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Laura Creighton's avatar

I am not sure that 'alienation' is the biggest problem here. Exotic faiths, exotic currencies, exotic tastes in music and art -- this is always how the hoi oligoi have signalled their superiority over the hoi pollloi. (So is using terms such as 'hoi oligoi'. :) ) We now have a large surfeit of people who were raised to believe that they are, or ought to be, part of an elite administrative ruling class. Since they haven't clawed their way to the top on their own merit -- or even what they perceive as their own merit -- they need a way to distance themselves from the herd.

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Doctor Hammer's avatar

I think you are on to something here, Arnold, but at the same time one should ask whether one should have faith in e.g. government and the banks. Having faith in something is all well and good, but not all things one can have faith in are equally good, and some downright bad. It is proper to lose faith in government, banks, or existing religions for that matter, when they become corrupted or otherwise damaging. Best to move to something good, of course, but it is always worth remembering that just because there is a current faith doesn't mean it is worth having. Sometimes people want new faiths because the current ones are deeply broken.

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