Greetings Brethren

[ZrianKobani]

Hey people; not really sure what to say so I invite everyone to take a look at my profile and ask me any questions they might have.

I consider myself a democratic socialist who's goal it is to implement small-scale socialism on the neighborhood level instead of a nationwide program that can become victim to beauracracy and one-Party dictatorship (sorry to all my Marxists out there.

My goal coming here is bridge-building; I know the radical left doesn't have a very positive feeling about Christianity and Christians haven't done much to prove you wrong. I want to talk to you guys, get to know y'all, listen to what y'all have to say. Hopefully, by meeting in the middle, we can find out some things we didn't know before.

I think I'll get questions about it so I'll just answer it now: yes, I'm a Mormon; yes, I'm gay; no, I don't agree with the Church's stance on LGBT relationships but I understand it and partially sympathize; no, I'm not for Prop 8; no, I don't think those who were are homophobic or hateful; no, I don't blame the Church though I know many in my Church supported it's passage.

All that said, I hope to learn a lot and can't wait to be involved in the discussions.

[Mr. Natural]

Welcome!

I've been at revleft for a week and already have recommended Joel Kovel's Enemy of Nature (2002) several times. Kovel is at the head of American ecosocialists, and Enemy effectively deconstructs capitalism as the mortal enemy of all forms of life and outlines an ecological revolutionary response.

Now to Jesus. Kovel spends eight pages on the "Bruderhof" (Hutterite term for 'community of brethren'), a persecuted sect that settled in several locations in the US and elsewhere. The Bruderhof support themselves with small-scale high tech manufacturing enterprises in which everyone in the community--children to old folks--participate and work according to their own schedules and hold property in common.

The Bruderhof take it as their mission to spread the teachings of Jesus and base their community in first Christians, Acts 2: 44-45: "And all that believed were together, and had all things in common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need."

As Kovel writes, "No matter that it has been perennially betrayed, the notion of communism remains foundational for Christianity." Kovel then notes that, although the Bruderhof are quite progressive on some issues, that they are deeply patriarchal and homophobic.

Kovel's point in writing about the Bruderhof is that they are able to operate in capitalist society without adopting capitalist values of greed and hyper individualism. And modern revolutionary movements, too, will have to be able to avoid adopting the attitudes and institutions of the global capitalist system that envelops them.

On another note, I'm queer, and recognize the Mormon Church's bigotry for what it is. Never underestimate the power of the systems within which you live to mindboggle you. May I be so bold as to suggest you are still a mental captive of an institution that hates you?

Well, we all have much to learn, don't we? Welcome, and get working on a Christian communism.