Great divides.

I disagree with a couple points made by Theodore Roszak ("A Fundamentally Wrong Decision," May/June 2006). First, all my reading and personal experiences convince me that Christian fundamentalists are absolutely wedded to unregulated, individualistic capitalism (i.e. social Darwinism). They started out over a century ago as defenders of capitalism against the socialistic values of educated clergy. Later their fierce hostility to "communism" was a natural development. Second, modern scientific scholarship has not made the Bible "smaller" or "less interesting." To the contrary, books like In Search of Paul by John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed and Jesus and Empire by Richard Horsley reveal a social-political movement that consciously and pointedly challenged the Roman system of oppression.

I believe that Humanism will remain a tiny movement with "undeniable philosophical value" unless we acquire the passionate commitment of early Marxists, liberation theology and the early Christians. It is now or never because the "end time" religions are willing and able to fulfill their prophecy of human extinction on earth. The great divide in our species is between those who desire to maintain life on Earth and those eager for an afterlife. We must recruit from the miserable and hopefully before they are sucked into otherworldly hopes.

Dale L. Barry

Grants, NM