The God Debates and the Materialist Interpretation of History

Abstract

Abstract The recent God debates, constrained by anxieties as to ecological burnout and weapons of mass destruction, brought atheist critics to the top of the best seller list. Examination of these debates in class and ideological terms indicates that: 1) fundamentalism (in the United States) is going downhill; 2) neoconservatives will be seeking alliances with ecumenical (not fundamentalist) believers, while at the same time promoting joint ventures with scientists, whether believers or not; and 3) on both sides of the religious frontier elitists will tend to become political and class collaborators. The 2008 meltdown opens (briefly perhaps) a window of ideological realism. Tragically tardy in entering these debates, the left can best serve bio-survival on earth by reasserting its long-established negation of religion — not as an elitist putdown of stupidity, but as the conclusion necessarily arrived at by an egalitarian, anti-elitist, materialist interpretation of human history, past and forthcoming.