Karl Marx is of fundamental importance in sociology. He is considered one of the key thinkers of sociological thought. Despite his death in 1883, Marxist analysis still has considerable significance and credibility in the study of society. Its basic assumptions are still widely used and referred to, even in understanding modern phenomena. Despite his extensive work, Marx actually wrote very little about religion. However, in some of his publications he provided the basis of his sociological analysis and interpretation of religion within society. Both Hegel's Critique of the Philosophy of Right (1954/1844) and the Economic-Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 are of fundamental importance for understanding Marx's vision as applied to religious ideology and, furthermore, will be examined in the context of this essay. Karl Marx and his analysis of society is considered a fundamental contribution to the advancement of social theory. Marx saw society as characterized by conflict, especially regarding the economic system. Furthermore, Marx saw society as divided into two distinct social classes; those who own the means of production and those who do not. The social class that owns the means of production is called the bourgeois, while the workers are known as the proletariat. He states that in both premodern and modern society, society is characterized by the exploitation of one group's labor by another. Within his sociological analysis, Marx saw the economy as the center of such exploitation. Furthermore, in feudal societies, peasants were exploited by aristocratic lords, and in modern capitalist society, workers are exploited by capitalists. (Inglis ...... half of the paper ...... terministic in his analysis of the social phenomenon. He places too much emphasis on exploitation within society. Despite the large volumes of criticism directed at the analysis of the religion of Marx and Engels, there is important evidence to emphasize their contributions. For example, Marx argued that the ideology of religion derived from the interests of the ruling class serves to justify inequalities and ----------- -- Caste system in India is justified by Hindu religious beliefs. Louis Althusser, an influential Marxist philosopher criticizes Marx and also rejects the concept of alienation on the grounds that he considered the notion of alienation to be unscientific and idea-based romantic claims that religion does not necessarily function effectively as an ideology that serves to control the population and protect the "status-quo"'.