anyway...he basically made the point that this evangelicism is an extraordianrily fast growing movement that dominates the slums of the world's large, non western cities. its appeal is simple...it makes life immediately better for the family/HH unit as it offers a support group for women that provides all forms of assistance and even produces an income effect as it mellows out the men from carrousing and boozing. while it creates a strong internal community among the flock it is also marked by a general withdrawal from the workings of the state, feeding the dynamic whereby the elites continue to promulgate the policies that drive more and more people into the city slums and reinforcing the process.
he never really answered the question whether there are attempts by these movements to appropriate state power (no one asked). but it seems like not. this kind of feeds back into carl's point about the lack of social services...it seems as if the strength of the state's social support network is inversely related to the religiosity of its population.
al
-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]On Behalf Of Carl Remick Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 10:15 PM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Re: the gibson jesus
>From: andie nachgeborenen <andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com>
>
>I've stood on too many picket lines with United
>Methodists, done civil disobedience support with too
>many Catholics nuns and priests, organized with too
>many Southern Baptists, done movement work with too
>many Unitarians, to be able to agree with this cheap
>anticlericism.
>
>
>An old movement friend from Ann Arbor who was neither
>once said to be that when the chips are down there are
>two groups you can always count on -- the Quakers and
>the commies. He thought it was because they both had
>something to believe in that kept them going when
>everyone else had quit.
>
>jks
Spare me the Frank Capra-style sentimentality about numinous lefties you've known, jks, and wake up and smell the Middle Ages! Who cares what effete Unitarians or Quakers think about anything -- they're yesterday's Good News, so to speak. The ascendant New Age Christianity is quite a different beast -- deeply antirational, nationalistic, pro-military, all manner of evil things.
I think the US, in particular, will never have decent social services -- and, more distantly, that there will never be any prospect of socialism here -- so long as so many continue to look skywards for guidance and solutions to social injustices and other real problems of life.
Carl
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