Prophets Versus Profits

opinion by Dr. John Ruhland

"Religion is the opiate of the masses." So wrote Karl Marx not much more than a century ago. Most people have a strong opinion regarding his statement. The opinion of most Americans is distorted because of Cold War anti-communist hysteria. This hysteria has deeply affected our historical perspective. Did Karl Marx invent communism? No. Was Karl Marx a communist? That depends on how communism is defined. In one of the best biographies I have read, "Karl Marx: Man and Fighter," by Boris Nicolaievsky and Otto Maenchen-Helfen, we learn that Marx was selfless and unselfish to a fault. It cost him his health and the lives of two of his beloved daughters. In terms of his unselfishness, his life emanated the spirit of communism.

Although Marx is often credited with founding communism, in fact his most famous work, a six-volume masterpiece, is a treatise on capitalism. It defines capitalism and how it works in minute detail. Capitalists who truly want to "be all the capitalist that they can be" must read it. Any socialist, anarchist, or other radical who fully wants to understand the system that will eventually give birth to a community-oriented economic system must also read it.

It is painfully obvious to those people kept in poverty under capitalism, that capitalists practice the exact opposite of the teachings of the religious prophets and the founders of major sects. For instance, Christ's teachings closely resemble communist teachings. The Jewish kibbutz was originally a commune. Though it may sound somewhat simplistic, religious people have to choose between their prophets and profits.

There are notable exceptions. For instance, there is a movement Marx probably never dreamed possible in organized religion, entitled Liberation Theology. It rose out of South American and Latin American freedom struggles, struggles against US colonialism. The teachings of Liberation Theology resemble the teachings of Christ. In them the rare synthesis of religion and spirituality is realized.

Spirituality is part of the essence of humanity. It is what gives human beings hope, what helps us through troubled times.

Organized religion is devoid of spirituality when it becomes dogmatic. Organized religion is what can drug the people by maintaining the status quo, keeping them in "their place," preventing them from fighting injustice. In contrast, spirituality helps people stay in the struggle for social justice, the struggle to extend the equality of all people beyond their creation (as in "all people are created equal") to include equality throughout their lifetimes. We can religiously go to our church, synagogue, or mosque each sabbath, but it is only when we look beyond ourselves and care for others that we have taken the first step towards spirituality.