Quote:
Originally Posted by aklim
You don't have to be socialist to see that religion is crap. I don't agree with much of Marx said and the only thing I can agree with is that religion, whatever you have as the deity is the opium of the masses.
|
I agree that in many instances, religion is an opiate, particularly when it comes to industrial production. However, in the case of demons and demonology which started this thread, I think the role of religion is very different. One main purpose of demonology is to induce fear in the listeners. Scared people are much more likely to follow authority figures than secure people. It's why detecting demons is a private gift of discernment held by the authority figure. The average person cannot themselves verify or deny the existence of these terrifying beings, but must just accept the judgment of the authority. So demonology is an obedience-inducing feature of religion.