Do Catholics sit around and exhibit disdain for folks who believe more libertarian socialist type things like me? Oh HELL YES they do! Why not go after them? I'm personally tired of being afraid to call bullshit for bullshit because it might "alienate" someone who believes the equivalent of Scientology. Only so much b.s. one can take.
-B.
Heh, well I didn't believe in such irrational things as the Virgin Birth even when I was 9 yrs. old attending St. Mary's Church in Rockville, MD. and going to catechism after school on Mondays. When I created a decades long row w/my ultra-Catholic Dad and Grandma Pugliese (who exclaimed, "I see it now, he will be a Priest! Great I could have been another Queer Priest! Ratzinger and I would have loved each other) by refusing to attend Roman Catholic church after my, "Confirmation, "(or was it after my, "First Communion, "?, I forget which comes 1st and which 2nd, anyway, after I was 12, I couldn't be forced to say a good thing about Roman Catholic dogma or the Authoritanism of Rome. (Indeed I could have written either an Atheist Screed vs. "Popeism, " or a extremist Protestant tract if I had drifted towards real Protestantism.Unitarian-Universalism, which my Mom and I thought would placate Dad and Grandma, and which my Sister joined later and is deeply committed to, after a few months seemed to me to be what is so shallow in, "spiritual but, not religious, " New Age hippie BS. (Cf. from, "Habits of the Heart, " by Robert Bellah and co., "Sheila Larson is a young nurse who has received a good deal of therapy and describes her faith as "Sheilaism." This suggests the logical possibility of more than 235 million American religions, one for each of us. "I believe in God," Sheila says. "I am not a religious fanatic. [Notice at once that in our culture any strong statement of belief seems to imply fanaticism so you have to offset that.] I can't remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It's Sheilaism. Just my own little voice." Sheila's faith has some tenets beyond belief in God, though not many. In defining what she calls "my own Sheilaism," she said: "It's just try to love yourself and be gentle with yourself. You know, I guess, take care of each other. I think God would want us to take care of each other." Like many others, Sheila would be willing to endorse few more specific points."
So, while I don't in the least say secular lefties which I am, should hold their tongue with religious lefties, I do think that religious eftists again, do have a better grounding due to that Faith in the why and when there has been such bloodshed in the last century esp. driven by Secular Faiths like Leninism/Stalinism/Maoism which defended and installed Regimes which were just as horrendously muderous (esp. towards dissenting and loyal communists/socialists/workers/peasants) as the Holy Inquisition. When you have the "Science, " of DiaMat and, "The Party is Always Right, " (even when it will drive a ice axe into your skull, a few yrs. later, LDT) , in reality a secularized form of Promethian messianic eschatology like Kolakowski analyzed in his 3 vols, "Main Currents of Marxism, " any crime against your ostensible goal socialism/communism can be committed by ostensible Communists.
Too many secular leftists compared to religious leftists have shallow explanations for evil actions, esp. those committed in our name by Communist regimes who must not criticized for fear of that dread, "Red-Baiting, " tag. Though 95% of this list would have ended up in a GULAG camp anytime betwen 1928-1953.(Cf. The Death of Satan: How Americans Have Lost the Sense of Evil)
Funny how a few days ago on anti-allawi at yahoogroups.com (a pro-Iraqi Resistance/"Ba'athist/Islamist list) a few days ago, a Boston communist sect sent a homophobic rant against gay marriage and LGBT more generally, a point was made by the Islamists/Ba'athist supporters that in the interests of anti-war, "unity, " gay and str8 supporters of gay lib. in the anti-war movement should STFU, as you seem to be saying I was advocating that secular lefties should hold their tongues about debating respectfully or not their religious lefty comrades.