[MD] Plains Talk and Pragmatism

[david buchanan]

Tim said:
...I might interpret his perspective on theism, whatever it is, as a desire not to levy karmic garbage on others.  He might view all solidified contemporary theisms as a karmic dump sourced from that theist's inability to deal with the unknown. 



dmb says:

This is the thing about religion. Just look around. What is at the heart of our domestic politics and foreign policies? Muslims, Jews and Christians each define themselves in relation to the other two. Each form of theism thinks the other forms are wrong, if not downright evil. And this conflict is not limited to angry e-mails. It entails actual death and destruction. There is a vast difference of degree but not in kind. Islam uses suicide bombers to resist the infidels and Christianity uses assassins to resist abortion doctors. The fundamentalists in Israel literally believe it's their god-given right to occupy Palestine and of course all those Palestinian refugees beg to differ. And so both sides have a hard time even recognizing the humanity of the other side. This is the problem with theism. It's supposed to be a force for morality and good and brotherly love but that's obviously NOT what's happening. Quite the opposite. 

The framers of the constitution knew this about religion. European history is chock full of war, torture and murder in the name of religion. The age of colonialism was certainly about money and power but it was also very much about spreading Christianity at gun point. Whole cultures were destroyed in this process. And it's always about the guys and the bad guys. It always entails an epic karma dump. And today, in our context, theism is a reactionary stance. It's just a form of cultural supremacy and it could only be adopted by one who hasn't yet learned the lessons of history and/or one who hasn't read a newspaper in a long, long time.