Posted on 06/16/2002 9:43:56 PM PDT by ValenB4
Communism had its own understanding of history, of the future, of ethics, of God, of life and of death, of humanity, and of essential meaning. In as much as it was totalitarian, it was indeed essentially religious (all totalitarianisms try to be...didn't the Nazis really "worship" Hitler?) --even if that religion was one which essentially denied the supernatural. It's focus, unlike traditional Western religions was on external, social and political life--materialist to the core, but make no mistake, for millions it was indeed the central part of their life, their reason they felt to exist. You can say it was an ecconomic theory--but it was the ultimate economic theory in that it claimed that ALL was only economics and class struggle for material gain....
Like all religions, only a relative few were dedicated believers.... many more were only nominal followers--forced into it by the revolutions which took over their countries. When it became clear that despite lofty claims--its theories didn't work--the nominal ones fell away quickly--and the true believers (generally those in power...) sought to maintain their material advantage by getting as much as they could in the collapse of the system. The Russian mafia is a good example--it boomed with former communists upon the USSR's demise--and still Russia is largely controlled by many of the same people who were in the Party--now they just party with other criminals, to the destruction of their country.
I think it's kind of sad that the author doesn't has lost faith in everything religious. Perhaps that was inevitable considering his background. However, most people are not strong enough to become outright atheists. He also doesn't seem to acknowledge that even if there is no God, there are practical uses to religion - such as the cohesion of communities, the ability to overcome grief, etc.
The truth is usually somewhere in the middle - the world will not fall under the stagnant domination and oppression of Islam, but Islam will probably not disappear. As the educated, wealthy, and intellectuals begin to leave the religion, and if it suffers geopolitical setbacks such as the overthrow of the Iranian regime, it may become weakened and discredited substantially, and thus lose its intolerant and hateful fire.
If that doesn't happen, there is always something called the Trauma Theory of Cultural Change, in which either a disaster or an outside power forces by devastating means a culture to reassess itself. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. He says that there are a few thousand visits to his site everyday. Maybe he's right to be optimistic.
Yeah, I'm still alive - just kind of in "lurker mode".
I check in every day and take a quick look around, but that's about it. When the winter months roll around, I should be a little more socialable!
Do yourself a favor, and read some of the masterpieces written by former communists. Two short/easy read pieces are Dedication and Leadership by Douglas Hyde and Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler.
You will sooner or later want to read Witness by Whitaker Chambers; this has to be one of the most poignent and influential autobiographies of the 20th century. It is also one of the very few books that kept me up 'til 3 a.m. several mornings in a row, despite having a full-time job! (the other was Gulag Archipelago)
I pray we may be equal to the opportunities when Islam falls. Back when SHintoism was discredited, Douglas MacArthur asked for a thousand missionaries. He got a few -- and a whole lot more industrial gurus, like the justly renowned Edwards Deming. Today, Japan has about 1% Christian population, and a powerful public culture of materialism.
We'll ping ya any way and you can answer this winter and confuse us all as to what in the world your talking about !.......:o)
Stay Safe
What "large enough army" did you have in mind to convert the ME to Christianity and what would you have them do? What size of an army and methods were needed in bringing down communism in the Soviet Union? Or would be needed to achieve the same in China over, say, the next 50 years? The point is, you don't need these "large armies" to convert communists. The peoples of these countries are not communists by choice.
So. You can have a non-communist China in short order, and without an army and a brigade high-priests of any kind - simply give them the choice!
I remember reading a Wall Street Journal article a few years back that said that part of the problem is that the clerics effectively own everything in Iran, much like the Communist Party nomenclatura effectively owned everything in the USSR.
When you're hungry, and you see the clerics living large, the situation is ripe for revolution
Thank you, kindly, but to what end? You have proved my point!
Why do you think, despite McArthur's efforts, there's barely 1% of Christians in Japan, but the country en-masse changed their political ideologies?
As for the Islamics, one must fight his enemy on even footing. As such, convert in the old ways, whole communities at once, while banning and destroying the images of their islamic faith....harsh? Yes. But who will remember in 2 or 3 generations? Does the West still crave it's pagan roots that were pulled out the same way? No.
bttt
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