How Did Nietzsche's View On Religion
Friedrich Nietzsche and Karl Marx were intellectuals with vastly different world views and opinions on how things should be run but the one matter in which they would both agree leaves a bad taste in their mouths is Christianity. Nietzsche see Christianity as a blight upon humans, something holding us back from our fullest potential. Karl Marx does not necessarily see Christianity as the great evil that Nietzsche makes it out to be, but he would agree that complicated monolith that is Christianity is holding us back. Both individuals want Christianity gone, but their reasoning and purposes behind make this mutual desire a little less mutual. Friedrich Nietzsche makes it fairly obvious from his book “Twilight of the Idols” that he shares no deep love for religion but the religion he seems to harbor the most hate for is Christianity. He believes that Christianity itself wages a war on
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passion, wages a war on life. In his book he states that “But ripping out passions by the root means ripping out life by the root; the practice of the Church is an enemy to life” (Twilight of the Idols, 25).
He says this in response to the Church teaching that one should remove passion and desires from one’s life so that they are not tempted by them. As the quote makes obvious, Nietzsche firmly disagrees. But Nietzsche is not advocating for the indulgence of desire and passion. He thinks this “eradication”, as he puts it, of passion is only feeding into people that were too weak willed to resist this temptation to begin with and it would not be needed if they were stronger. (26, Twilight of the Idols) Another teaching Christianity attempts to teach, that Nietzsche firmly disagrees with, is peace with one another and having a good conscience. Nietzsche believes this peace people are trying to find merely weakens them and having enemies is actually good, not only for the individual but also the state and he even goes so far as to say “One has relinquished great life when one relinquishes war.”(Twilight of the Idols,
27) Furthermore, instead of relying on the Church to provide for one’s morals, he advocates that morality should be based on instinct. He claims the Church’s morality is unhealthy and makes one weak. He states that God is in fact and enemy of life. (Twilight of the Idols, 28) He further extrapolates on this by comparing the Church’s moral teachings to putting an animal in captivity. Humans were not meant to be chained by this morality, and like the animal trapped in captivity, they grow weaker because of it. (Twilight of the Idols, 39) For Nietzsche, Christianity is the embodiment of weakness and that seems to be the root of his disdain for it. Karl Marx, on the other hand, does not necessarily see Christianity as weakness and in fact even agrees with some of their teachings. His problem is instead the mingling of Christianity and the State. Karl Marx has stated before that Christianity really has something of a socialist flavor to it considering its dislike for private property and how it teaches that its followers should take care of the impoverished. (Karl Marx Selected Writings, 178) Even in the New Testament Jesus seems fairly unimpressed by capitalism and has a certain dislike of it. So then why does Marx dislike Christianity if it seems to support his ideals? Marx dislikes the construct that is Christianity, the organization, the monolith that it has become. He sees how deeply it mingles with the State and how it is just another way for people to be artificially separated. His problem is not necessarily with Christianity but state-wide religions in general, and Christianity happens to be the worst offender in that category. He would prefer religion and State be firmly separated. (Karl Marx Selected Writings, 6) Thus his issue with Christianity is not that he hates religion or its practices necessarily but rather that it has gotten so big, powerful, and influential that it is just another tool to oppress the people with. So the question remains as to whether these two men actually agree with each other concerning Christianity. It seems, like most questions like this one, the answer falls into a gray area. Yes they do both share a disdain for Christianity but they do so with different mindsets, and thus in the end do not really agree at all. Nietzsche believes that Christianity promotes weakness, and sustains the weak, thus leading to the State itself being weak. Thus it needs to be eradicated entirely. Marx views Christianity not as the great evil that Nietzsche sees it but more along the lines of something that means well but has gotten out of control. Therefore it’s a case of two men fighting for the same cause but with vastly different reasons for doing so. They both agree that the cause is necessary and just but their reasoning behind it is where they truly differ.
passion, wages a war on life. In his book he states that “But ripping out passions by the root means ripping out life by the root; the practice of the Church is an enemy to life” (Twilight of the Idols, 25).
He says this in response to the Church teaching that one should remove passion and desires from one’s life so that they are not tempted by them. As the quote makes obvious, Nietzsche firmly disagrees. But Nietzsche is not advocating for the indulgence of desire and passion. He thinks this “eradication”, as he puts it, of passion is only feeding into people that were too weak willed to resist this temptation to begin with and it would not be needed if they were stronger. (26, Twilight of the Idols) Another teaching Christianity attempts to teach, that Nietzsche firmly disagrees with, is peace with one another and having a good conscience. Nietzsche believes this peace people are trying to find merely weakens them and having enemies is actually good, not only for the individual but also the state and he even goes so far as to say “One has relinquished great life when one relinquishes war.”(Twilight of the Idols,
27) Furthermore, instead of relying on the Church to provide for one’s morals, he advocates that morality should be based on instinct. He claims the Church’s morality is unhealthy and makes one weak. He states that God is in fact and enemy of life. (Twilight of the Idols, 28) He further extrapolates on this by comparing the Church’s moral teachings to putting an animal in captivity. Humans were not meant to be chained by this morality, and like the animal trapped in captivity, they grow weaker because of it. (Twilight of the Idols, 39) For Nietzsche, Christianity is the embodiment of weakness and that seems to be the root of his disdain for it. Karl Marx, on the other hand, does not necessarily see Christianity as weakness and in fact even agrees with some of their teachings. His problem is instead the mingling of Christianity and the State. Karl Marx has stated before that Christianity really has something of a socialist flavor to it considering its dislike for private property and how it teaches that its followers should take care of the impoverished. (Karl Marx Selected Writings, 178) Even in the New Testament Jesus seems fairly unimpressed by capitalism and has a certain dislike of it. So then why does Marx dislike Christianity if it seems to support his ideals? Marx dislikes the construct that is Christianity, the organization, the monolith that it has become. He sees how deeply it mingles with the State and how it is just another way for people to be artificially separated. His problem is not necessarily with Christianity but state-wide religions in general, and Christianity happens to be the worst offender in that category. He would prefer religion and State be firmly separated. (Karl Marx Selected Writings, 6) Thus his issue with Christianity is not that he hates religion or its practices necessarily but rather that it has gotten so big, powerful, and influential that it is just another tool to oppress the people with. So the question remains as to whether these two men actually agree with each other concerning Christianity. It seems, like most questions like this one, the answer falls into a gray area. Yes they do both share a disdain for Christianity but they do so with different mindsets, and thus in the end do not really agree at all. Nietzsche believes that Christianity promotes weakness, and sustains the weak, thus leading to the State itself being weak. Thus it needs to be eradicated entirely. Marx views Christianity not as the great evil that Nietzsche sees it but more along the lines of something that means well but has gotten out of control. Therefore it’s a case of two men fighting for the same cause but with vastly different reasons for doing so. They both agree that the cause is necessary and just but their reasoning behind it is where they truly differ.