> Religion is an expression of human solidariy -- human
> solidarity without the material conditions (or perceived conditions) for
> conscious solidarity around consciously human goals.
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Solidarity limited to one's group, of course - not solidarity with humanity.
With very few exceptions, each religious group has considered itself
superior to others, and has not been loathe to assert its superiority in
bloodletting and cruelty. Not to mention that religion on both an organized
and individual level has historically served ruling class interests.
Since the disappearance of the left as a mass movement, the sentimental adaptation of leftist intellectuals to popular religious attachment has been quite striking. Religious belief is no longer primarily defended as a democratic right and anti-imperialist struggles led by religious forces supported on grounds of national self-determination, but both are now increasingly romanticized as inherently positive "expressions of human solidarity" rather than as necessary accomodations by the left to the slower than anticipated development of human consciousness.