Mind Vitamin

Jesus hates suffering, injustice, evil and death so much, he came and experienced it to defeat it and, someday, to wipe the world clean of it. Knowing all this, Christians cannot be passive about hunger, sickness and injustice. Karl Marx and others have charged that religion is 'the opiate of the masses.' That is, it is a sedative that makes people passive toward injustice, because there will be 'pie in the sky bye and bye.' That may be true of some religions that teach people that this material world is unimportant or illusory. Christianity, however, teaches that God hates the suffering and oppression of this material world so much, he was willing to get involved in it and to fight against it. Properly understood, Christianity is by no means the opiate of the people. It is more like the smelling salts."--Timothy Keller, in The Prodigal God.

(emphasis mine)