[lbo-talk] Re: Barbarian of the moment

Devine, James jdevine at lmu.edu
Mon Dec 22 09:15:58 PST 2003


as an agnostic, I think that the problem isn't religion _per se_ (the target of atheists) but _organized_ religion (especially that endorsed by the state) and so-called "fundamentalism" (which would best be called "dogmatism").

while fundamentalism has been promoted by Jerry Fallwell and the like, it's important to remember that for such organizing to be effective, it has to fall on fertile fields. In the US, the balance of class forces, economic problems, and the state of the gender and race conflicts helped create that fertile field starting in the 1970s. Also, the failure of government social services -- encouraged by the "laissez faire" right) has spurred the demand for alternatives offered by organized religion.

Jim Devine

-----Original Message-----

From: Chris Doss [mailto:itschris13 at hotmail.com]

Sent: Mon 12/22/2003 1:20 AM

To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org

Cc:

Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] Re: Barbarian of the moment

Not being an atheist, I think it would be wonderful to come up with a way of

talking about these matters without falling prey to cant. I think the left

as a whole needs to consider this issue -- though of course, we'd have to

thrash out the aetheist stuff first.

Joanna

---

I think the left's whole "Religion=Bad" fixation probably has a lot to do

with the legacy of the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe, when there

basically was no separation of church and state and churches were officially

giving their endorsements to particular oppressive sorts of regimes.

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