[lbo-talk] Godless Good?

[Dennis Perrin]

> But that's just it.  Politics *is* about "what can be immediately seen."
> It's about making war or peace, delivering social services, ensuring
> occupational safety, etc.  It's not about saving souls; it's not about the
> hereafter; it's not about eternity.  Politics is concerned *exclusively*
> with the here and now.  That's why -- nutty as politics can be -- politics
> is not completely stark raving insane the way religion is.
>
> Carl

I agree with that somewhat, but Carl, you of all people shouldn't dismiss
the "stark raving insane" aspect of American politics. I know you pay closer
attention than that. And please don't confuse religion with faith -- two
different things that many believers often conflate.

There's a great scene in Hal Hartley's short, "The Book of Life," where
Jesus (Martin Donovan) and Satan (Thomas Jay Ryan) trade booze shots in a
bar and argue about the fate of the world. Satan proposes to Jesus that
together they could forge a religion that would pull much of humanity in.
Jesus rejects this, saying that the last thing humans need is another
religion. Amen to that.

DP