From: mdouglas@cad067.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Maria Douglas )
Newsgroups: sci.anthropology
Subject: Re: Cultural Appropriation and the New Age
Date: 7 Jan 93 19:03:41 GMT
Organization: Intel Corp.


-- 
Lee Thompson writes:
 > I can sympathize, and the only thing which keeps me from reacting in
 > like manner is the anguish in my heart for a person caught in a cult.
 > Frankly, there are times when I'd like to break their nose with the
 > door, but that's not an option for me to actually carry out.

+++Your reaction here is typically Christian, proposing a temptation to
+++violence as a response to some emotional pain you feel. Why don't you
+++learn to control those emotions, and go about your own business more
+++calmly respecting the rights of other people.

Gosh, I thought that's what he just said he was doing...and "typically
Christian?"  I don't agree with this stereotype.  Christians are human
beings, as are New Agers, Druids, what have you, and they all have 
various emotional responses.  That is, unless they have been relagated
to their own species now (Homo sapiens subsapiens), which seems to be
the attempt here.  I wouldn't agree with stereotyping anyone, anyway.

+++We have Matthew Fox visiting here again this summer, to participate in
+++the University of Western Australia Summer School once more. The fact
+++that he is quite happy to be working with Starhawk allows me to relax
+++with him, whether I agree with him on his "Creation Spirituality" or
+++views on human ecology, or not. I may not even agree with Starhawk,
+++but the point is that there are no grounds for suspicion between us
+++either.

I don't agree with juxtaposing Matthew Fox in any way with Mother
Theresa.  Not only has he been charged with being very anti-semitic,
he has held onto an official religious post for many years that he,
in all fairness, should have discarded if he really believes what he
says he believes.  Some claim that he was merely using the Catholic
Church for publicity...

+++Until the Reagan/Bush era when it re-emerged in the form of your
+++fundamentalist "born-again" revival. We got those cranks here too,
+++although recruiting from among the unemployed in poor suburbs and
+++demanding that they pay their tythes (10% literally of their income)
+++to build "community centres". What the "poor" got were simply more of
+++the same pretentious edifices to Christianity with modern and lavish
+++accommodation for the Pastor attached.

These kinds of demands are actually more common in the Mormon Church.
In the US, I don't know of any church other than the Mormon Church
that has mandatory tithing.  Some of my family members belonged to
the Mormon Church for a short time, and the mandatory tithing was
certainly a tremendous burden.

What about all the violence purpetrated by non-Christians?  Isn't
Christianity (like Christ) a scapegoat for evil-doers and evil-
watchers alike?  Can't Christianity as an organization simply be
a point of cultural leverage or *power* without the beliefs and
practices of the religion per se?  Evil men are evil men (meaning
women as well), and they'll use whatever is available, whether its
a government organization, an ethnic group, or religion.

Comments are welcome! 

M-

--
Maria E. Douglas	(408) 765-4728		    
Intel Corporation	mdouglas@cadev6.intel.com  

"Mina!  You're TOTALLY a vampiress!" 
	
	Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker in "Dracula"