Steve - I agree that there is a need for ongoing dialogue about this - in almost every case when the state has a endorsed a "State religion" problems arise...and even in America, where there is a lot of freedom to choose one's religious practice and to carry it out unimpeded, we still see many trying to use courts and legislative actions to limit or remove one or another group's rights [sometimes even private citizens rights] to practice their own religion peaceably. I certainly do not have any easy answers: this country was designed to allow tolerance of diverse ideas and views, but our international policies and actions seem to me, at times, to belie that. and internally, many of us are very intolerant of other's worldviews...I hope the Dalai Lama's decision plays out as he hopes... As for the USA, If Christians would take the lead in promoting religious tolerance it might help...I find it hardest to be that person when it comes to my closest associa
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Those who have grown up in dysfunctional families will, I think, believe that close associations far afield from family might be especially useful. One interesting outcome is that people who do not fit well in their families have other institutions to turn to for help - institutions neither assured to exist nor supported by the notion that the purpose of every institution is to turn a profit.
I see Marxism's motives as being more Christian than capitalism's. Where it comes off the rails is the Bolshevik notion that one may rightly use any means to achieve a desired end.