>>1233Karl Marx used the term "opiate" when referring to religion as a sort-of good thing that was really a bad thing, but was kind of good.
Have you used "opiates"? I mean drugs, because it sure is hell fun. Also, Opiate derivatives are sometimes used as a primary ingredient in painkillers nowadays.
What Marx, from what I understand it, was referring to was that religion was a feeling of release from day to day activities; that after working long and hard, the workers would, like using an opiate to dull the pain, or drinking alcohol with friends to loosen up a bit of the stress, in order to cope with day to day life.
This is both a good thing and a bad thing. A bad thing because it makes workers complacent in their struggle. A good thing because, shit, people need to work, but still get rid of their stress somehow. Imagine a society without stress-relievers and painkillers.
There's more to it, like how under communism, there would be no need for stress-relievers because work, as we know it today, would not be enforced through coercion.