http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Library/9803/eqbal_ahmad/eqbal_roots_religious.html Essay from 1999 by one of the leading leftist Muslims of the century (died of colon cancer recently). "The dominant feature of the post-colonial period has been the existential style of deploying religion whenever it suits the political convenience of those in power, and of ignoring the challenge of defining the relationship of religion and politics when governments and the ruling elites feel secure and contented."
Good find, I've bookmarked the page and will look for more from this author. Reminds yet again that one of America's most important founders, Thomas Jefferson, was correctly frightened by the union of state and religion. As I've said before, this union is an ideological undergird for power politics, particularly in the current administration and that is regressive to modernity.
Leftists writing abouit religion makes as much sense as eunuchs writing about sex. Something is lost in the translation.
Gee, if I really fish, I might just find a compliment in there. Are you saying that you like it better than "MLS Cup Held Hostage Day.. ?"
Hmm, she gave up all worldly goods to minister to the most downtrodden people on earth. If that makes her a "rightest" she'd be the first one in history to do that.
"Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience." "The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another." "We have to have a deep, patient compassion for the fears of men and irrational mania of those who hate or condemn us." - Thomas Merton Trappist monk, writer Gethsemane Abbey, Kentucky
Re: Re: Roots of the Religious Right Did you even look at the link, Ian? Sure, anyone can get a geocities site and put whatever they want on it. This person happens to have reprinted and correctly cited an article from the journal DAWN by one of the most important world intellectuals of the century. It's not like I'm just linking to some kid's own essay on the topic. Anyway, cossak, Ahmad is pretty widely regarded in culture studies circles. That geocities site is actually one that a grad student at U Maryland set up to index many of Ahmad's writings available online. Here's the main page: http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Library/9803/eqbal_ahmad/index_eqbal_ahmad.html From Edward Said's lament on Ahmad's passing: "Bantering, ironic, sporty, unpedantic, gracious, immaculate in dress and expression, faultlessly kind, an unpretentious connoisseur of food and wine, Eqbal's themes in the end were always liberation and injustice, or how to achieve the first without reproducing more of the second. He saw himself perceptively as a man of the eighteenth century, modern because of enlightenment and breadth of outlook, not because of technological or quasi-scientific "progress". Somehow he managed unostentatiously to preserve his native Muslim tradition without succumbing either to the frozen exclusivism or to the jealousy that has often gone with it. Humanity and genuine secularism in this blood-drenched old century of ours had no finer champion. His innumerable friends grieve inconsolably."
I should add that one of the things I find most interesting about Ahmad is that he is exactly the voice that so many ignorant American conservative pundits always claims does not exist: a Muslim critic of militant Islam. And Ben, you've said a lot of really really dumb things on this board lately (I noticed your post length seems to average about 5 words...reflective of your ability to handle complex thought?), but this lame misrepresentation of all religion as right wing may indeed be a new intellectual low, even for you. Is there any way...seriously...ANY way, of reading the New Testament that is not leftist to its core? The dude is out in the street helping whores, for Pete's sake, tossing money lenders out of the temple, talking about the "meek" inheriting the earth. Face it, Christ would have been Nader's campaign organizer if he had been around in 2k.
Re: Re: Re: Roots of the Religious Right Not to act like I know this answer, but do Muslims drink wine? Seriously.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Roots of the Religious Right Some do. Technically they're not supposed to but..."Somehow he managed unostentatiously to preserve his native Muslim tradition without succumbing either to the frozen exclusivism or to the jealousy that has often gone with it. Humanity and genuine secularism in this blood-drenched old century of ours had no finer champion." My research sponsor in Indonesia was Muslim and liked to go out for a beer now and then.
I have Muslim friends who drink just as much as me, and some who don't. Those who do, manage to rationalize it in the same way that Catholics (like me) rationalize getting their freak on before they're bound in holy matrimony. It happens. I know this is an incredibly subversive notion, but not ALL Muslims are wild-eyed Koran-thumping fanatics. Look, there's a reason why many Muslim countries like Iraq, Iran and Morocco (that's off the top of my head, and not mentioning more secular Muslim countries like Turkey) traditionally produce beer, wine or other liquors, or allow their sale (there was a good article in the NYT about a month ago about liquor stores in Baghdad), and it's NOT all because of the foreigners and non-Muslims there. My only personal experience in a Muslim country has been Morocco; while there, I observed that the biggest problem regarding alcohol (not to mention glue-sniffing, etc) is that, because the official line is that NO muslim drinks/abuses drugs, there was little to no drug abuse/rehabilitation education, programs, or public awareness whatsoever (granted, this IS Morocco, where the social safety net is known to have quite a holes in it). There are people drinking/doing drugs, Muslim or not - but because it officially did not exist in that society, once you were in that hole, you were well f**cked.
Re: Re: Roots of the Religious Right Free Republic. In any case, MLK Jr. was a "leftist." There have been plenty of other religious leaders who also batted lefty.
Re: Re: Re: Roots of the Religious Right If that includes the state as a religion, don't forget Stalin & Mao.
Exactly, and that's why I'm not Christian and want to get Jeebus out of the GOP! Also, Paksitan's third largest export is beer, according my Pakistani friends.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Roots of the Religious Right Maybe a glass house isn't the best place to hold the Scottish Highlands Caber Tossing Finals.
Yes, because we all believe exactly the same stuff about every issue. Just like every "rightist" is a racist homophobe who wants to put every criminal to death and keep women in the kitchen.
Only if you're a "rightist" racist homophobe who wants to put every criminal to death and keep women in the kitchen. Otherwise you've proven my point that not everybody fits into nice little categories, regardless of what some demagogues on either side of the aisle would lead us to believe.