Reply to Secular family values rock!

Forum Index » Religion

Reply to "Secular family values rock!"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]PP again. Do you know anything about Marxism? Dialectical materialism? The debates about whether the revolution would come from the proletariat or could it come from the peasants? Why there were so many executions of political opponents on ideological grounds? Lenin and Stalin were operating under a secular ideology that was as rigid as any religion.[/quote]

You said it yourself - ". . . as rigid as any religion."  Religion is rigid.

Dialectical materialism is not.  In theory, it's about the interdependence of opposing sides.  Therefore, there's always motion that should - in theory -  shift the balance. that perhaps if the working class emancipated itself capitalism would be erased

In practice, however, this doesn't work b/c those with means will usually win - whether that's through capitalism or dictatorship.

It's simply human nature -  Darwinism at work. The strong will survive.

That's why it's so easy to prey on people using religion as the main vehicle.  Promise them the world, and they'll follow.

same situations, I suppose - But IMO using fairy tales and myths to persuade folks to take action (for good or evil) is cruel.

false hope

[/quote]

Ok, I'm impressed that you know this much about dialectical materialism. I don't think you're right, but I'm impressed. This is more like it, right?

Dialectical materialism in the communist interpretation is about inevitability: there's very little flexibility in the final outcome. At least that's what I was taught in Europe, in a different language. No flexibility of opposing sides, because the proletariat's march to victory is inevitable. The capitalists do always win... until the proletariat unite. Which the proletariat will eventually wise up and do. Marx, writing in England during the industrial revolution, thought the proletariat were primed and ready to go. Were Chinese peasants in the 30s and 40s ready to unite? That question used to be a big deal. Either way, though, the capitalists were ultimately doomed. Reading about dialectical materialism really gives you the impression of a rigid, determinist philosophy.

Heck, leaving theory aside, the reverence for communist leaders was sort of like idol worship. Simple compilations of their quotes, like Mao's Little Red Book, were secular bibles. Little kids had to memorize large chunks of it, sort of like in a madrassa.

Also, religion is a lot more flexible than you're giving it credit for. In fact the last 10 pages of this thread been about your, or somebody else's, frustration with believers who develop interpretations that differ from orthodoxy. And that's precisely because these believers study and criticize and think for themselves. This seems to take atheists by surprise, but there are many, many of us such believers.

You lose points for once again referring to religion as "fairy tales." Ad hominems don't make an argument, in fact they make the user look juvenile. You know better than to keep slinging the insults, right?

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics