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Zusatztext " In this book! which is carefully reasoned! engagingly written! and resolutely grounded in systematic thinking - as well as seething with incredulity towards the politics of faith - one can sense the passion of Bailey's academic conviction: that questions are the only true formulations of knowledge worth fighting for. " · JRAI Informationen zum Autor F. G. Bailey is an emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of California, San Diego, where he taught from 1972-1994. He was formerly the founding professor of anthropology at the University of Sussex, UK and has published fifteen books (two of them edited volumes). Klappentext When reason fails to guide us in our everyday lives, we turn to faith, to religion; we close our minds; we reject austere reasoning. This rejection, which is a faith-based social and intellectual malignancy, has two unfortunate consequences: it blocks the way to knowledge that might enhance the quality of life and it opens the way to charlatans who exploit the faith of others. Examining two unquestionable malignancies of "the Christian Right" in present-day politics in the United States and the "secular religion" of Hitler's National Socialism, as well as the third, more complex case of Gandhi, the author asserts that we need religion, but we also need to make sure it does no harm. Zusammenfassung When reason fails to guide us in our everyday lives, we turn to faith, to religion; we close our minds; we reject austere reasoning. This rejection, which is a faith-based social and intellectual malignancy, has two unfortunate consequences: it blocks the way to knowledge that might enhance the quality of life and it opens the way to charlatans... Inhaltsverzeichnis Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: FAITH AND POLITICS Chapter 1. Faith, Reason and Consequences Three kinds of faith Only believe! Humanism Oneness A Point of View Chapter 2. Religion and Persuasion in Politics Religion and Political Involvement The Problem of Order What should go on and what does go on Defining Situations Information Costs: Political Clairvoyance Creating Trust Persuading Reality-testing PART II ANTAGONISTIC RELIGIONS Chapter 3. Desert, Marketplace, and Forum The Religious Right (and Left) Hypocrisy Render therefore unto Caesar Modes of Clerical Involvement in Politics Antagonism Paraclerics: Repenting Religion as a Weapon: Mrs. Schiavo The Religious Mode of Political Persuasion Chapter 4. The Need for Enemies Pol Pot and Secular Religion “Ardent and Even Hysterical Passions” Manufacturing Enemies Group Sentiment and Violence Hitler’s Faith Fascism and Christian Fascism PART III: A RELIGION OF LOVE Chapter 5. Gandhi: The Freedom Fight The Freedom-Fight Peacemaking Failures Chapter 6. Gandhi's Charisma Calculation Charisma: the Mass Audience Charisma: Elite and Entourage Single-Mindedness Chapter 7. Gandhi's Religion and Political Reality Gandhi and Hitler Faith and Responsibility Secular Disciplines in the Freedom Fight Gandhian Morality and “Sectarian” religions Gandhi’s Universalism and Political Action Chapter 8. The First Cause and the Last Word Propagat...
