[Vision2020] Fragments of our Lord

[Joseph Campbell]

Comparing Catholics to Nazis is a bit too far in my book. And apart  
from the over the top rhetoric there is not much argument or evidence  
here. Enjoy the New Year! Joe

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 31, 2008, at 11:22 AM, Chasuk <chasuk at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 10:00, Joseph Campbell <josephc at wsu.edu>  
> wrote:
>
>> . . . if I'm going to comment on No Weatherman's ridiculous, racist  
>> rants
>> against Muslims and Africans, then I should be willing to say the  
>> same
>> against equally ridiculous claims about Christian doctrines, or  
>> Chas's even
>> more ridiculous claim that religion is "a transitional stage  
>> between the
>> childhood and the adult phases of human development." A view where  
>> one's
>> opponents — and over half the population of the world — come off 
>>  as
>> infantile idiots is a little too convenient and certainly worthy of
>> commentary. Not that I think that I've convinced you or Chas of  
>> anything,
>> mind you!
>
> Marxism is a religious belief.  Nazism is a religious belief.  I'm not
> talking about in the sacred sense, but in the sense that they incite
> in their followers a fervor which they use to justify appalling
> behavior.  If your belief -- frequently an "ism" -- becomes so
> important to you that you consider it inviolable, then it is a
> religious belief.
>
> Maoism, Wahhabism, Fundamentalist Christianity.  Look at their  
> rotten fruits.
>
> If you can believe in something as transparently idiotic as
> transubstantiation, then you have thrown logic (and your own pragmatic
> experience) out the window.
>
> I don't believe that the doctrine of transubstantiation itself is
> dangerous, but that those who hold to it often are, given the wrong
> circumstances.
>
> When you are able to subsume logic to an "ism," then you can justify
> slaughtering tourists in Mumbai, blowing up children in Gaza, in
> mutilating the genitals of little girls in Egypt and Cameroon, in
> bombing abortion clinics, or you can become a member of the Khmer
> Rouge, or crash planes into skyscrapers.
>
> Maybe religion isn't a transitional stage between the childhood and
> the adult phases of human development, but I certainly hope that it
> is, because as the destructive capabilities of the common person
> continue to increase, the proponents of "isms" scare me more every
> day.
>
> Chas