An introduction to religious and spiritual experience

Quasi-Religions
Although religions usually have a transcendental focus, there is a view 
that would include other worldviews as religious. These days football has 

---

Spiritual Experience and Religions
25
become an overwhelming passion for many, breaking through divisions 
of sex, age and class and splintering into allegiances to clubs and 
teams but within a shared community of fans. When people die, their sup-
port of their team is frequently quoted as part of their identity. This 
is a kind of implicit religion, which is found in many secular aspects of 
life, with communal rituals and shared beliefs forming a cohesive 
community.
The worldviews of Marxism and humanism can be considered to 
function as religions unless the definition of religion is thought necessar-
ily to include an awareness of another dimension. 
Marxism
Karl Marx (1818–83) reasoned that it was the ruling classes who gained 
from the illusory happiness of religion, ‘the opium of the people’ which 
kept the oppressed lower orders content and maintained the social 
equilibrium which served them well. Marx predicted that religion would 
die out if social inequality were to be overcome, as real happiness for 
the working classes would supplant the illusion offered by religion. He 
was followed rather like a religious leader and communist countries have 
been run with this underlying worldview. The twentieth century however 
has seen the fall of communism and the rise of religious fundamentalism, 
despite increased equality and prosperity, giving the lie to the Marxist 
viewpoint.
Although it is evident that prosperity has not dispelled religion, 
Liberation Theology which began in Latin America, maintains that the 
insights gained from Marx on power and aggression are still relevant. 
The analysis is that developed countries are kept rich by the poor remain-
ing oppressed and that Christians need to become engaged in the struggle 
to change this.
Humanism
There are many different humanisms: Christian, Cultural, Literary, 
Modern, Philosophical, Renaissance, Religious and Secular. They trace 
their roots to Ancient Greece and Socrates in particular. All share a view 
of life as all in itself, with no transcendent level of reality and no continu-
ity of any kind after death. They accept an evolutionary view and human-
ity as responsible for the fate of the species and the planet. Theirs is a 

---

Religious and Spiritual Experience
26
reason-based ethic, independent of any transcendent good. Humanists 
may think of themselves as religious or secular, depending on their 
view of what constitutes religion. Many take part in ceremonies to mark 
the major transitions of birth, marriage and death without recourse to 
any religious tradition, even providing humanist officiants to lead non-
religious funerals.

---

27