Religion and the left

[James Farmelant]

I think that just about everybody here takes it for granted that secular
leftists should be willing to work with religious believers on issues of
peace or social justice.  In fact the history of the American left
indicates
that such cooperation has long been the norm.  If anything the left has
too unwilling to voice criticisms of organized religions in the US.  This
is no doubt due to the perception that the US remains the most religious
of any of the industrialized nations.  Therefore, there is a fear of
giving
offence to religious believers who might otherwise be political allies.
The religiosity that is characteristic of much of the American population
is no doubt as has been suggested a reaction to the alienating aspects
of American life.  Yet it is also in many respects a real barrier to
social
change in the US.  Michael Harrington once suggested in his book
*The Politics at God's Funeral* that one reason why social democracy had
greater success in Western Europe than in the US is that Western Europe
is by and large much more secular than the US.  Public opinion surveys
in Western Europe find a much bigger chunk of the population there who
profess to be atheists or agnostics than is the case here.  As Harrington
suggested people who think that they have only one life to live will
probably (other things being equal) be more likely to fight for national
health
care than people who look forward to an afterlife.  I think that the
'young'
Marx's assertion that the criticism of religion is the beginning of all
criticism still holds true today.

No doubt some people here will cite the examples of the liberation
theologians
in Latin America or the worker-priests in Europe to show that the
churches
can play a politically progressive role.  And indeed these are good
examples
but a closer examination would show that in these instances the churches
did not break with the status quo until there had been a strong challenge
from the (secular) left.

		Jim Farmelant

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