Showing posts with label North American Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label North American Politics. Show all posts

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Presidential Conventions of 2012 and Religion

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." - Karl Marx
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Dear friends,

It's interesting that ALL of the speakers at both of the political conventions 2012 ended their addresses with religious salutes. And so, while such gestures may bring warm feelings, temporarily, to many, at what point will humankind take responsibility for realizing our true essence and seeking to relate to each other and what we do, in a way that will bring genuine peace and happiness, without us havin

to engage in the drama of politics? 
In his often, deliberately, misquoted work called, A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right - Introduction, the great Karl Marx offers, "Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo."

Finally, we cannot appreciate our true essence as a species, much less ever find real peace and happiness, as long as we obscure its existence through religious claims that do not reflect our behavior as species beings. Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus

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Friday, August 28, 2009

Elm Smith on Kennedy


“If it had been my call to make, the political legacy of Edward M. Kennedy would have ended at Chappaquiddick… But the words that come to mind for me as I consider his second-chance legacy are the words he used to describe why he had backed Barack Obama for president…Obama, Kennedy said, is a man ‘who refuses to be trapped in the patterns of the past.’”

Dear friends,

On the link below is a piece by the incomparable Elmer Smith of the Philadelphia Daily News, regarding the recent passing of Senator Edward Kennedy. I must say: I couldn't have said it bnetter than Elm has. Enjoy!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/55293337.html
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