Miles Jackson wrote:
>Even though I belong to this "group", I don't think this
>is anything to celebrate. It's a pretty obvious effect
>of the incessant individualism that capitalism incites. These
>people really aren't a coherent group (I have little in
>common with a lapsed Catholic, other than the fact we
>don't take communion). Perhaps we can create different
>forms of social cohesion and community not based on
>religious ties; right now, though, lack of religious
>affiliation--like low levels of political activism or
>volunteerism--is a sign of the hyperindividualization of
>social life.
>
I agree with Miles (and Brian whose reply was in a similar vein).
Lefties' knee-jerk condemnations of religiosity leave me totally
unimpressed and discouraged. There are any number of ways in which
people leave off the arduous work of thinking and feeling for
themselves. Organized religion is one possible way; Stalinism, another;
Leninism, another; Marxism, another; etc.
There are certain issues that religion raises on a transpersonal level -- the issue of right living, the issue of communal action, the issue of transcendence, the issue of death --w hich are important issues. I suspect that the rejection of religious affiliation in this culture is, for some people, a rejection or denial of the significance or reality of these questions. That is definitely not good news. Fascism is not necessarily a religious movement and therefore the rejection of organized religion is not, in and of itself, liberating.
Joanna