Why an American president can't live without religious allusions?

[adam kondor]

[adam kondor]

"sacred time of the year"? Really?

[adam kondor]

Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man—state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d'honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion. Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.

(a German writer in 1843)

[Greg Hooper]

"that vale of tears of which religion is the halo"
beautiful

After a long period of secular leaders religion began to reinfect Australian political life with Howard. At that time the religious right in the USA began funding Australian 'churches'. Our current PM is a puritanical Christian. A very wealthy Christian.

[Jeff Harrington]

It's hard to get elected if you're not a religious person in the US. See Tocqueville. It's probably something going back to the country being a harbor for people suffering religious persecution.

[adam kondor]

(aside, RE: Tocqueville: "Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom." - where are we from that?)

and: "Among a democratic people, where there is no hereditary wealth, every man works to earn a living...Labor is held in honor; the prejudice is not against but in its favor."

[Glenn Weyant]

because god is on our side dammit...

[Paul H. Muller]

"To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions."

I like that, Herr Marx.

[Lenore Von Stein]

Thank You Adam! Insight - gave me relief. I forgot that people talked about and fought against religion.

When I was a teenager, 40 years ago, I worked in the civil rights movement and my group, all urban teenagers from poor neighborhoods, refused to meet in a church - which was standard at the time. There was some fluff over it but not much- at the same time the church was important for organizing - very soon we just overlooked their ideas and incorporated them

adam kondor said:

Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man—state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d'honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion. Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.

(a German writer in 1843)

[Shane W. Cadman]

Yep. Read the Mayflower Compact.

Jeff Harrington said:

It's probably something going back to the country being a harbor for people suffering religious persecution.

[Paul H. Muller]

Some say that all any American President does is act the part.

It's all about telepromters and sound bites and tv appearances. Most of what the President does is stage-managed anyway, so acting ability is important.



Neil Goodchild said:

I know absolutely nothing about politics and when I say absolutely nothing I mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I don't read the papers, nah, what's The Times and Newsweek, nah, not a clue and I've never been to or lived in America. But would one (or two or three) of you USA guys tell me if there's any truth in what I at least think I've noticed with one or two US presidents and that is...

There seems to be an element of acting, as in Hollywood acting and I've often wondered if they simply play this 'card' to get the votes?

Anyone?

[Fabio Keiner]

charly m. learned this from doctor hegel himself. :)

adam kondor said:

Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man—state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d'honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion. Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.

(a German writer in 1843)

[adam kondor]

relationship between religiousness and delusions

"When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing...