*The Next American Revolution (?) and Religion

Recently, two books have come out speaking about the "Next American Revolution":

Grace Lee Boggs, The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty First Century which has received accolades from the likes of Cornel West, Michael Hardt, Amy Goodman, and others.



The second is by Gar Alperovitz, What Then Must We Do?: Straight Talk About the Next American Revolution which has been praised by Daniel Ellsberg.




Given their promotions and their status, their suggestions of what the "Next American Revolution" would be is worth noting. From briefly gathering some information, both are not suggesting a revolution as it has traditionally been known. The uprooting of U.S. government will not happen through protests and charging the capital. It won't happen as Michael Hardt has noted, to buy guns and artillery, go into the mountains and make revolution.

Instead, they are promoting grassroots movements of sustainability. That when the system fails and the people find solutions on their own. The most prominent examples are local grow operations in abandoned lots and fields. To grow your own food and share with the community. Another example is worker owned energy companies - solar panels. This is not the conventional modality of looking at revolution in terms of the working class and the upper class. But a revolution focused on self-sustainability and grassroots organization.

While I like the idea of localized and self-sustaining communities, I think the bigger picture might be problematic when such communities are confronted in power with plutocrats and corporate manipulations of economy.

Nevertheless, let us posit that localized self-sustaining communities are the beginning point that needs to be the beginning point for any radical shift in the way an economic system functions and overlooks a national and even global population. If this is the case, what then is the role of religion? Grace Lee Boggs mentions the "rehabilitation of the soul" or something like that (she talks about it in a talk with Cornel West and Tavis Smiley on their radio show).

From what I gather, Boggs' position is that self-transformation goes hand in hand with structural transformation. That we can no longer blame the system for our misfortunes but how we view ourselves as entitled U.S. Americans. No longer can we look toward technology to solve our problems but must now look inward and transform who and what we are, who and what we consider ourselves to be, in order to make meaningful change and thereby as a consequence, structural change. Without begging the question of whether this is indeed the case or should be the case, the question is what religion does for this position.

In the past, not so much today, religion has had a history of identifying with the marginalized and the poor. For Christianity, we have the 'sermon on the mount' and the widespread of liberation theology in Catholicism. With Pope Francis we are seeing a glimpse of such a return but nobody is really holding their breath because of...a disenchantment of power and what is now commonly seen as a symbolic institution more than anything. This isn't to say that such institutions no longer have power, but that their power is no longer so apparent in the world of politics other than particular issues such as gay marriage and abortion.

At any rate, apart from such sensitive issues of what is "morality" religion has been a source of assistance and a voice for the marginalized (although it is a selective margin of some over others). However, in places like Detroit, Cleveland, and so on that continue to see an increase in unemployment, poverty, and violence, the marginalized in economic status are becoming a majority. So how does religion facilitate the self-sustainment not only in "soul" but also community (communal soul, I guess)?

In a way, we can say that the persuasive and moral power of churches in mobilizing persons, while in one sense manipulative, can be a utility for promoting local grow-ops and local means of sustainability. The church becomes a mobilizer for a redefinition of the 'welfare state'. Churches can motivate those to create bigger, and make their own, grow-operations. Create other means of sustainability, recreation, and modes of education. The collision with the advancement of local grow-ops is the eventual crash with how one manages the job market. Can religious organizations be the mediator between locally advancing sustainability in communities and finding long term economic stability for families and so on. Is religion able to extend their abilities and power in networks to create a continuum between local forms of sustainable methods for a "new revolution" and the next transitional step of individual sustainability. The rehabilitation of the soul, while it sounds so tastefully romantic, is questionable in its pragmatics. The next revolution, for a different form of economy, will have to test the powers of religious organizations and what their views are in the wake of such needed change. What line of discrimination does religion take?