(05-21-2023, 02:07 PM)mikesez Wrote:

(05-21-2023, 09:38 AM)Lucky2Last Wrote: I think you guys are partially right. There has been a push to make socialism a religion since Gramsci. You're seeing the effects of that now. The left started finding it's foothold with the LGBTQ+ and Civil Rights movements, and they have been turning them into belief systems. The people you see grandstanding are just proselytizing. They are the new priest class. Unfortunately, our moderates can't see it for what it is, and continue to allow this new religion to merge with the state. Stop tolerating this nonsense.

You're also partially right.
Marx emphasized atheism, but he also used religious literary forms like the jeremiad, the parable, the prophetic vision, and the apocalypse. So the idea that they are not eliminating religion but rather creating a new religion, is very natural in Marxism.  No one needed to invent that.

So you're right that the left is kind of creating this priestly class, but I think calling them priests might be misdirection.  Priests assuage and console the people, telling them theyre on the right track.  Evangelist also misses the point.  Evangelists may say provocative things, but they actually believe them, and they are fully endorsed by the group that sent them.  Our situation is a bit more chaotic.  We have unendorsed evangelists, so to speak.  We have the people Achebe called "the one who mourns louder than the bereaved." And we have them on both sides.  The Republican party and the Democratic party both have their own unendorsed evangelists playing their own role.  One role they have is actually comforting the rest of us.  They let us say to ourselves, "I may not be sure about everything, but at least I'm not crazy like THOSE people."  Which is why we share what they do on Twitter and stuff.  We don't agree with them, but they make us feel better about ourselves by comparison.

Are you really saying I'm partially right because you want to quibble over the definition of priest? You almost never add anything substantive to a discussion, bro. Now I have to talk about how we define the word "Priest," just because you want to wax intelligent. A priest, according to meriam webster, is a person who is authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and God. Because your incapable of getting a point, now I have to probably defend the OBVIOUS point that they don't believe in God, don't I? 

The point I am making that you choose to overlook is that LGTBQ and Racist activism are cut from the same cloth as any other religion. It's designed to make believers, which is why you see these people acting like nutjobs. Your job, as an "intellectual" moderate is to tell these nutjobs to keep their religion out of the state, but we can't do that, can we? Because you're not principled or courageous enough to see it for what it is. I don't mind them praying to their god. However, I want them to avoid making policies based on their beliefs. The massive majority should be coming together on this, but we can't, because the moderates are neglecting their duties.

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