X-Message-Number: 20037
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 11:05:35 +0200
Subject: Re:  Religion and Secularism 
From: David Stodolsky <>

On Tue, 10 Sep 2002 00:33:52 -0700,  Mike Perry <> wrote:

>
> any good properties are borrowings from secular philosophies. However, 
> I do
> think that historically religions accomplished one positive thing that
> secular philosophies did not, which was to give people a sense of 
> meaning
> and purpose in life that otherwise was lacking. How? By providing 
> assurance
>
According to Terror Management Theory, any cultural framework must do 
this. For example, Communism provides meaning thru the concept of 
"history" and its inevitable stages, and the role an individual can play 
in history.


> it is he/she wants to do and to find reasons to justify. For what it's
> worth, though, the most all-around, ideologically evil movement I can 
> think
> of, Nazism, was primarily secular in nature, even if Hitler did pay some
> lip service to religion (as you'd expect him to, when it suited his 
> aims).
>

The Nazis funded an expedition to find the Silver Challis. They also 
claimed to have the "Spear of Destiny," which used to pierce the body of 
Christ on the cross. The ownership on this Spear, the top leadership was 
convinced, made them invincible in war.

They also promoted the Nordic Gods as an alternative to Christianity, 
when this seemed expedient. So, the Nazis movement was saturated with 
mystical beliefs.


dss


David S. Stodolsky, PhD    PGP: 0x35490763    

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