On 2/24/07, Angelus Novus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I realize that Western leftists will never forgive the church for its role in toppling a regime that so many leftist intellectuals had cherished illusions in, but even the PDS has reconciled itself to the role of organized religion in left politics. The historical failures of social democracy, of the reformist and Leninist variety, means that Father Gapon is back in the saddle in many parts of the world.
You said it. Where do leftists expect workers to turn when Marxism becomes the most powerful religion of capitalism? <http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2007690,00.html> Chinese survey finds religion booming Jonathan Watts in Beijing Wednesday February 7, 2007 Guardian Unlimited China has three times as many religious believers as previously thought, according to a new survey that suggests this nominally atheist nation has never been more open to the "opium of the masses". Professors at East China Normal University estimated that about 300 million people - equivalent to more than 30% of the adult population - followed Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, Muslim or other beliefs. The new figures cast doubt on official statistics, which claim China has only 100 million religious worshippers, as well as calling into question the government's assertion that superstitious beliefs will wither away under communist rule. Many religions have flourished since the end of the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, when temples, churches, mosques and shrines were desecrated. International rights groups still frequently condemn China for jailing Catholic priests, Presbyterian preachers, Uighur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns. However, the numbers of followers in all of these religions is growing as the allure of Marxism declines and more people look for something beyond the grim materialism of modern Chinese life. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>
