Karl Marx (1818-1883) was the most influential revolutionary socialist thinker of the 19th century. Marx's main interests were the creation of a revolutionary party for the working classes and the analysis of capitalist society to find its strengths and weaknesses and thus plan its demise. Together with his friend and colleague Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), he created the “Communist Manifesto” in which they described the communist society that would be created as a result of the revolutionary overthrow of the capitalists by the working classes. This essay will discuss Marx and Engels' views on religion and consider this perspective in its relevance to contemporary society. Although, according to Marx and Engels, religion is “the opium of the people” (Marx and Engels 1955:41-2), they were not only suggesting that religion was an invention of the ruling classes to keep the working classes happy, they also considered the deeper implications of religion and this is the theme of this essay. Marx and Engels agreed with Feuerbach's criticism of Hegel and his belief that inversion and alienation were key concepts in the examination of religion and its power and said “Abolish religion as the illusory happiness of the people it means demanding his real happiness” (Marx, 1844). Marx disagreed with Hegel's vague, conceptual world and the power he saw as responsible for world developments. Marx instead believed that people created and recreated social worlds and as such were responsible for their creations. The reversal saw creative, independent humans become dependent on an imaginary God. People held God responsible for their difficulties, refusing to recognize that because God was a synthetic entity, m...... middle of paper ......48/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm [Accessed 11 November 2011 ].Marx, K. and Engels, F. 1845. The German Ideology. [online].Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01a.htm#a2 [Accessed 11 November 2011].Marx, K. Capital Volume One. 1867. [online] Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/mar x/works/1867-c1/ch01.htm [Accessed 10 November 2011].Communist Manifesto. 1848. [online] Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm [Accessed 9 November 2011].German Ideology. 1845. [online] Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01a.htm#a2 [Accessed 10 November 2011].Marx, K. 1867.Capital Volume One .[online] Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch01.htm [Accessed 11 November 2011].