“We also know that religion, as the Marxists have always insisted, has, too often, like an opiate, tended to put people to sleep to the reality and the need for the present struggle for peace and justice.”
"Month of the Dead," Catholic Worker (November 1959)
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Dorothy Day 55
Social activist 1897–1980Related quotes

Source: Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer (1999), p. 33
Source: Myanmar bishops call for peace and justice in war torn Kachin state https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2018-05/myanmar-bishop-kachin-conflict-peace-justice.html (3 May 2018)

Source: Barbarian Sentiments - How The American Century Ends (1989), Chapter 1, Dead Stars, p. 3.

The 2005 International Drug Policy Reform Conference http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/411/2005dpaconf.shtml in Long Beach, California. November 2005.
The War on Drugs

Speech in Boston (2002)
Context: Injustice and oppression will never prevail. Those who are powerful have to remember the litmus test that God gives to the powerful: what is your treatment of the poor, the hungry, the voiceless? And on the basis of that, God passes judgment.
We should put out a clarion call to the government of the people of Israel, to the Palestinian people and say: peace is possible, peace based on justice is possible. We will do all we can to assist you to achieve this peace, because it is God's dream, and you will be able to live amicably together as sisters and brothers.

“"Religion is the opiate of the masses.""I did masses of opiates religiously.”
Source: Postcards from the Edge
“There will never be peace and justice until we know justice and peace in our hearts.”
Mindanao Bishop condemns communist guerrilla violence http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Mindanao-Bishop-condemns-communist-guerrilla-violence-31554.html (July 7, 2014)

2000s, 2009, Farewell speech to the nation (January 2009)
Context: As we address these challenges – and others we cannot foresee tonight – America must maintain our moral clarity. I have often spoken to you about good and evil. This has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere. Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right. This nation must continue to speak out for justice and truth. We must always be willing to act in their defense and to advance the cause of peace.