Subject: BHA: RE: An Anti-Terrorist Manifesto
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 14:07:38 -0500


Hi Mark,

Sorry for the delay in responding to your manifesto.  I hope that Ashcroft or his agents do not come knocking at your door.  As a sociologist and critical realist, I applaud your desire to make sociology genuinely emancipatory.  And I think you have outlined some of the oppressive actions of the United States quite well.

I agree that although the word "terrorism" often obscures or confuses issues, it is unlikely to disappear from our vocabulary.  I think it needs to be defined by social scientists in ways that includes actions of the U.S., and other countries, as well as by smaller groups or networks.  But I don't think your turning-of-the-tables designation of U.S. actions as "terrorism" and the actions of Al-Qaida et al. as "counter-terrorism" will be widely accepted.  I think it further confuses issues. 

I am a bit befuddled about your "radical sociology of religions."  You write: "The primary objective of a radical sociology of religions must be the heuristic reorientations of faith-based ideologies resulting in humanity's peaceable, but expeditious, emancipation from its U.S. stranglehold."  To the extent that I understand what you mean, it seems to me that you overestimate: (1) the power of sociologists to change the minds of religious ideologues, and (2) the power of reoriented ideologues to emancipate humanity.  

I believe the humanity needs emancipation from much more than the U.S. stranglehold, although I do not discount that aspect of oppression.  The U.S. has done, and continues to do, a lot of bad things.  But many other individual and collective actors are doing bad things, too.  Bush is mistaken in describing the world as a battleground between the black hats and the white hats.  You seem to be buying into that cowboy-battleground metaphor, but reversing the hat colors from the way Bush would have it.

I think I understand why you want to reorient religious ideologies.  They are strong motivators for the many of the people you want to be involved in a populist movement for liberation or emancipation.  But I don't think sociologists make very good leaders of populist movements.  Populist movements are very hard to control.  They can be, or become, oppressive towards those who disagree or resist.

I believe that there is no way to reorient religious ideologies so as eliminate their corruption.  I believe that to the extent any religion becomes an ideology, it has become bad religion.  Of course, the implication that there can be such a thing as "good religion" is inconsistent with Marx, or at least my understanding of Marx -- the "opiate of the people" curse is still at work in Marxist discourse.

As I read over what I have written, I sound much more negatively critical than I had intended to be.  I do share your hope that sociology might contribute to human emancipation. But I do not think that sociologists are going to lead the way.  Perhaps our efforts will enlighten religious and political leaders as well as some of the people they seek to lead.  

Best regards,

Dick



-----Original Message-----
From: Mark A. Foster [mailto:owner-AT-markfoster.net] 
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 8:43 PM
To: bhaskar-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Subject: BHA: An Anti-Terrorist Manifesto


I wrote this paper a few years ago, and recently updated it. I have tried to base much of what I wrote on critical realism, at least my take on it, and I would appreciate any feedback:

http://terrorism.religionsnet.com

As you will see, I am not using "terrorism" in its conventional sense. Given that I am an American, I sometimes feel that John Ashcroft might be knocking on my door at any minute. ;-)

Mark A. Foster * http://markfoster.net
"Sacred cows make the best hamburger" 
-- Mark Twain and Abbie Hoffman 



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