Apocalyptic religious beliefs entail that the current world will pass away. Thus, they disincentivize political action to improve the current world. Karega tries to manipulate workers with apocalyptic beliefs into staying in the union by alluding to an incident in the Gospels (Matthew 22:15-22, Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:20-26): Jesus, asked whether Jewish people should pay taxes to the Roman Empire, replies that they should give to Caesar (the Roman Emperor) what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. Though readers have interpreted this incident in various ways, Karega claims it means that Christians should participate in secular political life. His secret belief that “religion, any religion, was a weapon against the workers” echoes the oft-cited Karl Marx quotation, “Religion is the opium of the people,” suggesting religion is a “painkiller” to cope with oppression, which by alleviating people’s pain keeps them from fighting oppression.