Jon,
Maybe I'm wrong about there being no Second Coming. See Deoborah and Kelley's observations on fishes feeding the multitudes below.
Regarding a number points you raised and I didn't respond to, I'll take them up , but perhaps it could be in the context of pointing to the idea that the propaganda you are criticizing is meant to be both scientific and rhetorical. The key point is that a difference in historical science and natural historical science is the role of human beings is more prominent in the former. Changing the social world, making revolution requires ideas gripping masses. This explains the affirmative tone or seeming religiosity of terms like "inevitable" or " allpowerful". In other words, there is no revolution unless masses of workers decide to make it. They are more likely to decide to make it if they have an optimistic idea about the chances of it succeeding. The Marxists have the responsibility to emphasize the potential of the working class acting in mass unity, as an objective observation, to raise working class consciousness. As much as possible this should be done optimistically because that reinforces the chance that it will be done at all.
Historical materialist practice deals more with subjectivity than natural sciences. It has to combine the objective with the subjective. It integrates rhetoric with "science", as it must persuade people to act, by presenting it as in their self-interests to act to change society.
Charles
From: DeborahSRogers <debburz at yahoo.com>
--- snit snat wrote:
> Whether you see religious issues as a problem has to do with
> perspective,
> as Woj said. If you hang out with ordinary folk and away from
> liberal
> pockets of the country, you might notice that the ranks of the
> religious
> right, particularly evangelicals, are growing among the more
> well-to-do. AS
> I mentioned a while back, I attend public school functions in a
> wealthy
> school district where my son was recruited to play b-ball.
>
> These people think nothing of praying to the dead guy on a stick at
>
> tax-funded events and, when you object, you're told that the
> Founding
> Daddies were (just) cheerischins (my furry ass) and, besides,
> praying is
> important for the country. Don't be so PC!
Kelley makes an important observation here, and it's one that is transparently obvious in places like Texas and Florida and other states largely populated with evangelicals. Rich and powerful folks are adopting and adapting to the way of the Fish People. The last law firm in which I worked had an overwhelming number of open evangelical lawyers who sat as deacons and leaders in politically powerful churches and who were lobbyists and consultants for Tom DeLay and the state legislature. Some were consultants helping to revise the state's finance and usury code. The comments were not what you'd call consumer-friendly, either. In 15 years of legal work, I never thought I'd find an openly "christian" law firm of any size, but this one came very close. I got out after five months of hearing "praise God" and "bless us Jesus" and a firm memo encouraging viewing of Gibson's Passion.
> They are also "organizing" which you'd think would be tough to do,
> given
> "just christian" antipathy toward denominational communities of
> faith. They
> are organizing by aggressively advertising their presence _as_
> business
> owners for instance. Look at advertisements: you'll see the fish.
> This is
> very important. It's a way of testifying: indicating who's side you
> are on.
> It's networking. It's a decision to boldly pronounce who's side
> you're on
> b/c the goal is to win converts. You demonstrate to others how
> successful
> you are in live, sport the fish, and if anyone wondered how you did
> it--now
> they know. It was because of your personal relationship with the
> dead guy
> on a stick.
Exactly. More retail establishments are closing on Sundays and posting signs on their doors about giving their employees "a day off to worship and be with their families", e.g., suburban stalwarts like Chik-fil-a and Hobby Lobby. Suburbans and SUVs are plastered with fish emblems and God stickers, but as Kelley said, so are the business logos, advertisements and even some public school functions. We can't get a text book in Texas that describes any form of birth control other than abstinence, and prayer is an integral part of any public school collective experience outside of the classroom.
To say the culture war is over and the religious right lost is like walking away from Rasputin after the first or second attempt on his life and saying, "boy, glad HE'S finally dead." The religious right may have peaked or is about to peak, but they are far from dead, far from a lost cause and gaining strength for at least one last resurrection.
- Deborah R.