'Religious left' emerging as U.S. political force in Trump era

[Shadowferal]

It's less to do with lack of understanding and more to do with them not being anywhere near as toxic as conservative evangelicals. The ones trying to jam religion into legislation and schools are not the liberal Christians.

To be fair the conservative evangelical is the loud-mouth that gets heard...(and subsequently ignored nowadays)

[Felya]

Why do right wing Christians exist then?

Both Goldwater and Ayn Rand pointed at Reagan. They both felt that his intertwined religion into conservatism was the end of American conservatism. It's one of those things that Reagan championed, to hide that the basis for his economic policy was 'give to the rich, so they can give to the poor'. See war on drugs and welfare queen, as similar inventions of Reagan's administration that turned GOP from a party that brought rebirth of Conservatism in US with Berry Goldwater, to the corporatist plutocrats of Bush and Trump.

By the way, Reagan was right in this regard, because it did give the GOP, what is still a landmark win. Reagan, is still the last GOP candidate to win the popular vote, without being a member of the previous executive branch. In fact, the only thing keeping that from being the only none incumbent to win the popular vote, is because OG Bush was Reagan's VP. Trump is the first GOP candidate since then to say he disagrees with Reagan during the debates... but, still did the same thing...

[Poopymonster]

If by 'left' you mean acting like Jesus? Yeah.
Someone should link Supply Side Jesus.

What about GOP Military Jesus?



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I'm not a religious person now, though I was raised Catholic. It doesn't surprise me that there is a large left leaning religious group because most of the bible aligns with what's considered "left" ideas. You only ever hear about the religious right in this country and its usually because of the abortion issue. A lot more of the bible focuses on social welfare though. I don't think you hear much about the "religious left" because they are simply voting for things that are the right thing to do (feed the poor; care for your neighbors) and don't do it simply because "the bible told me so."

They also don't whip it out and wave it around. They do it by the book pray quietly, and keep that shit to themselves?

[Shadowferal]

They also don't whip it out and wave it around. They do it by the book pray quietly, and keep that shit to themselves?

Well yeah.
Or do you honestly believe that most of those on the left/liberal are atheists? Because that is not even close to being the truth. Just about everyone in congress has a religious belief. (I think..what...3 are card carrying atheists..?)

[Felya]

Jesus walked neither the left hand nor the right hand path.

No, he was as liberal as it gets. The entire origin is rooted entirely in what you now call welfare. Religion was for the slaves, the poor, the downtrodden. It was other gods, like Thor that you used to have as an avatar, that dictated conservative values of maintaining the status quo. When god let Jews out of Egypt, the Pharos were gods. The principle behind Christianity was no different than the Bolshevik, outside of which God was right... the one that said wealth is the property of those he chose or the guy that gave away free fish. There is little difference between Zhar's claim to the wealth of Russia due to his birthright, than Pharo's claim to nation's wealth due their holy birthright...

It's why the GOP, not conservatives, work so hard to make you forget that our country was founded on the government of the people, by the people, for the people. Instead, they want you to think government is evil, because once the people have no power in government... wealth returns as the government... If you want proof, look no further than a guy you just voted in. What are the chances he gets into heaven... more or less than a mule's ability to walk through an eye of a needle?

[Poopymonster]

Well yeah.
Or do you honestly believe that most of those on the left/liberal are atheists? Because that is not even close to being the truth. Just about everyone in congress has a religious belief. (I think..what...3 are card carrying atheists..?)

Given how in polls people trust atheists the least, you gotta fake a few Hail Mary's, and get up early on Sunday once in a while if you want people to vote for you.

[Puremallace]

As a guy in Louisiana who voted for a pro life Democrat governor it becomes very clear Republicans stand no chance in elections without social issues to run on. That election was just sad. Difference between my governor and a Republican governor is he does not spend all the states money trying to overturn Roe v Wade

[melodramocracy]

Religious anything needs to be eradicated from politics, no matter what side of the aisle it rests on.

[Shadowferal]

Religious anything needs to be eradicated from politics, no matter what side of the aisle it rests on.

That won't happen in anyone's lifetime here.

[Felya]

I'm not a religious person now, though I was raised Catholic. It doesn't surprise me that there is a large left leaning religious group because most of the bible aligns with what's considered "left" ideas. You only ever hear about the religious right in this country and its usually because of the abortion issue. A lot more of the bible focuses on social welfare though. I don't think you hear much about the "religious left" because they are simply voting for things that are the right thing to do (feed the poor; care for your neighbors) and don't do it simply because "the bible told me so."

Because according to the Bible, you are explicitly to not mix religion and politics, as well as verses against public claims to religion. Prayer was supposed to be like meditation of the individual in private. Slaves really couldn't gather in unison and prey for a god that isn't the one enslaving them. The people who blame religion for their political views are simply those who cannot handle personal accountability. They use religion to shield from scrutiny, because they will fail if the opinion is just theirs.

Think of it this way... who makes religion look worse... The guy screaming "religion shouldn't be in government" or the guy screaming "that's against my religion"? If you are not sure, look at the root of the comments in this thread against religion. It is nearly entirely revolving around those who say "that's against my religion"... Hate that wouldn't exist, if that quote was more accurant in "that's against my opinion".

[jaakkeli]

America is just experiencing the same we already went through in northern Europe. As Christianity has declined over the past few generations the church has tried turning to leftism which in the end has just hastened the decline. The left isn't going to start going to church even if it has a lesbian bishop preaching that Islam is the future and the rest of us no longer have any reason to go.

[Nico3337]

And here i thought trump was causing Enough damage as it is..

[Shadowferal]

America is just experiencing the same we already went through in northern Europe. As Christianity has declined over the past few generations the church has tried turning to leftism which in the end has just hastened the decline. The left isn't going to start going to church even if it has a lesbian bishop preaching that Islam is the future and the rest of us no longer have any reason to go.

The same thing was said in the late 19th century through the early 20th century. Religion has evolved with the times however (I might have been tempted to believe that Catholicism was dying back in the 80s until the whole "Born Again" thing kicked in. And now we have a very savvy Pope that is almost a credit to progressive thinking..)

[Kalcheus]

Gang: fundamentally, religion has nothing to do with whether you're "right" or "left". You can be a left-wing Christian or a right-wing Atheist.

You can also be a humanitarian if you're right-wing. You can also be a selfish egotist if you're left-wing (there are a number of Bernie backers who support him solely because they want the government to pay for their education; they don't care about the benefit to anybody else). The main difference between the wings is how much you feel the government should do versus personal effort/private charity.

[satimy]

Social justice and Climate "science" are both religions.

[Video Games]

Everything you wrote here is gibberish.

This made me laugh. But I can't take anybody on this site with 20k+ posts seriously, anyway.

[zenkai]

Social justice and Climate "science" are both religions.

I view political parties are religious as well, people blindly following a party without question, making every gray issue black and white.

[Wildtree]

No big surprise really, after all, Jesus was a liberal.

A socialist, if not even communist.

Take from the rich, give to the poor kind of a guy.

[JohnBrown1917]

I view political parties are religious as well, people blindly following a party without question, making every gray issue black and white.

Maybe in the US, but I don't see that here that much.

[kasuke06]

No big surprise really, after all, Jesus was a liberal.

Yup, beat the shit out of people for trying to earn a living, lived in an echo chamber, and faked his death to get out of criminal charges. Classic liberal.