March 2007
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Karl Marx’ critique of religion as a social narcotic and reactionary ideology can
be understood clearly only in the context of the historical moment in which its author
lived and formulated the notion. Marx was born in 1818 to a family that valued
education and community position. Though religion may have been important within
the wider kinship in previous generations, it was of little importance to the nuclear
family in which he grew up. The household’s baptism and reception into the German
state church was less a matter of faith than of social advancement. Critiques of
philosophy, religion and politics that Marx published in his 20’s led to his exile from
Germany. By the time he was 30 he had been forced out of continental Europe and
spent the rest of his life in Britain where he befriended Frederich Engels, an
industrialist, who shared his convictions and provided poverty-level financial support
Europe in the 19th Century was riding the crest of the industrial revolution. In
Manchester, where Engels’ factory was located, the working class lived in squalor.
Though their labour produced great wealth, a major part of it was siphoned off into
the hands of the capitalist owning classes. The result, for the proletariat, was an
time and in that place, though showing sympathy for the poor, did nothing to change
Does Marx’ 19th Century European critique of religion as social narcotic and
2
reactionary ideology fit in 21st Century Asian contexts? Today Western imports are
asked to talk about his or her religion may spout 19th century Calvinism, and a
Burmese asked to present a song for a group may take something from the American
cowboy corpus. Though the suit may fit the body of the Taiwanese, the religion
satisfy the inner needs of the Korean and the music be well performed by the
Burmese, each is profoundly out of place or has displaced something authentic to the
European history from the 15th through the 19th centuries passed through three
great periods, the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment. Marx was
heir to various influences of each of these. But, “Asia has never gone through these
framework that takes in the social, economic and philosophical contexts of 19th
century industrial Europe. Attempts to see if the critique applies to Asia must take into
account the pluralistic social, economic, philosophical, ethnic and religious contexts
of Asia. One must set aside the idea that “the one can stand for the many” or “the part
can stand for the whole” and engage in a dialectic process by which the whole is seen
as the sum of its parts (as a pointillist painting) and each part is significant in and of
itself.
1
Daniel J. Adams, Biblical Hermeneutics: An Introduction (Taipei: Taiwan Theological College, 1976)
p. 35.
3
was in communion with trees and rivers and lakes away from the
crowds. The peace of the forest has helped the intellectual
evolution of man. The culture of the forest has fueled the culture
of Indian society. The culture that has arisen from the forest has
been influenced by the diverse processes of renewal of life which
are always at play in the forest, varying from species to species,
from season to season, in sight and sound and smell."2
Buddhism, not Marxism, grew out of this environment. Like Marx, the Buddha and
his disciples recognized the reality of suffering upon which Buddhist teaching focuses
as it discerns a path for freedom and liberation.3 Not all of Asia can be characterized
as Buddhist (not by a long stretch of the imagination). Nevertheless, Buddhism had its
origins in India and has spread, in various forms, from Mongolia and Japan in the
north, China and Taiwan in the East, Sri Lanka in the South, Afghanistan in the West
and has its modern geographical center in Thailand, making it one of the most
In 1977 the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) made “Jesus Christ in Asian
Suffering and Hope” the theme of its Assembly. Bishop Julio Xavier Labayen, O.C.D.
addressed the Assembly noting that Asia’s suffering was sweeping and miserable,
ancient, the inspiration of the region’s great religions and that it is for the most part
“non-Christian”.4 Not willing to leave his hearers wallowing in suffering, the Bishop
also pointed out signs of hope, but these, he said, were “secular”.5
religious contexts of differing regions. For example, Buddhism has been argued by to
2
Quoted in Sulak Sivaraksa, “Buddhism, Art and Society” in Crusz, Rernando and Tilakaratne eds.
Encounters with the Word (Colombo:EISD, 2004) p. 286.
3
Mahinda Palihawadana “The Buddha in our Lives” in Crusz, Rernando and Tilakaratne eds.
Encounters with the Word (Colombo:EISD, 2004) p. 271.
4
D. Preman Niles, “Asian Religiosity and Asian Poverty: An Asian Protestant Comment” in Crusz,
Rernando and Tilakaratne eds. Encounters with the Word (Colombo:EISD, 2004) p. 108.
5
Ibid.
4
present a model for limited growth economics compatible with ecological concerns.6
Such ideas have been encouraged the Dalai Lama. Myanmar (Burma) is an example of
Buddhist economics in action. For several decades its rulers followed a form of
Buddhistic socialism that led to low and frequently negative overall growth7. Other
deeply Buddhist societies that have taken sharply contrasting paths, notably the largely
The economic ideology of India’s Hindu fundamentalist political party, the BJP,
derives from the ideas of Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi, who tended to oppose modern
technology and idolize the village spinning wheel. Gandhi’s successors have tended to
modify this view to emphasize what development economists now call "appropriate
technology."9 In line with Gandhi’s support of local self-sufficiency the BJP supports
programs has been overturned so that internal laissez-faire and defense of the caste
The Torah contains numerous rules regarding economic behavior for Jews. Today in
Israel there exist strong political movements associated with Orthodox Judaism.
Nonetheless, the imposition of ancient Biblical economic rules has not been on the
agenda of these groups. Historically Judaism has been in practice closely associated with
the development of market capitalism. The Biblical rules include acceptance of markets
and a strongly redistributionist ethic. A full system has been worked out based on these
principles10 but in Israel the secular tendency emphasizes practices aiding the survival of
6
Schumacher, E.F. (1973), Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Really Mattered, Harper and
Row, New York.
7
Spiro, M.E. (1970), Buddhism and Society: A Great Tradition and Its Burmese Vicissitudes,
Harper and Row, New York.
8
Keyes, C.F. (1993), "Buddhist Economics and Buddhist Fundamentalism in Burma and Thailand", in
Marty, M.E. and Appleby, R.S. (Eds.), Fundamentalisms and the State: Remaking Polities,
Economies, and Militancy, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 367-409.
9
Upadhyaya, D. (1965), Integral Humanism, Navchetan Press, Dehli.
10
Tamari, M. (1987), "With All Your Possessions": Jewish Ethics and Economic Life, Free Press,
New York.
5
the nation, and among most of the Orthodox the emphasis has been more on forbidding
Islamic economics puts itself forward as a complete system embedded within a fully
comprehensiveness of the Islamic economic system initially arose from the Prophet
Muhammad's having himself been a practicing merchant. It also reflects the views of
modern Islamic economists arguing that it is a potential Third Way form between
capitalism and socialism for developing economies emerging from colonial rule.11
Among Asian Roman Catholics, although elements of the Church support quasi-
Marxist liberation theology, official positions are largely reconciled to modern market
capitalism while calling for government intervention to help the poor and for limits to
rampant consumerism.12
and Asian philosophies have religious underpinnings. Radhakrishnan pointed out the
and deter the progress of societies in several Asian countries where political power
11
Pryor, F.L. (1985), The Islamic Economic System", Journal of Comparative Economics, Vol. 9,
No. 2, pp. 197-223.
12
J. Barkley Rosser, Jr and Marina V. Rosser “THE NEW TRADITIONAL ECONOMY: A NEW
PERSPECTIVE FOR COMPARATIVE ECONOMICS?” (International Journal of Social Economics,
1999, vol. 26, no. 6) p. 766.
13
Radhakrishnan An Idealist View of Life. (Harper Collins: India, 1994) Ch 2
14
Anand Amaladass “Intercultural Philosophising in the Asian Context” in in Crusz, Rernando and
Tilakaratne eds. Encounters with the Word (Colombo:EISD, 2004) p.452.
6
There are the distinctive ways that Buddhists view history. Kosuke Koyama calls
natural environment where the seasons are cyclical and predictable and generate a
Meditation is the channel taught by the Buddha, but popular practice in reality
perpetuates the cycle, placing faith in merit-making and “doing good to receive
reincarnated lives.16
Koyama contrasts this Buddhist view of history with that of Christianity,
breaks in to the history of Israel and rescues her from the natural and human enemies
that surround her. In this view, history is linear (rather than cyclical and repetitive).17
In such a system, one person can make a difference. Just as God broke in through
What it means to be human varies with the philosophical and religious contexts of
the varied peoples of Asia. In the 1960’s, rural Taiwanese village anthropology was
summed up as follows.
15
Kosuke Koyama, Water Buffalo Theology: A Thailand Theological Notebook.( Singapore: 1970) pp.
12-13.
16
Philip Hughes, “The Assimilation of Christianity in the Thai Culture.” Religion 14, 1984 pp. 316-
317.
17
Koyama, op. cit., p. 13.
18
J. Mark Hensman “Beyond Talk: The Dialogue Of Life As The Locus Of Non-Verbal
Interreligious Dialogue” http://eapi.admu.edu.ph/eapr99/mark.htm accessed 15 March 2007.
7
Whether one considers Asia as a continent or a region matters little, for however
one classifies it, the place is rife with pluralism. Language, ethnicity, philosophy,
religion, economy, and all other phenomena come in variety after variety. There is no
more a single Asian example of any of these as there can be a single European
language or political system. And in Asia, no one system in any category is dominant.
Therefore, Marx’ critique of religion, which grew out of his Western European context
wherein each nation had a state church and hosted a dominant (though not single)
form of Christianity, cannot apply in Asia (whether or not it was able to be applied in
Europe at all). Further, the Christian doctrine of salvation by grace, which was part of
Marx’ environment, does not exist in Asian religions wherein, if there is salvation at
all, it is arrived at through a synergy of efforts between the believer and his/her god.
When asked about Western civilization, Gandhi is reported to have replied that
he thought it would be a good idea. Though he had been educated and certified to
practice Western law, he eventually came to see the deficiencies of Western ways
century and applied in 20th century Eastern Europe, in China, in Cuba, and in Korea.
To ascertain its value and applicability to places outside of its natal region, one must
Marx’ Critique of religion as social narcotic and reactionary ideology may “ring
a few bells” in the Asian context, but it is no more fitting for uncritical application to
19
David Jordan, Gods Ghosts and Ancestors Berkeley, University of California Press, p. 31.
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the reality of the multiple contexts of Asia than it was for the semi-feudal Russian and
dressing for Fascism, in the early and middle decades of the 20th century. Its failure in
those regions calls into question whether or not it is indeed normative for any of the
Asian nations which claim to practice Marxism, or whether in those contexts as well it