[lbo-talk] M. Parenti joins the New Atheists?

shag carpet bomb shag at cleandraws.com
Wed Mar 24 17:52:42 PDT 2010


At 11:21 AM 3/24/2010, Alan Rudy wrote:
>On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 11:08 AM, Joseph Catron <jncatron at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 10:47 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> >
> > "Assessing the Bible in the light of literal interpretation as advocated
> > by
> > >> fundamentalist Christians, rather than inspiration Parenti finds a
> > deeply
> > >> troubling narrative ..."
> > >>
> > >
> > > What, are we supposed to "respect" that bag of nonsense?
> > >
> >
> > For starters, you should not make it a point to read the Bible (or anything
> > else) from the most obtuse perspective possible.
> >
>
>First, I think these efforts are a waste of time and a major distraction
>from what folks on the left might better be doing.
>Second, while you're right, Joseph, my sense is that Parenti - and I'm not
>saying he did a good job or worthwhile thing here - is responding to the
>obtuseness of many American proponents' readings as much as anything else.
>Third, there are believers who don't read the bible obtusely and perhaps
>they might be the better audience to engage.
>Fourth, this whole preoccupation with this stuff - pro or con - largely make
>me shake my head.

honestly? I've read through this thread and I don't understand what is at stake.

so what that Parenti wrote a book that criticizes the hold religious fundamentalism has taken over u.s politics? so what that he writes a book that criticizes the biblical literalism advocated by those same fundamentalists? so what that he points out the total effedupness of thanking god for saving your life in an earthquake, and not asking god why the fuck so many others died. what kind of miracle crap is that? (There was a piece on this same thing a few weeks ago - NPR I think. They were talking about the death of religion among young people - in terms of formal religious institutions -- but, at the same time a rise in their belief in miracles and magical thinking. They had a call in session about it later, and people were talking about how strange it was that religious folks will do this: think only about the miracle of saving 10 lives while ignoring the 1000s of other lives lost.)

i really get tired of the handwringing over the lefties who are supposedly embarassing us in front of the religious right.

omigod! omigod! if lefties say big meanie stuff about the religious, those religious people are neeever eeever gonna like us.

i feel like i'm in fucking high school again! don't say meanie things about The Kaitlyn's. The Kaitlyn's might not like us because of that and then they won't join our group! waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

fuckmedeadalready

also, good article in Harper's about the prosperity gospel. http://www.harpers.org/archive/2010/03/0082868

I have been encountering this a lot recently. As the article points out, it is very popular among the striving middle classes, especially among Latinos and Blacks. I started using meetup recently, for a group I belong to, and I've been inundated by people pushing the prosperity gospel, along with their Black Millionaires clubs. It's wild. Not surprising, of course. But who woulda thunk how many people are turning to religion for the very, uh, crass ends of trying to fulfill their dreams of making a good living -- and actually, not just a good living, but of becoming millionaires. As the article points out, the trend among this set is to listen to preaching about how you basically suck if you're not making it. Gosh. In America? Blame people for failing to be successful, and then attribute it to God if they happen to make it. Shocking.

-- http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list