----- Original Message ----- From: "Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <brin-l@mccmedia.com> Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 12:45 PM Subject: Re: Bill Moyers: There is no tomorrow
> * Dan Minette ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: > > I didn't cherry-pick some crazy group that happened to be atheistic. I > > Prove it. What percentage of people who are non-religious are Marxist? Well, we have at: http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Nonreligious <quote> Estimates for atheism alone range from 200 to 240 million. But these come primarily from China and former Soviet Union nations (especially Russia). Prior to Communist takeovers of these regions and government attempts to eradicate religion, both places had very high levels of affiliation with organized religions (especially Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Taoism), as well as high levels of participation in and belief in traditional local traditions such as shamanism, ancestor ceremonies, spiritism, etc. Since the fall of Communism in former Soviet nations and the relaxation of anti-religious policies in China, observed religious affiliation and activity has increased dramatically, especially in Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. <end quote> This is a website that I've been referred to before concerning numbers involved in various religions. I'll grant that the number of Marxists certainly has fallen since the fall of the USSR. It is possible that a number of the atheistic Marxists stayed atheistic and moved from a Marxist viewpoint. My recognition of this uncertainty is why I specifically referred to the last 100 years or so. Right now, I'd guess that PoMo is the prevalent atheistic viewpoint...but as this website points out, self-identified atheists are , I think...at least from the atheistic writers I've read. But before the fall of the USSR, right-wing atheists were pretty much an American phenomenon. European universities had a strong Marxist leaning. In South America, membership in the Communist Party was a tacit requirement for attendance at universities. In Russia, China, Viet Nam, and Eastern Europe, Marxism was taught in schools. Most rebels against the state in Eastern Europe expressed their views by accentuating their past....and embracing religion. So, given the hundreds of millions of atheists in China and the USSR who tended to accept a Marxist worldview...even thought they became increasingly cynical about their government...and given Marxist leanings of the Western European atheists, it's hard to come up with enough atheists elsewhere to come anywhere close to matching those numbers. Most of the Middle East is not Atheistic. Out of curiosity, where did you think most atheists lived, and what were the primary atheistic outlooks over the past century or so? Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
