"This state and this society produce religion,
which is an inverted consciousness of the world,
because they (state and society) are an inverted world...
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."
- Karl Marx
