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Politics : High Tolerance Plasticity -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chas. who wrote (22236)	11/6/2004 5:08:21 AM
From: energyplay	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23153

Stalin: maybe not The Supreme Being...but another, lesser being.

To: Chas. who wrote (22236)	11/11/2004 9:24:38 AM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 23153

>> well keeping it in Eds context.....Stalin was not driven by "religious fervor"...or at the very least religion as we understand it as belief in a supreme being with guidance supplied.... This is what Ed wrote: The danger of mixing politics and religion is that religion lends a feeling of "rightness" to the decision making process that often impedes critical thinking, interferes with pragmatic evaluations of the realities of policies and is more likely to infringe on the individual liberties of others. That's why faith based foreign policies and domestic laws can create violent reactions and that's why those who are "wrong" in taking such actions often persist in being wrong. Which is very compatible with the "religious" aspect of Communism that Stalin practiced. Namely that Stalin believed in the righteousness of Communism and that he needs to establish the "kingdom of workers" a.k.a. the dictatorship of proletariats on earth. Stalin saw himself as a force of good who is working for the "right" side of history towards the inevitable final battle between the "meek" and their "oppressors"... Replace God with Materialistic Creation and you will see very little fundamental difference between Communism and Christianity. [Edit: In other words, going back to Ed's context, it is not the belief in God that is the cause of the problem. It is "feeling of "rightness" to the decision making process that often impedes critical thinking, interferes with pragmatic evaluations of the realities of policies and is more likely to infringe on the individual liberties of others".] ST