No social and political belief systems attend these faiths. Rather, these faiths attach themselves to various social and political belief systems...
The faiths have no necessary political social implications whatever...Those within the faiths simply mold their faiths to fit their social and political beliefs, which are otherwise grounded.
Carrol
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Come on Carrol, I am taking them at their word. You must have missed the headlines lately. We are not in an ideological debate, but a rather bloody series of wars that claim to be ideological---war of civilizations and so forth.
Take a look at the first ten books of the old testament. That's the basis for all three system. Belief in God is a given, the poetry of Genesis, the story of Ruth (my favorite passages) and other bits and pieces are idealism. However, the core of these systems are devoted to the conduct of life here (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges...) ...all that boring stuff is why they are political and social systems.
I am not interested in Falwell, but to say he is a fundamentalist because he is homophobic is a chicken and egg argument. Do you really suppose he hated queers first, possibly from some boyhood humiliation (and or guilty pleasure), and then became a Christian because of ambivalence and anxiety towards the alluring attraction of his own butt and penis? Well, I could develop that argument, it would be fun, but it would be unconvincing. Perhaps his homophobia came from pulling on the damned thing and it just wouldn't grow long enough to meet his own ideal proportions---my preferred view on all this subject. But who am I to judge the moral worthiness of Mister Two Inches?
Since I am an empiricist at heart, we'll just have to get out the tape measure and see for ourselves. Hmm. Now where is my magnifying glass El Maestro Benito de Espinoza ground for me...
CG