Yesterday I posted a rquest for sources on the origins of religion (Marxist preferably) and got no response. Yet we now are having a discussion of religion. So let me repeat my request. Am I mistaken or has it been suggestd in recent posts that religion has an anti-consumerist bent? (somehow the discussion of shorter hours veered off in this direction). I don't see much of this. Go into any suburb. People are consuming like mad but they are surely, for the most part, religious. Teh people who buy addictively on the Home Shoppers Network no doubt go to church on sunday. And so forth. In fact, religion is often used as a vehicle to sell things. A rich business man from Pittsburgh has the concession for selling facsimiles of the Vatican art treasures. Very devout fellow too. and an avid consumer. One of the tenets of protestantism is that faith (not consumption) is what really counts, so go ahead and spend. The solace which religion allegedly gives people in a heartless world does very little to keep religious persons from acting heartlessly. The solace is often a very exclusive kind of thing. I became an atheist in college, circa 1964 ( a catholic college at that). I know that there are exceptions but I doubt religion has caused very many people to take heroic stances in defense of the workers and the poor. quite frankly I'd rather make alliances with the godless communists than with the Berrigan brothers, who while they are cetrtianly bravea and in many ways admirable, still think abortion is a sin and march against it. The hypocrisy of religion and its own numerous and execarable sins against humanity helped me to become an atheist and nothing I have seen since has made me even begin to doubt that I made the right decision. Michael Yates
