Why did Lenin view religion as a negative influence in the lives of common people?

Answer 1

Lenin is a follower of Karl Marx, who believed that organized religion was a tool by which the bourgeois upper class kept the lower class proletariat controlled. In Marx's own words religion was the opium of the people. In that sense, both Marx and Lenin saw religion just as an oppressor of the working class as the bourgeoisie itself. Another reason is that they saw religion as imposing upon the lower class a system of belief in that which is not verifiable by logic or the senses. This meant that whoever believes in religion is substituting superstition for reason and allowing others to dictate to the believer what to believe and what not to believe.

Answer 2

From what I have seen, he veiwed it in a fairly negitive light but was not opposed to people being religious and communist. He just thought that religion was like a mind drug that gave the masses hope

Answer 3

Lenin viewed religion as a negative influence in the lives of other people because Lenin as a communist wanted the Russian people to obey him and focus on him rather than on their religion.