[lbo-talk] Marxism and Religion

[Chris Doss]

--- Miles Jackson <cqmv at pdx.edu> wrote:
> >
> >
> >   
> No, Chris, you're anthropomorphizing the animists'
> supernatural realm.  
> I understand why--that's how we do the sacred realm
> in our 
> societies--but that's a gross misrepresentation of
> animism.  It is not 
> that there is some intelligent, supernatural entity
> that "inhabits" 
> people and things; the animist notion of "spirit" is
> more like a sacred 
> force.  It has nothing to do with our idea of
> spirits, gods, elves, 
> vampiri, or angels.  I'll grant you this: the belief
> in the 
> "supernatural" realm is common across time and
> place.  However, the 
> belief that this supernatural realm is inhabited by
> "nonhuman 
> intelligences" is far from universal.
> 
> Miles
> 

Since the idea of a "supernatural" world is totally
bogus (everything that exists that is not an artifact
is natural, so if vampires were to exist, they would
by definition be natural too), I think this could be
better expressed, roughly, as something like "it is a
universal cultural trait that a belief exists that
part or all of her phenomena are not governed by
laws/principles reducible to scientific explanation in
the modern sense."

Relatedly, I am reminded of the bit in the Golden
Bough where Frasier points out that magic is much
closer to science than to religion, as the former both
believe that reality can be manipulated by human skill
and the latter that such manipulation must go through
the medium of a divine being (that you pray to for favors).

Lyubo, bratsy, lyubo, lyubo, bratsy, zhit!

ËÞÁÎ, ÁÐÀÒÖÛ, ËÞÁÎ, ËÞÁÎ, ÁÐÀÒÖÛ, ÆÈÒÜ!


 
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