----- Original Message ----- From: "Carl Remick" <carlremick at hotmail.com>
>From: "Nathan Newman" <nathan at newman.org>
>But seriously, Christianity (or any religion) is not inherently anti-left
-It's no mere coincidence that the US is the most God-fearing of advanced -industrial states and the one with the worst social services.
What proof do you have that (1) it's not a coincidence given the many other historic differences between the US and Europe and (2) that the causality does not go the other way-- the lack of services drives the poor to religion for solace?
The strongest reason for the god-fearing nature of the US is the lack of an established church from early on, which meant it didn't have a state church to discredit itself. Whenever any somewhat dominant faith annoyed the population, it was easy for a new innovative faith to displace the dominant ones, allowing a quick renewal of faith rather than driving folks to atheism in opposition.
As for the weakness of social services, the simplest observation is the historic strength of the capitalist class in the US versus those in Europe and Japan, whose capitalist elites were devastated by two world wars, while US capitalists profited and strengthened themselves on war profiteering. This fits a longer term fact of stronger and more centralized capitalist strength in the US versus more a decentralized business class in most of Europe.
This latter reality is far more important in explaining the US exceptionalism than religion.
-- Nathan Newman