Marx: "heart of a heartless world", a conservative ideology a set of ruling-class ideas that are shaped by and legitimate the class inequalities in society's economic base

Engels: religion inhibits change by disguising inequality, it can also challenge the status quo and encourage social change

Bloch: religion has dual character, religion is an expression of 'the principle of hope'

• deepening rural poverty and the growth of urban slum
• human rights abuse following military take-overs
• the growing commitment among Catholic priests to an ideology that supported the poor and opposed violations of human rights

Lehmann: Liberation theology offers an 'option for the poor' whereas pentecostalism offers an 'option of the poor' for individuals to pull themselves from poverty
Thus = liberation offers a radical solution to poverty

wanted to change society - Pope John Paul ll condemned liberation theology on the grounds that it resembled Marxism

The success has led to some neo-Marxists to question the view that religion is always a conservative force
Maduro: religion can be a revolutionary force that brings about change

religion creates a desire to change things now - the transformation will be collective, group will be saved

appeal of millenarian movements is largely to the poor = promise immediate improvement
Worsley: study of the cargo cults, the islanders felt deprived when cargo (material goods) arrived in the islands for the colonists
These movements often led to widespread unrest that threatened colonial rules
He described the movements as pre-political, used religious ideas and images but united native populations in mass movements that spanned tribal divisions

how the ruling class maintain their control over society <- use religious ideas to maintain control
Hegemony = ideological domination or leadership of society
Always possible for the working class to develop an alternative version of how society should be organised

Billings: identifies 3 ways in which religion either supported or challenged the employer's hegemony:

• leadership
• organisation
• support
  Concludes = religion play a 'prominent oppositional role' <- study shows that the same religion can be called upon either to defend the status quo or justify the struggle to change it

2. Explain what Weber means by 'this worldly asceticism'

1. What was the Calvinist doctrine of predestination?
   God had predetermined which souls would be saved

3. Why does Weber argue that the Calvinist experienced 'salvation panic'?

4. According to Weber, why did Hinduism discourages social change?

6. Identity 2 ways in which the churches were able to support the black civil rights movement

7. suggest one similarity between liberation theology and Marxism

8. identify 3 characteristics of millenarian movements

9. Why do Marxists see religion as having a dual character?