religious crackpots in public life, was Re: The heart of a leftist

kelley kwalker2 at gte.net
Sat Jul 8 09:57:26 PDT 2000


At 12:26 PM 7/8/00 -0400, kenneth.mackendrick at utoronto.ca wrote:


>Chuck wrote:
>
> > I suspect the entire concept of a moral order to the world is somehow
>the culprit.
>
>That would be Kant's fault (blessed Kant, in his sweet innocent subterfuge).
>
>Something that hasn't much been mentioned, is the rise in fundamentalism that
>coincides with the rise in feminism. Fundamentalism wasn't an issue in the US
>until the beginning of this century... which, if I'm not mistaken, is pretty
>close to the rising political activity of the suffragettes.
>
>coincidence? i don't think so...

well, some of the studies of religion in US history point out that religios "great awakenings" precipitated the american revolution and the early struggle for suffrage/civil war. the argument is that religion provided the base of organizational resources required to get political protest off the ground: you know, practical things like meeting space, a structure for speaking/recognition, etc.

beats me, but i think it's a lot more complicated than "religion is bad"

oh well, when i have time i'll speak to the issue. i have some thoughts on the why of it all but don't have time. carrol, the argument, in short, is that it has much to do with the peculiar form individualism takes in this country.

kelley


>ken



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