RE: religion

["Craven, Jim" <jcraven@xxxxxxxxx>]

Please stop this flamewar before it starts.

In the grand scheme of things, there are much more worthwhile things to
fight about than Doug Henwood's (lack of) religious beliefs.

Response(Jim C): In my work in Indian Country, I deal with folks with all
sorts of church/religious affiliations. In some cases I absolutely detest
the particular denomination with which they are associated. But I guess I am
guided by Marx's notion that although "religion", which I personally
differentiate from "spirituality", is indeed a form of opiate designed to
dull the senses and make the religious accept the existing "natural" order
of things and capitalism, the attack against capitalism should not take
place through an attack on religion but rather the reverse: eliminate
capitalism to eliminate some of the bases for religion in the first place.

But I also must add that in human history, all sorts of self-professed
"religious" folks gave their lives fighting against fascism and other forms
of reaction, often driven, they said, by their religious beliefs, e.g.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pacifist, leading the plot to assassinate Hitler, and
on the other hand, I've seen some, self-professed atheists and leftists,
with the right jargon and buzz words, not worth a shit and even objectively
counter-revolutionary.

In my work, I do not equivocate in terms of my basic dislike of organized
religion and outright hatred of some denominations more than others, but it
is framed in terms of what I believe--when asked--rather than a polemic
against the particular religion or denomination with which the person(s) I
am working with is/are associated. I just leave it alone and look for those
beliefs, including religious ones, that might drive the person to take
objectively progressive and anti-capitalist stands and engage in progressive
actions.

Jim C.