In 1843 Karl Marx , the iconic 19th century philosopher and co-founder of Marxism, wrote an essay called "On the Jewish Question." In this work Marx criticizes one of his contemporaries, Bruno Bauer, who had argued that Jews could achieve political emancipation only by relinquishing their particular religious consciousness. Marx argues that Bauer is mistaken in his assumption that in a secular state religion will no longer play a prominent role in social life. In Marx' analysis, the secular state is not opposed to religion, but actually presupposes it.
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