I hadn't realized that our discussion was contemporaneous with a similar debate over a column by Mike Kazin in The Nation. People who think this is about whether or not the secular left should work with the religious left or with "organized religion" are missing the point entirely.
That the secular left is 'godless' is pretty obvious. I posted a flock of examples among our own co-religionists here on LBO-talk. People mistake the charge as criticism. It isn't. I'm as godless as anyone. What's really in question is bigotry towards non-left religious folk (especially white) founded on ignorance of religion. Bigotry in this context means a belief that religious faith is testament to a person's ignorance, prejudice, or negative social role. The fact that we single out the religious left for approval is no less prejudiced: it simply says we accept you if you buy our political views, even though we still think your personal faith is a crock.
Reed's work is discussed at length in the Wills book I've mentioned previously. Wills is respectful but pretty persuasive, I think, in criticizing Reed, though I haven't read Reed.
Judging the "balance" is daunting, but in any case I wouldn't pinpoint the 'comprador' factor so much as the basic effect on individual thinking and political behavior. The ministers would seem to be a reflection of the masses in this context.
Wills discusses the dilemma of slave owners at the dawn of slavery in the U.S.--whether or not to convert slaves to Christianity. Failure to do so would permit the continuation of non-Christian religion, viewed as Satanic by the colonizers, and possibly promote rebellion. On the other hand, conversion would raise a difficult question for the devout colonist: the fundamental humanity of the slave, his or her equality in the eyes of God. Rebellion--an enterprise fraught with practical difficulties, to say the least--is not the initial issue so much as elementary social organization, political enfranchisement, and social integration. Black Christianity afforded its followers a language and an institution to pursue these goals. Black Christianity clearly had a major impact in politics later on, and of course abolitionism was heavily grounded in religious faith from the beginning.
Some people may forget, or be too young to remember, that the Jackson campaign in 1984 (or '88; I forget) was going great guns before it broke down in Hymietown, so to speak. Jesse was not quite all that he appeared to be. Wills presents this process as a major illustration of the positive power of Christianity at its best. By contrast, Reed's political framework, keeping in mind that politics is about persuading and mobilizing others, shows up as sterile, narrow, impersonal, and marginal by comparison.
I've noticed a few times people criticize religion on the grounds that it focuses people on the next life and encourages resignation to this one. This fails to recognize some basic differences within Christianity, including its most conservative currents. I mentioned this before, and let me repeat I'm no theological expert, but the religious folks you hear most about in politics DO NOT put off all hopes for salvation to some removed scenario of the Second Coming, Armageddon, etc. Those who do are not political. The preoccupations of the active people, whether conservative or liberal, black or white, are very much on this world. Ultimately, we'll be better off for it.
A stray point: "organized religion" is not the object so much as the thinking of religious people. A recent paper came up with an interesting finding; I think I saw this in the newspaper: mainline religions are ALWAYS in decline. The upstart, insurgent groups (which have their own evolution over time) are the dynamic forces. With time these groups become better established and organized, accumulate resources, get bureaucratized, develop habits of laxity and corruption, and provoke rebellion among followers who perceive that "first things" are being short-changed. And the process starts again. The organized groups have resources, but the upstarts have mobilized, highly- motivated people. You can decide which you think is more important. I go for Door Number 2.
MBS