Re: AUT: Priviledging economics over psychology....

["cwright" <cwright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Two small notes on theology:

1.  In the US, there is no standard version of the Bible (prolly nowhere
else either.)  Some protestants use the King James, others use editions
revised at the turn of the 20th century.  The Catholics use another bible
and only pagans and 'radical' catholics tend to use the gnostic texts, which
are another matter and which were only banned at the Council of Nicea in 325
CE.  Since I am not a Christian, I would of course consider the gnostic
texts as worthy of consideration in contemplating Christ's character and
that of the early church, but not for understanding most contemporary
Christians ideas/beliefs.  And you would have to keep in mind that some
'books of the Bible' that Catholics recognize, protestants would not and
vice versa, applicable inter-alia the protestants, also, of course.

2.  The Greek can be quite different, and if I remember correctly, Mary was
not a virgin in the original, but 'a woman who was of age', which is to say
that she was of the marrying and birthing age.  Virgin gets read in later
on.

On religion in general, Bakunin et al see it as bowing to authority.  Marx
would see it as alienation, as ascribing our creative activity, our human
practice to some source outside of us.  In either case, the rejection of
religion and god seems central to any consistent critical thought (and were
recognized by all of the major 19th century communist thinkers as such.)

On the other hand, I don't see preaching atheism as a very useful political
activity and I do not tell people who approach me with their religious
beliefs in a necessarily hostile manner, since finding an atheist who
respects their beliefs and treats them with dignity often surprises them.
It also disarms their contention that atheism is a religion.  This is
especially useful with young people.

Cheers,
Chris
"In a world which really is topsy-turvy, the true is a moment of the
false." - Debord




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