I think this has been a fascinating thread but it makes me wonder about a few things. Very few posters are relating their comments to the very specific set of circumstances set out by Diggy way back at the beginning. It makes me wonder if after a few posts people just skim through what's already there before responding. Especially the posters who just throw a couple of lines out as if they've solved a complex problem by saying 'get rid of the politics'.

A song circle mainly consisting of life long political activists could NEVER co-exist with religious fundamentalists of ANY stripe, and that certainly would include Orthodox Jews, Christians, Muslims or any other groups that accept supernatural Dieties. Oil and water!

Great discussion when it deals with the original question though.

Hea.