A More Optimistic View Of Religion

[argive99]

I hate to link to SoloHQ but this is a pretty good piece. Its a counter argument to Chris Sciabarra's recent piece on the rise of Christian Fundamentalism in the US. Since there has been such a large debate here over this especially with regards to Peikoff's stand on the election, I thought I would post it. The author does a pretty nice job of critiquing the flaws with Sciabarra's reasoning. While he may be too optimistic about the future, he makes a nice argument that Christianity in America is actually in the process of being more secularized rather than turning more fundamentalist. Also, in the comments section, he does a nice job of rebutting Sciabarra's arguments.

http://www.solohq.com/Articles/Cordero/An_...Sciabarra.shtml

[Pericles(MBA)]

Interesting. I had never heard of SoloHQ. I see that Tibor Machan is a member, and I thought he was a libertarian. It must be 'big-tent' Objectivism. (Sciabarra and Barbara Branden are also members).

I'm glad you posted this piece. I agree that religion is more muted than some people think, and was drafting something in my head as a reply to some earlier threads along those same lines.

Bush is far from a religious facist. His minor infractions are nothing compared to earlier puritanical movements that attempted to take hold in America. But even if Bush were deeply relgious, if he were simply responding to the desires of the majority of Americans then voting him out of office will do no good. In another 4 years there would be another religious Republican to take his place. But I think religious Americans are more like Rush Limbaugh than Elmer Gantry so that will never happen.

There are many more secular influences on the Republican party than most people realize. Here in Arizona we have a strong religious element that is always educated by the less-religious minority. In fact there are many religions that establish reason as a value much more so than the educational establishment does. Some pretty good Objectivists (in fact I know one at the Ayn Rand Institute) were raised by strongly religious parents.

One thing about Sciabarra, btw. He is writing for academic liberals and libertarians, so of course he is going to raise the spectre of religion. A funny thing about libertarians is that they often alternate between dogmatism and libertarianism. Perhaps having no foundation in principles they have no choice. So libs love to see articles about scary fundamentalist ideas, sometimes because they have been guilty of such fundamentalism themselves. Liberals are pretty similar. Liberals fascist ideas make fundamentalism seem healthy.

Sciabarra has found himself a nice racket if he can keep writing about fundamentalist boogey-men. Maybe he can convince the academic world to continue his funding in-perpetuity.

[Capitalism Forever]

It must be 'big-tent' Objectivism.

It is; that is why decent members of this forum are reluctant to link to that site. I agree that this particular piece is a good one, though.