[A-List] Evangelical Spirit

[Charles Brown]

*	From: "Yoshie Furuhashi" 
________________________________



In contrast, secular leftists in the USA seldom try to encourage
someone to believe in socialism or anarchism, or to accept either or
any other way as the way to go, aside from anachronistic ML groups
perfunctorily selling (or giving away) their papers at this or that
demonstration, sometimes to the annoyance of other demonstrators and
clean-up workers.  The evangelical spirit is lacking on the Left.  Or
perhaps we on the Left are unsure of our faith to begin with, so we
don't recommend it to others, or we fear rejections, repercussions,
etc., still victims of the legacy of the Red Purge.  For most on the
Left, our secular religion is a "private matter" in much of our lives.

^^^^^
CB: I can say personally, yes, I hesitate to start trying to proselytize
communism in the U.S. because there is more than a legacy of anti-communism
in the U.S. there is a clear and present danger of losing job, being thought
a lot less of. Communism, unlike Christianity, is very illicit , though
technically not illegal here. They have ways, these Americans do, to deal
with Communists. This was really true before the end of the Soviet Union.
Now one is just an eccentric, an oddity. 

And as if that's not enough, ironically , one the main anti-communist,
redbaiting tactics of the anti-communist left is to accuse communists of
being - you guessed it- "religious" in their communism. "Oh you all look
like Jehovahs Witnesses going door to door with literature." This is meant
to insult communists as non-critical thinkers, "brainwashed" by the Soviets.
How the Soviets could reach way over here in America and brainwash me is an
amazing feat , if you think about it.  Seems to me that America has about
every criticism of the Soviet Union and communism there is in the world and
if I got any brainwashing growing up in the U.S. from 1950, it would have
been anti-c, don't
 ya think ? But oh no, this Marxism is dogmatic, religious dogma, rigid
thinking. Authoritarian. Dumb.

Anyway, these are some of the practical dilemmas that come up for
evangelical communism in the U.S.

^^^^^

Moreover, Winseman finds in the same article: "The percentage of
Americans who say they have had a born-again experience, leading to a
commitment to Jesus Christ, has increased significantly now compared
to when this question was last asked in the late 1970s and early
1980s. From 1976 to 1984, an average of 37% of Americans claimed to
have had such an experience. In 2005, 48% of adults -- nearly half the
population -- say they have been born again."

How many Americans would say that they have had a born-again
experience, leading to a commitment to socialism or anarchism or some
other coherent worldview on the Left, through their participation in
strikes, union organizing, pro-choice rallies, anti-war
demonstrations, environmentalist organizing, etc.?
--
Yoshie


^^^^^^
CB; I did go through something of a born again experience when I became a ,
ha, atheist. That's funny. Except it's not popular, and it's not something
you can really evangelize easily among so many believers.