Few days back, I was casually browsing Youtube when I came across a video of a 4-5 year old toddler escaping unhurt from a speeding train after falling on the rail-tracks at a subway station in US. Thanks to some alert passengers, her life was saved. As soon as her mother took the baby into her arms, she kissed the Cross and uttered “Thanks to the almighty God for showering your blessings on this child”. Normally, there isn’t anything spectacularly different the way she reacted, probably most of us act in similar fashion except for few hardcore atheists. I must confess, m not a complete believer but neither m a complete atheist but personally I find the debate of some-supreme-power, religions and human existence, as pretty fascinating.
In this conundrum, I can recall a quote from Karl Marx, “Die Religion…ist das Opium des Volkes" translated as "Religion is the opiate of the masses" or “"Religion is the opium of the people". Though he expressed these views nearly 170 years back, they seem quite apt in today’s times too irrespective of geography. Nevertheless, he restricted his analysis to class struggle in the socio-political milieu of his times otherwise what could explain the religious bent of masses irrespective of class status (in his as well as current times!). I think he was right in case he saw religion as a kind of comfort blanket for existential queries and hardships of daily life. But probably he was more interested in the practical aspects of religion rather than philosophical or meta-physical aspects. For him, religion is an illusion which eases the pain (of the oppressed) produced by exploitation by rich classes and a series of myths that justify and legitimatize the subordination of subject classes. In some way, religion justifies the social order and a person’s position in it (akin to ‘determinism’). Infact he attempts to trash the following lines from, ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ – a popular Anglican hymn.
The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at the gate:
God made them, high and lowly,
And ordered their estate.
For Marx, religion is simply a manifestation of class-struggle. Thoughts of Bronislaw Malinowski are somewhat similar to him. He believes that religious beliefs reinforces social norms & values and reduce anxiety by providing confidence and a feeling of control in times of distress. He goes on to add that “religious rituals surround the events of crisis-of-life like birth, death, marriage etc”. But views of another prominent sociologist, Talcott Parsons, look more acceptable, he says, “religion gives meanings or makes sense of all experiences, no matter how meaningless or contradictory they might appear”. (Enthusiasts can refer to Religion section of Sociology – Themes & Perspectives by Holborn & Haralambos)
As for my own understanding goes, I can relate to Marx and Parsons partially. Religion can be compared to a painkiller, which provides a ‘cure’ to the people related to things like a fear of death/thought of an afterlife for which there are no explanations or right answers. Thus it provides some plausible explanations to seemingly meaningless questions (or very profound – depending on the way one sees) of human existence which has troubled thinkers right from the onset of human civilization. I am sure, these questions won’t be answered anytime soon but I m confident that the baby had her share of luck when she escaped a rampaging train. No doubt, scientists can run probabilistic models with respect to such incidents but I don’t think they can explain the chances of somebody surviving in a similar accident with 100% surety. Maybe visiting a nearby temple is an easier option than blaming human-built complicated mathematical models :)
Posted by
Bachchan
