Single Idea 5299

[catalogued under 29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 1. Religious Commitment / a. Religious Belief]

Full Idea

The "religious sentiment" (discussed by Feuerbach) is itself a social product.

Gist of Idea

Religious feeling is social in origin

Source

Karl Marx (Theses on Feuerbach [1846], §VII)

Book Reference

Marx,K./Engels,F.: 'The German Ideology', ed/tr. Arthur,C.J. [Lawrence and Wishart 1985], p.122


A Reaction

Recent brain research has identified a part of the brain which is only active during religious thought and experience. It is easy to produce cynical political accounts of religion, but in its time it was also quite a good scientific account of nature.