However, this view of religion as a conservative force is weakened by the fact that church attendance is declining in most Western society’s and so cannot be performing these functions to the majority of society’s members. It is also worth noting that society is not based upon one religion and one collective act of worship, as in the case of many modern multi-faith societies and with religious beliefs being expressed individually, if at all.
Marxist thinkers believe that religion is the ‘opium of the people’ making them disillusioned by how religion (the drug) is affecting society and keeping order in place. Like functionalists, they argue that religion is a conservative force in society, however, unlike functionalists; they argue that this force is negative and unbeneficial to society. This conservative force is reflected in religion’s function of reproducing, maintaining and justifying class inequality, according to Marx. Religion serves to reflect ruling class ideology and prevents the working class from questioning the true nature of their exploitation by the ruling class and doing anything about it, almost seeing it as ‘God’s will’ and passively accepting things as they are, hence keeping order and preventing social change.
Religion, in the view of the Marx, legitimatise social inequality by controlling the classes and promoting the idea that the existing hierarchy is natural, god-given and thus, unchangeable. ‘God made them, high or lowly, and order’d their estate.’ Religion also disguises the true nature of exploitation by explaining social inequalities in supernatural terms and distorting the real causes (unequal treatment by the bourgoisie) as the product of sin or a sign that people have been chosen by God. Religion can again be seen as limiting change by keeping the working classes passive and resigning to their fate. Some religions present suffering as normal, and suggesting that those who do not question their situation will be rewarded by a place in heaven, promoting the idea that there is no point in changing society now and so preventing the working class from actually doing anything which challenges the ruling class directly- a conservative force, discouraging people from attempting change so the dominant groups can retain their power.
Marxists also argue that the Church is extremely wealthy and the majority of priests and bishops are essentially from an upper class base and are well educated. They also believe that wealth is a sign of God’s favour, while poverty and homosexuality are indicators of sin, and in this sense, religion inhibits major social upheaval and, therefore, social change. They also note that many Catholic leaders have a conservative stance on contraception, abortion, women priests and homosexuality.
Nonetheless, like functionalists views, the Marxist theory of religion contains some weaknesses in upholding this conservative force. Marx fails to consider secularisation and that religious beliefs may be losing their social significance, as church attendance declines. Marxists also fails to acknowledge that religion exists even when the idea of oppression has come to the end. For example, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the initial ban of religion, religion still survived and did not die out after the closure of many religious places of worship. Perhaps one of the most important criticisms of Marxists theory is that there are actually some examples of religious movements that have brought about radical social change and helped remove ruling elites. For instance, Martin Luther King was a religious minister who fought for racial equality in the USA and did eventually succeed in changing the racist attitudes towards Black people. Therefore, demonstrating that religion can legitimatise radical revolutionary ideas as well ideologically conservative ones. These are the views of the Neo-Marxists, who have recognised the way in which religion is sometimes used as the only means to oppose the ruling class. Recently, churches have often provided safe havens for immigrant groups facing deportation, enabling such groups to publicise their case and gain further time and support.
Religion is used to support dominant groups in America. Item A. claims that modern Protestant fundamentalists religions in the US support traditional right-wing, conservative and anticommunist values. Christian Right groups often suggest that their Christian political positions are, or ought to be, the views of all Christians. Many elements of the Christian Right, like item A states, sympathise with and sometimes influence the US Republican Party (an extremely conservative party). Fundamentalist groups like these want to return to traditional values and practices and therefore have many strong opinions on modern society’s ‘new ideas’. Many groups have strong opposition to abortion, gay rights movement and pornography but support the presence of Christianity, traditional family values and the teaching of creationism. All of which are extremely conservative ideas and subsequently supporting the claim that religion restricts social change and so are upholding a conservative influence. However, in reality, American Christians hold a wide variety of political views and are not all conservative in their party loyalties.
To conclude, both functionalist and Marxists approaches, suggest that religion generally plays a conservative role in society- preventing change and supporting the existing social order. Nevertheless, there is always an alternative position, for example the Neo-Marxist perspective, that it is possible for religion to change societies.