Is Organized Religion The Opium Of The Masses?

Only if they use it to enable themselves, or get “the high!”

but without religion at all you will be addicted to real opium.

I think that organised religion is the opium of the masses. Religion has the same effect in that it anesthetizes people to the reality of life, makes them feel good for no possible reason and makes them endure pain and misery for no reason at all. Nietzsche had it right when he said that religion emasculates people. He also saw how Religion manipulates people. It is a device of the strong to dominate the weak. It preaches love but is the source of endless violence and hatred.

television is the new opiate of the masses

Most commonplace things can be called an opium of the masses, because people tend towards habit, overindulgence, shortsightedness, and addiction. For example, TV is the opium of the masses. Overeating is the opium of the masses. Pricey cars are the opium of the masses.

Marx had it right. Religion has been responsible for more evil in the world than any other person or force in history. Religions of all types encourage followers to abdicate their powers of logical thought and replace them with sheeplike behavior. Questions are discouraged, blind obedience is required.
The Gnostics believed that humans could have a relationship with the divine all by themselves. We do not need priests, pastors, imams, rabbis, or gurus to find oneness with the divine force of the universe. However, to follow a gnostic path of spirituality requires more discipline and strength of character than most people are capable of. They would rather take the drug of organized religion and meander through life smugly thinking they are the only ones who will be “saved” after death. Religion is a bit like a country club that way; the members feel exclusive and like to look down their nose at everyone who isn’t in their club.
I was raised in the church, went to parochial school, and I have a strong spiritual core, but I walked away from church 12 years ago. God is in you. Find him yourself. You don’t need someone in a pulpit making you feel guilty or righteous. Kick the habit!

At the time and in the society Marx was writing about it was probably true – although Marx did go on to say that religion was the heart of a heartless world.
While organised religion may not have changed the centrality of religious belief to daily life has changed, at least in those societies which have a developed economy. It can be argued that the new opium of the masses is the accumulation of consumer goods and the attainment of a life free from want – witness the new China for example.
At the same time it can be argued that modern civilisation with its emphasis on the material has left a spiritual void that some people seek to fill by turning to religious fundamentalism. Hence the rise of the Islamic fundamentalists in the Arab world and some developing countries and the rise of Christian fundamentalists in the USA and elsewhere.

Is religion the opium of the masses? YES – definitely.
Does that mean that there is no God and that religion is worthless as Neitzsche asserted? NO

The reason religion is the opium of the masses is exactly that it gives hope for an afterlife. It teaches you to accept misery and injustice and expect reward for your sufferings in the next life and so it makes you passive in this life. However, it is true that today the real opium is television.

I think it was Karl Marx who coined the phrase that Religion is the Opium of Mankind, and he was wrong in that too (besides his critique of capitalism being wrong).

When I think of religion, I think of half the wars in the history of humanity. People seem to be all consumed by religion to the point they forget about basis on which it is founded. I don’t think there’s a single religion that says it’s ok to kill or impose your beliefe onto others. Religion has this way of providing a comfort too – it’s all ok cos I’ve got God on my side. So yeah, I reckon it is.
Of course, opiates have their good points too, as does religion – providing hope and good morals and so on – so let’s not forget the good bits!

He did have a point. But, I’d say, voyeurism is now the opiate of the masses! Talk shows, reality shows, tabloids…take a look at the sites you can find by typing in just one celebrity name in your browser! the popularity of Amkerican Idol, So You Think You Can Dance…..
As to religion, assuming we’re talking about organized religious centers (churches) and not just faith, Nietzsche was not far from wrong. It may give one hope for what comes after death, but it also gives one a point of sometimes violent contention. Just as an addict craves the next fix, so does religion tend to set humanity on edge for the next word….sad, really, that something as beautifully basic as faith in something greater than oneself can become so perverted……

Yes, I agree that this statement contains a great deal of merit. Religion has long been a social crutch. In certain instances the implications of following a dogmatic doctrine(s) has proved detrimental to the progressive and positive evolution of civilization. I could make posit the various and many inquisitions, Jihads, ethnic cleansings, not to mention the intolerance and bigotry of the rapture rights here in this country, blah, blah etc.etc. infinetium ad nauseum, but those examples pale as to the future results of these proletariat enemas if sanity and reason isn’t restored to at least some degree.