Lol pardon my fedora but "community institutions" Jesus fucking christ.
Organized religion in the US, specifically christianity, is the largest and most efficient pipeline to anti-LGBTQ/hyper capitalist/individualist/white supremacist/reactionary ideology - and has been since at least the 70's.
Aside from the almost inherently reactionary ideology of these religious institutions, much like philanthropy the primary function of the Church is to act as domestic tax havens. If we taxed church's in the US we'd generate something like $85 billion a year - 3x the amount needed to solve hunger in the US, 8x as much to solve homelessness. This is before the sheer network of brick & mortar church infrastructure that could (in my mind should) be seized and converted to shelters/health clinics/etc.
Long gone are the days of churches harvesting any ideals based in racial and economic justice. Referencing liberation theology, Catholic workers, and radical Christians as if that's a serious portion of religious affiliation in this country and not just Joel Olsteen mouth breathers is just bordering on romanticism. The idea that this is also largely focused on "white evangelicals" is also dumb shit given 1 in 3 American evangelicals are POC..
Long story short, leftists need to drop this myth that church communities are ripe for radicalization and organizing. The death of religious affiliation and church membership is a net good and has no bearing on ones personal spiritual belief OR our ability to organize for a socialist future.
I agree. I mean, in the spirit of comradeship I don't want to marginalize folks who, for example, believe in liberation theology. But yeah, the sheer size of Evangelicalism relative to more chill versions of Christianity in America means we have to treat it differently.
Though personally I say "white evangelical" because my personal experience has been 99.9% with specifically white evangelicals. I don't want to presume the beliefs and attitudes of POC evangelicals.
Sure - but herein lies the problem imo. Criticism of the institutions isn't an attack on your personal beliefs. We need to separate our personal spiritual beliefs from the institutions that are very reactionary, with real political power, on a global scale, that is almost always weaponized against our goals of racial justice, solidarity, anti-imperialism, LGBTQ rights, and more.
Lol pardon my fedora but "community institutions" Jesus fucking christ.
Organized religion in the US, specifically christianity, is the largest and most efficient pipeline to anti-LGBTQ/hyper capitalist/individualist/white supremacist/reactionary ideology - and has been since at least the 70's.
Aside from the almost inherently reactionary ideology of these religious institutions, much like philanthropy the primary function of the Church is to act as domestic tax havens. If we taxed church's in the US we'd generate something like $85 billion a year - 3x the amount needed to solve hunger in the US, 8x as much to solve homelessness. This is before the sheer network of brick & mortar church infrastructure that could (in my mind should) be seized and converted to shelters/health clinics/etc.
Long gone are the days of churches harvesting any ideals based in racial and economic justice. Referencing liberation theology, Catholic workers, and radical Christians as if that's a serious portion of religious affiliation in this country and not just Joel Olsteen mouth breathers is just bordering on romanticism. The idea that this is also largely focused on "white evangelicals" is also dumb shit given 1 in 3 American evangelicals are POC..
Long story short, leftists need to drop this myth that church communities are ripe for radicalization and organizing. The death of religious affiliation and church membership is a net good and has no bearing on ones personal spiritual belief OR our ability to organize for a socialist future.
I agree. I mean, in the spirit of comradeship I don't want to marginalize folks who, for example, believe in liberation theology. But yeah, the sheer size of Evangelicalism relative to more chill versions of Christianity in America means we have to treat it differently.
Though personally I say "white evangelical" because my personal experience has been 99.9% with specifically white evangelicals. I don't want to presume the beliefs and attitudes of POC evangelicals.
Sure - but herein lies the problem imo. Criticism of the institutions isn't an attack on your personal beliefs. We need to separate our personal spiritual beliefs from the institutions that are very reactionary, with real political power, on a global scale, that is almost always weaponized against our goals of racial justice, solidarity, anti-imperialism, LGBTQ rights, and more.