Belief that a faith merits dying for produces socially valuable fearlessness.

Evidence

From the Marxist-Leninist point of view, all religion is an invention with which we encourage ourselves to support dangers we cannot control, but the social utility of religious belief to groups in conflict will be clear to all. What we believe about the religion of our enemies as dangerous to our own religion might even be called the hashish of the people, since it arouses them to hatred and sustains them in conflict. At the slight cost of death or the danger of death, the conviction that a faith is worth fighting and dying for effects a socially invaluable condition of fearlessness; the Marxist, while he recognises its advantages, will consider that they explain the phenomenon. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1720

Categorization

• XREF: Inverts Marx’s ‘opium of the people’ into a functional account of how religion sustains conflict groups — parallels the author’s earlier discussion of religion and war. — connects to: Moral courage requires believing one’s group can make a difference — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 1087
• SEED: Angle: religion-as-combat-morale — the group-forging, fear-suppressing function of sacralized conflict across eras.