One more -- and final -- word on The Saints

["Hunter Gray" <hunterbadbear@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Note by Hunterbear:

The surprising [to me] Mormon War on Marxism Discussion is ended -- and my
family and I are happy to be back on that excellent list whose owner is our
fine friend always, Louis Proyect.

Michael Pugliese, who apparently reads the Marxism Discussion archives,
picked up on this  hassle and transposed as much of the War as he could onto
ASDnet.  In connection with this, he posted a raft of generally poor quality
URLs -- historically and sociologically dubious -- and, of course,
essentially hostile to my personal position which pretty much gets along
with most Mormons and, whatever my reservations, with the LDS church itself.

One of his posts deserves further comment:

"Both James Aho in, "The Politics of Righteousness: Idaho Christian
Patriotism, " University of Washington Press, 1990, and
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0874221757/102-2303332-1730504
In God's Country : The Patriot Movement and the Pacific Northwest, by
David A. Neiwert, Washington State University Press, 1999, show via their
scholarship and reportage how high the proportion of Mormon's in
organized racism isz.
   And, didn't the FBI in Hoover's day have tons of Mormons?
Michael Pugliese "


This is B.S.  I dealt with it succinctly yesterday by pointing out that
Aryan Nations et al. are essentially California transplants, that virtually
all Mormons I've known have been and are quite anti-racist, and that it's an
extremely well known historical fact that J. Edgar Hoover overwhelmingly
preferred Catholics [in the pre-Vatican II era, of course.]

I don't know the Neiwert book -- but I have read the above cited book by
Professor Aho.  Originally from Seattle and Finnish-American, he's a
sociology prof at Idaho State University -- right here at Pocatello -- and
most students consider him a good teacher.  His wife is a fine poet.
Although I don't really know him personally, I do know that he is pretty
much down on Religion generally.  I also know that he shies much indeed from
my Left politics.  [I wouldn't say Jim Aho is a White Finn -- but he sure as
hell isn't a Red One.  Eldri -- much Finnish herself along with Saami -- and
I think he's probably an unusual species: a Bland Finn.]  For the past
number of years, however, his funded special research has involved "bodily
orifices."

I have read his book on "Idaho Christian Patriotism" and found it quite
useful.  Aho did not say that there's a high proportion of Mormons in
"organized racism."  He did say that there's a high proportion of Mormons
among tax protesters  -- and he makes a clear distinction between that group
and the white supremacists.  Rather unsociologically, however, he fails to
directly point out that most property owners -- "urban," farming and
ranching -- in Eastern Idaho  are Mormon along with most of the  people
generally [regardless of race or ethnicity].  Our region is 70% LDS.  [And
so the relatively high proportion of LDS folk among what tax protesters
there are is hardly unusual.  Most Mormons pay their taxes as faithfully as
anyone else.]

Another point is that the traditional bastion of the now happily fast fading
Aryan Nations et al outfits is in North Idaho -- in the Coeur d' Alene /
Sandpoint region.  This has virtually no Mormons in it at all.

More to the point, the "religion" of Aryan Nations, Order, and comparable
hate groups is almost consistently that of the so-called Identity Church --
itself a well-known and extremely virulent hate outfit.  No Mormon could
belong to Aryan Nations and Identity Church et al without being immediately
excommunicated -- for a whole bunch of good reasons.

The ultra-virulent and extremely dangerous National Alliance [very closely
linked with the Identity Church] is presently doing its best to fill the
Idaho void -- with a special racist skinhead appeal to unemployed and
subemployed Anglo white youth.  We know a good deal about the NA's poisonous
trail in Idaho.  There is no evidence whatsoever that Mormons are involved
with it in any significant sense.  Locally, the LDS churches have joined
Protestants and Catholics and Jews and Others in condemning the National
Alliance and its hate stuff.  LDS was one of a number of church sponsors of
the successful King Day rally last January at which I was the featured --
and quite radical --  speaker.

Hunter [Hunterbear]
Hunter Gray  [Hunterbear]
www.hunterbear.org (strawberry socialism)
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´





~~~~~~~
PLEASE clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.