In 18th-century England, an unknown wit described the Church of England as a political party “at prayer”. For Marx, any institution that serves capitalist interests, including religion, has to be contested, and ultimately done away with. The replacement will be a humanist society based on socialism and communism. According to Marx religion is "consolation and justification" for the existing state and society. Churches proclaim that the authority of the ruling class is ordained by supernatural authority, thus the lowly position of the workers is inevitable and just. When a society is riven by inequality, injustice is perpetuated rather than eased. Marx declared: “The struggle against religion is therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion”. This sentiment was echoed in the 1960s by British sociologist Bryan Wilson.