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The following books by Robert Paul Wolff are available on Amazon.com as e-books: KANT'S THEORY OF MENTAL ACTIVITY, THE AUTONOMY OF REASON, UNDERSTANDING MARX, UNDERSTANDING RAWLS, THE POVERTY OF LIBERALISM, A LIFE IN THE ACADEMY, MONEYBAGS MUST BE SO LUCKY, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE USE OF FORMAL METHODS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.
Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON KANT'S CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for "Robert Paul Wolff Kant." There they will be.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON THE THOUGHT OF KARL MARX. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for Robert Paul Wolff Marx."





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Sunday, August 10, 2014

SLOUCHING TOWARD BETHLEHEM


I watch with dismay and impotent fury the reports of horrific acts carried out by men [always men] professedly moved and guided by religious beliefs.  The three great Abrahamic religions -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- have through the millennia been responsible for uncountable murders, tortures, rapes, and endless pillage.  No doubt some good has been done in the name of Jahweh, Jesus, or Allah, but it pales into insignificance by comparison.  In my youth I was comforted by the assurance that Capitalism and the Enlightenment would together drain religious belief of its intensity, leaving behind nothing but beautiful music and elegant churches, synagogues, and mosques.  But we are now in the midst of a world-wide revival of religiously fueled hatred and aggression that defies the calm logic of capitalist profitability.

At this moment, it is Islamic millennialism and Jewish irredentism that is fueling the worst horrors, but the irrational hopes and hatreds of Christian Fundamentalists wait in the wings for an opportunity to wreak havoc.

The belief in the inevitable secularization of the modern world may have been Karl Marx's biggest failed prediction.  Would that he had been right.

3 comments:

carol wolman said...

Hi Bob,

Nice to see your work. Here's whatI'm working on these days.

Peace, Carol Wolman, MD
cwolman@mcn.org


تحب قريبك
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR
אוהב את רעך


How can this happen in a hate-filled region?

A solution is available which rests on
the Tanach, New Testament and Qur'an.
Believers in Adonai, the Father, Allah,
may take comfort from
the authority and wisdom of

خطة الله للسلام في الاراضي المقدسة
God's Peace Plan for the Holy Land
תוכנית השלום של אלוהים לארץ הקדושה
https://www.facebook.com/groups/godspeaceplan/files/

C Rossi said...

The prophet Micah has said all that needs be said:

He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?

Where is the justice in this current conflict? the mercy? and the humility? The rest of this stuff--Hebrew Bible, Christian Bible or Qu'ran--is interesting or not but irrelevant to our collective life.

Chris said...

Well Marx seemed to think that the religiosity that held back trade and market exchange would decline where capitalism took root, and in that sense he seems more correct than incorrect....no? And he also said religion sways people who live in a hopeless world, and would not be fully removed until people lived in a socialist society. And in that sense the countries with the most robust social programs are often the most secular, and those with the most unfettered capitalism are more pious.