Religion and conversation

Chris Dillow's stimulating post on Weber's Protestant Ethic Thesis reminded me of how difficult it is to have a sensible conversation about religion.

I recall wading through a pile of literature on the subject at uni - which was often a depressing experience because in general the standard is rather low. Part of the reason for this is because it brings together two topics, politics and religion, that sensible people know not to discuss at social occasions, if they have any interest in the conversation remaining cordial.

For those of you with understandably better things to do with your time, let me give you a brief resume:

Protestant writers, be they theologians, historians or whatever, didn't like their religion being associated with capitalism - having clearly decided that capitalism is a Bad Thing.

Catholic writers, having at least the sense to realise that Weber placed his thesis within a more general theory of modernity, disliked their religion being associated with backwardness.

Atheists, on the other hand, didn't like the whole idea that the germ seed of modern individualism could be found within religious movements.

And Marxists were generally pissed off that anyone should place any weight on the role of ideas in economic history.

Consequently, many of them wrote a load of crap about the subject.

So how much more difficult is it now to discuss religion and any political and economic impact it might have today when the stakes are so much higher?

Virtually impossible, I would say, if people persist in the notion that when someone moves from merely thinking or feeling something to believing it, this should confer on them some form of special protection. That is why you can hear the sound of a nail being hit on the head here and here.