>It's from Marx's Introduction to the Critique of
>Hegel's Philosophy of Right (1844), and is connected
>with Marx's famous discussion of religion as the opium
>od the masses.
>
>
>Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the
>expression of real suffering and a protest against
>real suffering. 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.
>
>
I forget where I read this-- maybe even on this newsgroup- but Marx's
line about religion being "the opium of the people" is a metaphor that's
changed with time. For the last hundred years or so, "opium" had meant a
powerful drug, with overwhelming narcotic powers, and whose use was an
example of extreme drug indulgence. To modern ears, drawing an analogy
between religion and opium implies that religion has similar effects.
(It does, but only in extreme cases.)
It was pointed out to me that, in Marx's day, opium didn't have those extreme connotations. In his day, opium and its derivatives were prescribed as a general pain-killer and relaxant, and regarded as harmful and as dangerous as aspirin. The quote is one of the few that's become _more_ provocative as time's gone by-- but Marx wasn't being much harsher than drawing an analogy to, say, Bactine or Excedrin.