State of the Bear - again

[chickenfeet]

I've been in an odd place mentally over the holiday. Not a bad place but not an especially festive one either. The combination of The Golden Compass (book and flick, former vastly superior) and going to church on Christmas Eve may have a fair bit to do with it. It's no secret that I don't buy into the whole God thing, still less organised religion in its more commonly manifested forms but I am drawn to certain aspects of Christianity and to some Christians. It's a place many English socialists have been many times (not to exclude anybody else but what follows is culturally/historically specific). The history of radicalism in England is inextricably tied to religion from the Lollards through the Reformation and, particularly the sects of the 17th century. Toss in Blake, the Christian Socialist movement and a number of other influences and the result is a history quite different from the left in France or Italy or the United States. The result is a form of humanism that is rooted in equality but transcends economics. It can encompass Marxian analysis and the Sermon on the Mount, however 'unscientific' the Politburo and its spritual descendants may think that. Complex, maybe even contradictory, but rich and human and challenging. It's really who I am and once more I'm trying to come to terms with it in a world where 'Socialism' has rejected equality and 'Christianity' seems more concerned with Crusading than Christ.

Thanks to the usual suspects for helping me clarify my thoughts and to Tony Blair, whose final betrayal of the tradition he hijacked also helped.

Comments

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

...and if you do want to explore, I'd suggest that Muir's a good place to start. His influence, or at least his name, is still alive in Glasgow today. I was a member of the Muir Society at University.