Opiate of the People?

Hi - I'm reading "The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith" by Timothy Keller and wanted to share this quote with you.

"Jesus hates suffering, injustice, evil, and death so much, he came and experienced it to defeat it and, someday, to wipe the world clean of it. Knowing all this, Christians cannot be passive about hunger, sickness, and injustice. Karl Marx and others have charged that religion is “the opiate of the masses.” That is, it is a sedative that makes people passive toward injustice, because there will be “pie in the sky bye and bye.” That may be true of some religions that teach people that this material world is unimportant or illusory. Christianity, however, teaches that God hates the suffering and oppression of this material world so much, he was willing to get involved in it and to fight against it. Properly understood, Christianity is by no means the opiate of the people. It’s more like the smelling salts."

I found this passage particularly interesting. In my early 20s I bounced between being an atheist and agnostic. I often quoted that phrase that “religion is the opiate of the masses”. I did not follow Karl Marx at all but remember that quote. So this passage from the book I’m reading struck me profoundly. We have I have only God and ultimate destination with him but he still wants eyes to make a difference in our world. it's good to remember that the weapons of our warfare are spiritual only. What a wonderful balance.