Re: [Marxism] On Gary's indignation and my opinions

["Calvin Broadbent" <calvinbroadbent@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

It is entirely my own misreading of your use of the word 'here', that caused
the misunderstanding, James. I thought your 'here' referred to the list.

As for 'freethinking'- is it freethinking to point out the crimes of
Catholicism? Is 'freethinking' a purely 'Anglo' phenomenon? Wasn't Wolfe
Tone a freethinker with regard to religion? Weren't the French Materialists
Marx read and admired 'freethinkers' with regard to religion (if not
science)? If freething is 'anglo', so much the better for the anglos! Also,
I object to your designation 'canonical freethinking', James. I do not refer
to any single book or set of books held in common regard by all atheists to
support my views on religion. The same cannot be said of believers,
unfortunately. I do not regard Protestantism as 'freethinking' nor as
intrinsically defensive of religious tolerance. I am not a fan of Luther,
Cromwell, Calvin, or Paisley. They were and are either tyrants, mass
murderers or both.

At any rate, James is quite right to point out that never having been a
Protestant believer does not entail my not being a Protestant in the six
counties of northern Ireland. That is precisely the point I was trying to
convey earlier to Joe.

best.

JAMES WROTE:

> Calvin, what I originally said was:
> And it is refreshing to see you express a *non-Anglo* understanding of the
> history of Catholicism and Protestantism. If I were to attempt that *here*,
> I would be accused by both liberals and Marxists of religious bigotry, and
> that is a very oppressive, inhibiting and censoring factor [**added].
> Not for the first time, my condensed style has led to unintentional
> ambiguity.  By "here" I meant locally, and "that" of course refers to a
> "non-Anglo" understanding.  After all the context was that Nestor -- from a
> privileged perspective -- pointed out that Gary's understanding of
> Catholicism was very Protestant; and he was right, and many Marxists would
> say there was a materialist explanation for such a phenomenon, to be found
> in the white colonies, especially the big one that got away.  The Whig
> interpretation of history is still the dominant imperialist ideology.  It
> has given half of its DNA to its offspring, canonical "freethinking", of
> which Calvin clearly has imbibed.  Along that line it entered Marxism --
> but not so much Marx.  This list is remarkably free of it.

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