How can we explain religion – its origin, its development and even its persistence in modern society? This is a question that has long concerned many people in various fields. At one time, answers were framed in purely theological and religious terms, assuming the veracity of Christian revelations and going from there. In the 18th and 19th centuries, a more “naturalist” approach developed. Instead of believing in the truth of religion, what was needed was quite the opposite: an intellectual detachment and a suspension of belief. Three people who ended up doing this were Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber. Marx studied philosophy in Berlin under William Hegel. Hegel's philosophy had a decisive influence on the thought and theories of Marx. According to Marx, religion is the expression of material realities and economic injustice. So religious issues are ultimately societal issues. Religion is not a disease, but simply a symptom. It is used by oppressors to make people feel better about the distress they feel due to their poverty and exploitation. This is the origin of his comment that religion is “the opium of the people.” “People don’t have an objective view of the world; they see it from the restricted perspective of their own positions. » (p. 35) It sometimes seems to me that I am focusing more on economic theory than on religious theory, but that is because Marx's fundamental position is that everything is always about economics. According to Marx, humans - even from the beginning - are not motivated by big ideas but rather by material concerns, such as the need to eat and survive. This is the fundamental premise of a materialist view of history. In the beginning, p...... middle of paper ...... wealth was seen by you and your neighbors as a sign that you were one of God's chosen, thus encouraging people to acquire wealth. wealth. The Protestant ethic therefore provided for religious sanctions that fostered a spirit of rigorous discipline, encouraging men to apply themselves rationally to acquire wealth. This naturalistic approach to religion represented a fundamental paradigm shift in the way religion should be viewed. Instead of requiring clergy to understand religion, the requirement became facts, information, and research. Whether you agree with Marx's assessment of the social function of religion, that religion was "the opium of the people," like Durkheim, that religion was what held moral society, or with Weber's Protestant ethic, it is evident that religion played a key role in the development of society.