to Palestinian tawny skin, dark hair rather long, penetrating and sometimes severe sweet and pious lost in the horizon inspired by his sacred beliefs and medium length beard, the hair may not, but by his loving wife who spoiled him permanently.
His voice was strong and very leisurely assurance and conviction, his speech was metaphorical and didactic, was the voice of a respected teacher.
Jesus of Nazareth from the house of David, the anointed of God, not God himself, but he has sent the greatest of the prophets, holy man, son of Mary and Joseph, both descendants of King David, was murdered by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate with the complicity of the Jewish priests allies of the empire, the reason was obvious, Jesus was recognized as the direct heir of the descendants of King David, every day more people are added to his cause which was considered subversive by the ruling power in Judea (Palestine).
He was married to Mary Magdalene, known as reviled and demonized Mary Magdalene the Apostle Peter jealous or envious of Jesus’ preference for it was law that all rabbis or tribal leaders were to be married and no doubt the leadership of Jesus . The scriptures refer their marriage poetically in The Marriage of Canaan, report great love between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, whom he publicly kissed her mouth and loving who received anointing with perfumes and oils worthy of loving husband.
There was no Islam or Zionism, or hatred there was no difference between Jews and Arabs were relatives with different dialects, mostly Jews were mostly sedentary and nomadic Arabs, there were more similarities than differences. The common enemy was the Roman Empire and its local allies hateful. There was a guerrilla war of resistance against Roman occupation. Jesus was in favor of peaceful resistance. Among his followers were zealots (guerrillas) converted to peaceful causes, including the most famous was Judas Iscariot, who believed that capture the leader, he unleashed all his supernatural powers over the Romans, Jesus himself convinced by the messianic teachings he had received since her childhood gave her murderers confident in his invulnerability sacred. It should be clarified that there was another great leader of the resistance, Barabbas was a Zealot, a hero of the underground struggle against the Roman occupation, so when Pilate asked the people to choose between Jesus and Barabbas preferred for Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus was clear that after being beaten and cruelly tortured Jesus had supernatural powers and could not free them from Roman rule.
The significance of Jesus of Nazareth, his teachings are universal in human solidarity and love among human beings, pacifism, nonviolence.
The so-called Christian religions have practiced non-violence and pacifism, the story is full of persecution, mass murder and discrimination, originated and practiced in these religions.
It’s time to vindicate this great man who was Jesus of Nazareth, Prince of Judea, hero of the peaceful resistance against the Roman Empire. The great teacher of peace and love, but not vindicate religious fanaticism and without dogmas forced against reason and freedom of thought.
We imagine Jesus as a Palestinian who was, not like Alexander who published the Greco-Roman de facto power or as the blond blue-eyed Nordic publicized by the Germans and the Anglo-Saxon Europeans and Americans.
Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem of Galilee city of King David, a descendant of maternal and paternal side of the king of kings of the tribes of Judea, he was a Jewish-Arab features or rather Palestinian native of the Middle East.
Reconstruction of the potential scientific and forensic face of Jesus
The Quran says: People of the Book! Do not exaggerate in your religion! Say not of God but the truth: that the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah and His Word which He bestowed on Mary and a spirit proceeding from Him! So believe in Allah and His messengers! Do not say ‘Three’! Enough, is better for you! There is one God. Glory to having a child … His are all things in heaven and on earth … God suffices as a protector!
They do blaspheme who say: “God is Christ the son of Mary,” whereas the Messiah said: “Children of Israel, serve the Lord, my Lord and your Lord.” Forbidden Paradise to God who is said to be him. His abode is the Fire.
The Christians created something like a Greek demigod, the son of a god and a mortal. Well, this is the fundamental reason for the difference between Muslims and Christians, in reality both religions are very fanatical and dogmatic.
Respect for the historical memory of this great man who was Jesus of Nazareth, requires wisdom because he preached peace, not to kill in his name or the name of Allah, Jehovah or God appointing him.
(God is intangible and utopian idea of a supreme power that is theoretically powerful, evil should not exist if the almighty power of the well unless the power of God is universal for good and for evil, because if Satan , maximum expression of evil is more powerful than God, then God is not omnipotent and has no sense its existence in the universe he created, how can exist in a universe that he created? It is extremely difficult to explain with reason therefore all religions come to the dogma of faith that says, “this is so and is not discussed”).