I think that religiosity is part of human nature. If you spend enough time with any atheist, agnostic, humanist, or tree hugger, etc, there will be one thing, in his life, which he will describe, in the same sense that a Christian describes Jesus.
I think that communists, nationalists, and statists would not allow there to be any religion, at all, if they could completely stamp it out, the universal, human instinct to worship. No culture would be allowed.
Instead, they have incorporated this cultural relic, into the mechanism of state. Church has become a govt institution. I think it's the Allinsky tactic of absorption. The only purpose of the formally-recognized church is to endorse the state.
It's not because the politicians have a religious bias. The churches have a political bias. It is meant to serve a secular and not religious purpose.
Whether or not you like the JW's, whether or not they like you, they are apparently not an apparatus of the Russian state. Otherwise, they would be no better or worse than Catholics, for Putin's purposes; you could build a religion around the Tooth Fairy or cartoon mascot, or liberal, social cause -- whatever, so long as that is used to promote state interests.
Gathering at some house to sing from a hymnal, or feeding homeless people soup in the park can be considered risqué, if undertaken, independently. Childcare and cohabitation, off-the-books, are considered extremist.
23 Apr 2017, 6:48 am
