Hi Tom,
LOLOL - I can probably guess . Honestly, I find them somewhat fuzzy as well, but I think that they are, in their own structural functionalist way, getting at a "truth" that stands behind Durkheim.
I remember that. I also remember thinking that he was nuts - an emotional reaction rather than a thought out one .
I think it does as well, but I also believe that, baring a state religion, it cannot be fought on religious lines. Furthermore, while I do view the entire GWOT as essentially "religious", I do not view it as one religion vs. another but, rather, as one worldview of religion vs. another. To be specific about it, I view the GWOT as a war against thought control and dogmatism in all of its forms, religious or civil.
Does this reduce its impact? Yeah, it does. But I think that there is something to be said about a conflict that unites many religions, and this has/had the potential to do that. I have too many friends from various religions who are involved in it to view it as a simplistic my God is bigger than your God argument. IMO, any deity that needs to start wars to prove their mojo is just a fake (BTW, check out the Gospel of Norea for a good example).
Maybe I've read too many Gnostic texts, but I view this as a war between those who would tell people what to think and those who would see people freed from that. This isn't, BTW, a simplistic us vs. them argument; IMO it is a philosophical fight where the proponents of mental slavery are on both of the official "sides" as are their opponents.
Anyway, it's late and I've been up too long - I think I may be blithering again .
Marc
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