[lbo-talk] Last Supper, in a leather harness

ravi ravi at platosbeard.org
Fri Sep 28 14:16:33 PDT 2007


On 28 Sep, 2007, at 15:33 PM, Doug Henwood wrote:
> Since atheists are the most disparaged "religious" group in the U.S.
> - polling well below Muslims and queers - I don't see why the
> nonreligious are supposed to be so solicitous of the feelings of the
> religious. At least in the U.S. They're the dominant group, and they
> should be nice to us.
>

Only if grouping by religious belief has some impact on social order, power relationships, ability to realise one's potential, etc, etc. The truth is more probably that atheism is a luxury of over-educated comparatively wealthy intellectual brats, while religion is the last resort of the poor and the working classes. I would wager that there is even today a significant portion of the "religious" who think of god or go to church for a moment of peace and comfort, to hope for a second for some relief, some higher order, meaning, purpose. They don't dominate much when it comes to atheists (especially the non-gay white male variety, which also happens to be the group that claims to speak for the entire clan -- hence my reference to Hitchens and Dawkins, and you might as well throw in Dennett).

--ravi



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