The recent ad hominem attacks that have take place on this list have been unproductive, tiresome and foolish. However, I rankle at the suggestion that a religion-based approach to social problems is inherently better than a Marxist one. It is hard to believe that the Christian Left is more immune to sectarianism than has been any other branch of Christianity over 2,000 years of blood-soaked conflict among the devout . My efforts in recent years to take religion more seriously have been unrewarding. The more I ponder the Abrahamic faiths, at least, the more I conclude they are all hard-wired to breed mutual intolerance. I much admire T. H. Huxley for introducing the concept of agnosticism and suggesting that *any* religious doctrine is impertinent because it presumes to know the unknowable. Increasingly, freedom *from* religion strikes me as at least as important as freedom of speech.
Carl Remick