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To: Torie

Oh, I see what you mean. Hmm.. I would say that I don't clearly fall into either category. If anything, my general attitude toward religion is that it's of no great consequence. In other words, that by and large society actuates via religion what it would by other means in the absence of religion. Since the details of a creed are arbitrary, there are distinctive permutations contingent on such doctrines, but the overall function of religion is uniform.

I'd say the governing factor of human affairs is economics, itself a proxy for security and control. Religion can and is adapted to suit whatever one wishes for it to represent, and ultimately subordinated to economics. By example, the Christianity of today is utterly alien to the Christianity of 500 years ago, and both are equally alien to the Christianity of 1500 years ago. The objectively irrelevant framework is the same, but its respective functions bear little resemblance to one another, and therefore neither does the experience of it or the perception of it.

More importantly, in the grand scheme of things it certainly appears as if religion is on its way out as a viable force in human affairs. I wonder what will replace it because that's not at all clear to me. It's even less clear to me that its replacement will be preferable. My suspicion is that tighter political regulation will be the solution, and that's not at all an improvement in my view. At its extreme, it ultimately eliminates the apertures of ambiguity that all religions provide within which personal freedom could thrive.


617 posted on 05/25/2005 9:50:39 PM PDT by AntiGuv (™)
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To: Torie
Hmm.. I use "function" with two different meanings in my previous post, so lemme clarify!

Where I say:

"the overall function of religion is uniform."

I mean its general function of social regulation, social pacification, and social organization.

Where I say:

"[Christianity's] respective functions [in the respective eras] bear little resemblance to one another"

I'm referring to the specific pattern by which it achieves the general function and the dimensions within which it's called upon to do so.

623 posted on 05/25/2005 10:06:10 PM PDT by AntiGuv (™)
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To: AntiGuv
Economics is obviously of critical importance. And you are right that in the wealthier precincts of the planet, religion is a waning force. But it has a certain stubborn persistence in the US, which is what gives the US a certain strength and resilience, and moral animation in foreign matters, in stark contrast to the drab cynical self interested men of affairs elsewhere in the habitat of the denizens of plenty. The charts showing the correlation between advanced economies and secularism have a nice little regresion analysis trend line, with the US way out there out of orbit beyond Pluto. The planet would not be as well off without that stubborn clinging to faith by so many Americans, against all the paradigms militating against it.

And that is how I see it.

624 posted on 05/25/2005 10:06:55 PM PDT by Torie (Constrain rogue state courts; repeal your state constitution)
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