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A key factor in [the revival of Shiite Islam in Iran] was the Iranians’ refusal to accept the western reduction of religion to individual faith, which would have enabled an easier imposition of a global capitalist political economy.

— Richard A. Horsley Religion and Empire: People, Power, and the Life of the Spirit (2003)

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More quotes by Richard A. Horsley

Cultural elites in countries that dominate peoples have adapted subject people’s religion for their own purposes.

Religion and Empire: People, Power, and the Life of the Spirit (2003)

Since God himself is just and commands justice, the Muslim community (umma) cannot tolerate a tyrannical law or a tyrannical ruler.

Religion and Empire: People, Power, and the Life of the Spirit (2003)

Islamic revival sought the reunification of the spiritual with the social-political, and of contemporary life with cultural traditions, against the western imperialism that was forcing their separation.

Religion and Empire: People, Power, and the Life of the Spirit (2003)

Khomeini ... was a paradigm of asceticism, which in Islam was not a withdrawal from worldly affairs but a refusal to be seduced by materialism. He was incorruptible.

Religion and Empire: People, Power, and the Life of the Spirit (2003)

Intensive measures of repression taken by the Shah to enforce his westernizing development program nearly eliminated effective political parties and forms of civil society other than activities in the mosques.

Religion and Empire: People, Power, and the Life of the Spirit (2003)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Richard A. Horsley (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.