The phobia for religion and politics should melt

[What comes through more and more for me is the necessity for the recreation of civil society. More so than party building although that is a piece of the issue. Habermas and Taylor’s recent work on civic (and civil) reason I think is crucially important in this regard (I’m more Taylorian than Habermasian in some respects). Integral Politics Review from Last Night
from Indistinct Union by cjsmith]

[The key is to have an ontology of forces, one in which nonviolence is not a reflection of nature, but rather a construction of nature. If there’s anything intrinsically wrong with Obama’s citation of Niebuhr above, it’s that it claims to reflect nature — certain ideals are of value, but cannot be expected to be actualized (thus Niebuhr on Jesus’s nonviolence). Nonviolence, then, is ontological, but as construction rather than reflection of being. Importantly, the same holds for “rights”. Rights, like nonviolence, do not preexist, they are created. A state must be forced to enforced rights. And this force comes not from natural rights, but from a (cell) politics that makes this force felt by the state. Theological Middle Names: Barack Reinhold Obama
from An und für sich by danbarber]

[If non-violence is a guideline, then who decides when the exceptional case presents? Who decides when violence is necessary? If one argues that each individual has the power to decide, than each individual is sovereign. And we are right back to the individualist anarchism, and we have failed to think an ethical anarchism. The question of decisionism needs to be confronted directly. Some thoughts on Simon Critchley and non-violence
from Critical Animal by Scu]

[Re: Orissa court stays release of book on Sri Aurobindo (the next Satanic Verses -thaindian news) Debashish Sun 16 Nov 2008 Yes, there are two ways - the bewildered way and the enlightened way, but Krishna is at no place saying to Arjuna, wait till you become enlightened and then only enter the battle. He is saying make the battle an occasion for your enlightenment...
the evolution of the divine includes the evolution of Power and this achieves itself through its victory over the falsehood (so long as that exists). This does not mean that one needs to be on the lookout for "cosmic war," or jump to conclusions about truth which needs to be defended. But then Gandhi's logic in his interpretation of the Gita, that Krishna is necessarily speaking to Arjuna about an internal battle only because the divine could not support violence, should also be avoided. Re: Orissa court Debashish Tue 18 Nov 2008]

The phobia for religion and politics should melt. [TNM]