”. It became clear that neither religion nor the church were essential to the survival of a civil society. The family survived with or without the church and with or without externally enforced moral codes. Only some churches and some conservatives have as yet adapted to that new reality, however.”
This is not at all clear. Society was not very civil during the French Revolution, under Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot or Mao. It is arguable that modern Western civil society is drawing on the accumulated moral capital of religion in as much as the family still survives. We need only observe, however, the effect of the loss of moral codes on the creation and growth of an “underclass” that now has approximately 70% of certain groups in the US procreating without a traditional family structure. There is not doubt that society will survive, whether that is a “civil” society I will leave to history.
” And he did rebuke his disciples for proposing to sell their luxury goods and distribute the proceeds to the poor (Matthew 26:10).”
You cast suspicion on your argument with references like this which are not only inaccurate by taken out of context. First, the “ointment” the woman poured over Jesus’ head was not his disciples’ property. Taken in the context of Matthew 26:11-12 (“For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.”) your interpretation simply does not stand.
” Religion is perhaps the most pervasive expression of ego. Ego thinks that he or she is so important that he/she cannot really die and that the creator of the universe is concerned about his/her every thought and deed! How unrealistic! How ludicrous! How egocentric! If the universe does have a creator, such a creator is surely far above any human passions or concerns and has far bigger things to concern him/it than worry about what some priest does with his penis (for instance). And yet what evils have been perpetrated in the name of religion! Without excess ego, we would, for instance, have no Islamic fundamentalism.”
This is a rather egocentric (on your part) interpretation of the manner in which Christians approach their relation to God. It assumes that Christians invented their god to make them feel important. That’s not only bizarre, but it inverts the belief that animates Christian theology. You then go on to make an assertion about “a creator” that many people who disparage Christians seem to make: they make assertions about God (“Is surely far above…etc.”) for which they have not rational basis except disdain for people of faith.
From this I conclude that, as an academic, you have absorbed the typical academic anti-clericalism. Just be advised that the inclusion of screeds like that above do nothing to advance your thesis. And, by the way, the evils that have been perpetrated in the name of religion disappear before the evils that have been committed in the name of Atheism, a belief system closely identified with Leftism, as you point out so well in the rest of your paper.
” Religion too is essentially a reality denying exercise. As Marx famously said, it is the "opium of the people". Those of us with ultimately Judaic traditions delude ourselves into believing that somewhere there must exist some real counterpart to the omnipotent and benevolent father we thought we had in our early childhood and those of us influenced by Eastern religions generally believe that our elder family members continue to be able to help us even after death. We invent imaginary helpers and benefactors to replace the lack of real ones.”
Again, this has no bearing on your primary thesis. Perhaps religious people are deluding themselves. People have deluded themselves about any number of things in the past and will continue to do so in the future. However, the assumption that religious people are looking for a father substitute is so much psychobabble.
The critical element here is that Leftists attempt to root out the belief in absolutes, such as an omnipotent God and Judge. In it’s place they attempt to implant a belief in Man as his own God. This, God/Man then becomes the deity that we can worship and die for. The Fuhrer, Father Stalin. Only when Man and Man’s Society is God, can we send millions to the Gulag – to rid society of “pests,” and gas the Jews to purify the Race.