Christian Gregory wrote:
>
> I don't know why this question is a litmus test for many leftists, but it is. I suppose it has to do with the "opium of the masses" thing.
No, it is not a litmus test (or any other sort of test) for leftists. But I don't conceive that to be the point at issue. I would hold (most materialists would hold), NOT that holding 'spiritual' or religious beliefs is at all necessarily a barrier to participation, even top leadership, of leftist movements but rather would ask _what_ is/are the best premise(s) for understanding the world. (Revolutions are not made primarily by revolutionaries; mass movements for reform are not grounded in shared ontologies.) Century in and century out, materialist premises are most fruitful to understanding. (_Most_ fruitful and in the long run.)
Carrol