Thanks for this essay. Several responses. Existentialist like Buber and Kierkegaard (and MLK) helped me see the distinction between the irrational and non-rational in religion; Troeltsche taught the difference between sect, church, and mystic in social embodiment. I blame Emerson for the radical individualism in American culture, and for the split between intellectualism and fundamentalism. But I’m biased against Unitarians. I remember as an ACORN organizer encountering Arthur Waskow, Michael Harrington, and Cornel West at the founding of DSOC. Except for Harrington (still shaped by his Catholic Worker ethos) they were persons of faith—but not sectarian. EF Schumacher, Small is Beautiful, was another approach. Then the Reagan revolution hit…and Clinton, Obama went with it. Bernie and AOC now work the inside game—on the edge. Others like Hedges work an outside game. Social Democracy and Human Rights is the vision. How to embody it with integrity and agency, yet avoiding martyrdom?
Hey Michael, yeah, I was trying not to sound dismissive about religion when I assigned that adjective to the Left. As a pragmatist with great respect for the author of The Varieties of Religious Experience, I got nothing against any denomination or persuasion. In fact I believe in higher powers: "The absence of faith is a mental nullity." How you doing these days? It's hard going, I know.
Thanks for this essay. Several responses. Existentialist like Buber and Kierkegaard (and MLK) helped me see the distinction between the irrational and non-rational in religion; Troeltsche taught the difference between sect, church, and mystic in social embodiment. I blame Emerson for the radical individualism in American culture, and for the split between intellectualism and fundamentalism. But I’m biased against Unitarians. I remember as an ACORN organizer encountering Arthur Waskow, Michael Harrington, and Cornel West at the founding of DSOC. Except for Harrington (still shaped by his Catholic Worker ethos) they were persons of faith—but not sectarian. EF Schumacher, Small is Beautiful, was another approach. Then the Reagan revolution hit…and Clinton, Obama went with it. Bernie and AOC now work the inside game—on the edge. Others like Hedges work an outside game. Social Democracy and Human Rights is the vision. How to embody it with integrity and agency, yet avoiding martyrdom?
Hey Michael, yeah, I was trying not to sound dismissive about religion when I assigned that adjective to the Left. As a pragmatist with great respect for the author of The Varieties of Religious Experience, I got nothing against any denomination or persuasion. In fact I believe in higher powers: "The absence of faith is a mental nullity." How you doing these days? It's hard going, I know.
Thanks. Went through surgery six weeks ago and doing well! Good to be alive.