All my life, I have heard religious and anti-religious statements being made.
Karl Marx made this statement, "Religion is the opium of the masses". According to him, religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions and thus the abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness.
What a statement...
http://www.awitness.org/news/november_2001/opiate_religion_marx.html
Well, I read an paper publishing the results of a study on how religion affects the disadvantaged.
The study was done over 15 years, tracing the outcome in life for the children of people who are disadvantaged (single parent, low or no income, bad neighbourhood, parents with low or no education, etc).
Results? There were many factors that occured but did not have an impact on the outcome of the children's life but interestingly, they found that the children of parent(s) who attended church (protestant or otherwisee) at least 3 out of 4 times a month did significantly better in life. They were more highly educated, earned more per annum, were healthier and had better relationships in life.
So religion does have a positive impact on the lives of the people...or is Karl Marx still right about it being illusionary?
A really really smart man once said, "There is life and death...Choose life." That, my friends, is good advice....
Pondering (again)...
