[lbo-talk] The misuse of political movements for essentially religious ends

[Carrol Cox]

Shane: No, I want to tell the bastard nothing but drop dead.  want to tell
YOU that if "religion" is the standard of right and wrong YOU have no way to
deny that beheading apostates in accordance with "Sharia Law" is right and
justified.

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There are only political standards; adding little  notes saying "good" or
"bad" is (a) pointless and (b) redundant. The objection is to non-believers
pulling abstract ethical principles out of their ass!

When a Presbyterian proclaims "genocide is evil," she has (believes she has)
a foundation for that declaration. But when you or I say it, it is nonsense
to claim an ethical rather than political reason for saying it.

Reducing politics to ethics is one source of opportunism, or politics
through persuading the rulers that they should be nice.

Carrol