There is a lot of discussion and I think a misunderstanding of religious groups’ influence in the Liberal Party in Australia. Much of it characterizes the religious group of the hour - Pentecostals, opus dei, mormons and others - as being some kind of unwelcome infestation of the party by brainwashed people. This is dehumanizing and utterly wrong in my opinion. It is both better and worse than that and to accurately characterize this a better model of understanding comes from sociological analysis by Philip Selznick of Bolsheviks in his classic
Excellent mentalizing of Australian Pentecostals and the rationale behind their political strategy. We need more analyses like this that treat extremist religious groups not as an anti-modern aberration but as as social groups integral to the needs of modern electoral politics.
Excellent mentalizing of Australian Pentecostals and the rationale behind their political strategy. We need more analyses like this that treat extremist religious groups not as an anti-modern aberration but as as social groups integral to the needs of modern electoral politics.
"This is why I expect the Liberal Party to shrink and probably cease to be a major party barring some radical reform and changes"
By when do you think? That will make your theory testable...