This is a rejoinder to the article posted by Sheikwonder and the following is the link to the article :
https://www.nairaland.com/3713147/opium#55108894

So let's shoot.

Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopaedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d'honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification."

Okayyyyy.......... Lacram lapour. Too much English. Let's move on.

Taken at face value, the above quote seems like an argument for religion. Only if you consider the quotes that follow do you get a proper picture of what Marx actually meant:

What is the proper picture Marx actually wanted to paint? I'm starting to get the feeling that I finally meant someone who is convicted of what he read in the textbook.

"The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion. Religious suffering is at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.”

I raised my hope too early. Oh no! Another Lacram lapour. Let me sieve through the ramblings. I can't even sieve because I don't understand the op's frustration.

Why are you struggling against the right of others which is enshrined in the Constitution to practice their religion? What's religion suffering? The so called Atheists who are non-religious are they happy? If they're not, what makes you think abolishing religion will make one happy? So much questions.... Just answer these first.

You see, when Marx made this statement, he made a pithy observation with regards to class struggle. Religion, he said, was the people’s opiate. Opium back then was known for its soothing and soporific effect. When one was tired of the stress of daily life, he could always fall back on this drug for some mild relief. Of course once under the influence of the drug, you are powerless against the happenings around you and become enslaved. Marx was seeking to awaken class consciousness among the masses whom he called the proletariat. They had become completely blindsided by religion for whom it had become an ”illusory happiness” while been subjected to privation. “Work and pray, live on hay, you’ll get your pie in the sky when you die”.

Bros, Google the role of church in American Civil right era. Google the role of church in the abolishment of slave trade. Let's come to Nigeria.... Google the roles of missionaries schools which produced the politicians that fought for the independence of this country. When you finished reading, re-read your above post and see whether it makes sense.

In our world today, religion has indubitably taken center stage. The Pew Research Center estimates that about 84% of the earth’s population have one form of religious affiliation. This is like saying that in every 5 people, 4 are religious. The three major religions, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism alone account for some 4.8 billion adherents. The quest for “God” has surely taken a new meaning!

It's arrogant of you to think that you're superior to others who are religious. It's haughty of you to think billions of people are wrong while you're right.

My major grouse with religion is that it claims to have answers whereas it creates more problems than solutions. I should know as should the average Nigerian. It is a bit difficult to get accurate statistics on religion in Nigeria, but the Pew Forum in 2010 put the statistics at 52% Muslim, 46% Christian and 1% Other. Basically it is correct to say that the average Nigerian is religious.
I could go on to show in what way religion has ‘transformed’ the Nigerian society. I could tell you that we have at every point on our history been led by religious people, either Christian or Muslim. Despite what they hear in the religious houses, our leaders are on average, crooks! This is no sweeping generalization, anyone can see that, Res ipsa loquitor.

My grouse with you and your fellow critic of Christianity is your lack of knowledge of specifically of Christianity . If you are knowledgeable, you would have known Christianity is against greed. It's against corruption. You would have known one of the greatest commandments Jesus gave to his followers was to love our neighbors as ourselves. It's naive or probably mischievous of you to say everyone who call himself a Christian is a true follower of Christ. There are millions of Christians who are not crooks and we don't get to hear them being celebrated because it's not news.
While there are millions of people who don't believe in God and are crooks and they are not judge as an Atheist but as an individual. Proverb 15:27 says

He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house. But he who hates bribe will live.

You can't be a true follower of Christ and not be obedience to God's words.

The buck doesn’t stop there, it goes all the way down. Over 3 million Nigerians participated in the failed Ponzi scheme known as MMM. It was advertised in churches! A fraudulent scheme which was promoted in the “house of God”. Pastors encouraged their members, some even took from church coffers to invest in the scheme. Avarice in the “house of God”.
Need I mention Islam? Al-Qaeda, Al-Shaabab, Hezbollah, ISIS, and much closer to home, Boko Haram. All terrorist groups that run on Islamist ideologies. Religion has caused more wars in history than any other thing. This is a verifiable fact.

But do you know the people who criticizes the mmm advertisement most. It was the members of the body of Christ who know their right from their left. My church didn't advertise it. There are hundreds of churches who didn't advertise it. So I don't know what your problem is.

We have heard of different cases where religious buildings collapse due to negligence and people die. Does the government hold the religious leaders culpable? No. They do not want to risk the wrath of their many followers who are valuable given their voting influence. In fact, the same followers will say “Touch not mine anointed…..”. Religion, not the law, reigns supreme.

A big fat lie. Oh! You have not heard of Reverend King who was sentenced last year to death. If the Justice system is not doing his job it's not because of the church. No one is bigger than the law.

Every year, we hear prophecies from “men of God”. Apparently “God” revealed the future to them. At the end of the year the disparity between the prophecies and reality are as far apart as east is from west. Yet followers will blindly defend these religious leaders to the death. For every failed “prophecy”, it was “the will of God”. Oh really?

2nd Peter 3:8 says

8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

If God truly sent them, it will happened. It will not be according to your timetable but God's timetable.

We are told about how people get “healed” at crusades. People with supposedly incurable diseases like cancer and HIV get “spontaneous remissions”. Hallelujah! Yet for every one person who gets a “healing”, there are thousands with common ailments who leave the crusade grounds disappointed. “You need to have more faith” the pastors say. Indeed. Isn’t it rather convenient that “God” only performs “healings” on crusade grounds? He is omnipotent, and omnipresent. Surely with “faith like a mustard seed” one need not go as far as Ogun State to get “healed”. Then again, you must remember that if the “men of God” perform their “miracles” on the streets, the people would have no reason to go to church to pay their offerings and the usual “10%” called tithe.
I will not talk about the irony in giving 10% to “God” while your children cannot afford to attend schools owned by your church. Or the joke in having 5 of the 10 wealthiest pastors in the world coming from Nigeria while 60% of Nigerians live on less than a dollar a day; ”in everything give thanks”.

And who told you God performed miracles only on the crusade ground. So much ignorance. And he's saying it with authority. May una go church, you will refuse. God heals people everyday.

Paying tithe is an instruction from God. It's not from a man from God. So you that don't believe in God have the gut to tell others to disobey their God. That's so rich of you.

Our thinking has become completely warped by religion. We select our leaders not based on merit but based on their religion. So we must have a Christian/Muslim ticket for the posts of President and Vice-President respectively. So who is going to represent the minority who do not belong in any of those religions?
At work we see religious bigotry in place. He is Muslim therefore he is not fit for the job. She is Christian therefore I will employ her. We sacrifice effectiveness on the altar of religion. Look how that has turned out for us.

That's life and that's politics . Life is never fair. The so called first world country also voted based on religion. The majority of people voted Trump because he's not pro-abortion, pro-gay pro-muslim, pro-immigrant while the guy is unfit to be a President.

People vote based on who will protect their interest. Welcome to the world of politics.

I will take it a step further and engage the controversial subject of sexual orientation. The majority of Nigerians are clearly against homosexuality, not based on any concrete reason stemmed in logic but because it goes against their religious beliefs. It is a good thing that some people are beginning to wake up and realize how atavistic and anachronistic it is to base one’s present beliefs and way of life on “holy books” written hundreds and even thousands of years ago. The same religious books that condemn homosexuality are mute when it comes to the subject of slavery. In fact, many slave owners back then were religious people who based their beliefs on these religious books. You only need to see the movie “12 Years a Slave” to get my point. Fortunately, some people woke up and realized that slavery is barbaric and today it has largely been abolished even though other forms of it such as child labor and human trafficking exist today.

Your rant against slavery has been dealt by me. Check the link below.
https://www.nairaland.com/3673254/rebuttal-christian-owned-slave

For homosexuality, Nigerians are against it not only because of religion, but culturally, historically, legally we are just not used to it.

And people tends to hate what they can't understand. E.g You! You've never had encountered with God so you can't understand why people are passionate about Him. So you detested him and generally detested who served him.

So no, we don’t need religion. The French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau in his social contract theory argues that man being prone to rebellion and wanton desires realizes the need for authority. So he surrenders some of his freedom to a higher authority, the government, who in turn enters a contract with the individual to protect him from his own excesses as well as the excesses of others. The individual must thus obey the law as the law is an expression of the general will. The law having its legitimacy derived from the people is autochthonous and is the standard which all are subjected to. When one person falls short, he must face the music. I do not answer to secondary laws derived from holy books as they are “subjective”. I will not commit murder not because the Bible says “Thou shalt not” but because the law says so. This is one of the problems in our legal system because laws have become subjective; Sharia law in the north and Judeo-Christian laws in the south. How does that even work?

I don't understand your wailing. You're not being forced to obey God. The only Constitution recognized in this country is the Nigeria Constitution and the last time I checked it was formulated by men and not God. This thread made me realise that you're intolerance as the Muslims. If you get into power, you will deprived people of their right to worship their God.

In the end, I hold no grudges against anyone who chooses to follow organized religion. However it becomes an issue when it begins to permeate every sector of life. As Marx says, “Man makes religion, religion does not make man”. For some, the promise of “eternal life” is enough for them. I prefer to live life based on what is, not what will be.

Wailer! I still don't understand people's belief and who privately worship their God is a threat to you.

Slavery dealt with by you?
Thread that you ran away from when the heat became too much?
Thread that you twisted what I said, called me a liar then attacked the lie that you created?
In the history of strawmans, I gotta give it to you, that was one hell of a strawman.