As a lifelong DEMOCRATIC socialist I viewed the NEW ATHEISTS as an obnoxious obstacle to really PROGRESSIVE movements on the LEFT. The biggest mistake of the old Soviet Union was to declare itself OFFICIAL ATHEIST- not NEUTRAL to religious beliefs as in the USA - and thereby turn off the world's BILLIONS of religious people who take God and FAITH very seriously. So much EVIL in human history is connected to madmen tyrants( Hitler , Stalin, Mao ) who all but declared themselves enemies of God and divinely inspired moral precepts. There are sectarian Marxist parties today who offer excellent criticism of the capitalist system and our ballyhooed WAY OF LIFE . But they never get anywhere " revolutionary " because they are themselves elitists snobs out of touch with the very masses they would lead. Indeed many of their members hate the Catholic Church , hate Christianity , hate ALL religious people , hate God more than they do love the working class and the ideal of SOCIALISM. Most of them would make excellent Stalinists - even the ones who imagine themselves the ideological heirs of Leon Trotsky. And there does seem to be a strange alliance of New Atheists with militant Zionism . Not for nothing Christopher Hitchens , author of " God Is Not Great - How Religion Poisons Everything "- , and an ex-Trotskyist , was a big fan of George W. Bush's invasion and occupation of Iraq. . All the rational people out there, like Hitchens , you see , must ally themselves against THE PEOPLE of Islamic faith and with American imperialism and Zionist APARTHEID Israel. They also support a completely WOKE gay rights movement - the idea here is that " OUR democracy " no longer should have anything to do with the fundamental principle of MAJORITY RULE. In many ways old President Ronald Reagan was more NICE than his son ! But then I do recommend Bertrand Russell's sardonic essay " Nice People ". Hostile to Christianity, Lord Russell was nevertheless a fierce opponent of U.S. imperialism all his long life and very DEMOCRATIC socialist. And he did admire Catholic Saint Francis. In truth the New Atheists are reactionary !
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ReplyDeleteAs a lifelong DEMOCRATIC socialist I viewed the NEW ATHEISTS as an obnoxious obstacle to really PROGRESSIVE movements on the LEFT. The biggest mistake of the old Soviet Union was to declare itself OFFICIAL ATHEIST- not NEUTRAL to religious beliefs as in the USA - and thereby turn off the world's BILLIONS of religious people who take God and FAITH very seriously.
So much EVIL in human history is connected to madmen tyrants( Hitler , Stalin, Mao ) who all but declared themselves enemies of God and divinely inspired moral precepts. There are sectarian Marxist parties today who offer excellent criticism of the capitalist system and our ballyhooed WAY OF LIFE . But they never get anywhere " revolutionary " because they are themselves elitists snobs out of touch with the very masses they would lead. Indeed many of their members hate the Catholic Church , hate Christianity , hate ALL religious people , hate God more than they do love the working class and the ideal of SOCIALISM. Most of them would make excellent Stalinists - even the ones who imagine themselves the ideological heirs of Leon Trotsky.
And there does seem to be a strange alliance of New Atheists with militant Zionism . Not for nothing Christopher Hitchens , author of " God Is Not Great - How Religion Poisons Everything "- , and an ex-Trotskyist , was a big fan of George W. Bush's invasion and occupation of Iraq. . All the rational people out there, like Hitchens , you see , must ally themselves against THE PEOPLE of Islamic faith and with American imperialism and Zionist APARTHEID Israel.
They also support a completely WOKE gay rights movement - the idea here is that " OUR democracy " no longer should have anything to do with the fundamental principle of MAJORITY RULE. In many ways old President Ronald Reagan was more NICE than his son ! But then I do recommend Bertrand Russell's sardonic essay " Nice People ". Hostile to Christianity, Lord Russell was nevertheless a fierce opponent of U.S. imperialism all his long life and very DEMOCRATIC socialist. And he did admire Catholic Saint Francis.
In truth the New Atheists are reactionary !