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Culture War & Religion

Darkdale

Darkdale

World Leader Pretend
Has anyone noticed that the culture war currently being waged in the West has woven its' way into the fabric of religion? Now we have Conservative Christians and Liberal Christians. The pagan community is very much divided between conservatives and liberals. Religion is taking positions on economic theory.

Does anyone see this as being problematic?
 
Buttons*

Buttons*

Glass half Panda'd
As long as people have differing opinions (which will always be) there will be conflict... no matter if its religious or political... i wish we could all get along though... for christmas im seriously asking for world peace....I mean, aren't people supposedly the "smarter" species? *sigh*
 
Darkdale

Darkdale

World Leader Pretend
gnosis_777 said:
As long as people have differing opinions (which will always be) there will be conflict... no matter if its religious or political... i wish we could all get along though... for christmas im seriously asking for world peace....
Click to expand...

But do you think it has a detracting influence on religion?
 
michel

michel

Administrator Emeritus
Staff member
Darkdale said:
Has anyone noticed that the culture war currently being waged in the West has woven its' way into the fabric of religion? Now we have Conservative Christians and Liberal Christians. The pagan community is very much divided between conservatives and liberals. Religion is taking positions on economic theory.

Does anyone see this as being problematic?
Click to expand...
When you say 'The West' I take it you mean West of Ireland.............:p
What you talk about sounds as if it applies to only America.
 
Darkdale

Darkdale

World Leader Pretend
michel said:
When you say 'The West' I take it you mean West of Ireland.............:p
What you talk about sounds as if it applies to only America.
Click to expand...

Oh, certainly not. The culture war exists in Europe and Canada as well, it's just that the conservative/capitalist/libertarian is vastly outnumbered in Europe and Canada. We don't make a whole lot of noise there, while we make a great deal of noise in the United States. But that doesn't change the relationship between politics, religion and economics in the West. In Europe, however, the debate is less public and less of a concern.
 
Sunstone

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
michel said:
When you say 'The West' I take it you mean West of Ireland.............:p
What you talk about sounds as if it applies to only America.
Click to expand...
You ought to hear the hysterics here about our so called culture war, Michel. You tune in any talk radio show, or listen to half the pulpits in this country, or watch Fox TV News, and you'll hear it repeated over and over that we are engaged in a civil war over values. I think it was Hitler who said that all you needed to do to get people to believe a big lie was repeat the big lie often enough.

Conservatives are so busy criticizing the left in this country that very few of them ever make the effort to apply critical thought to their own notions. Hence, as Nietzsche might say, they are often guilty of "a will to stupidity". The notion we have a culture war going on is one of the ideas that conservatives never seem to critically examine.

BTW, you might be happy to know that according to many conservatives here, Europe is a decadent place that is already lost in the culture war. The liberals have taken over in Europe and America now stands alone in its fight to ward off the evil left. It's all very dramatic, you see.
 
Darkdale

Darkdale

World Leader Pretend
Sunstone said:
BTW, you might be happy to know that according to many conservatives here, Europe is a decadent place that is already lost in the culture war. The liberals have taken over in Europe and America now stands alone in its fight to ward off the evil left. It's all very dramatic, you see.
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You'd be surprised how optimistic we are about taking back Europe. :) It's really only a matter of time.
 
J

jonny

Well-Known Member
Darkdale said:
Has anyone noticed that the culture war currently being waged in the West has woven its' way into the fabric of religion? Now we have Conservative Christians and Liberal Christians. The pagan community is very much divided between conservatives and liberals. Religion is taking positions on economic theory.

Does anyone see this as being problematic?
Click to expand...
I really have not noticed that the religions have been taking sides politically, but it makes sense that there are "liberal" churches and "conservative" churches. People will look for churches that hold the same values that they hold. If they want to lead a certain lifestyle and their church doesn't allow it, it is easier to pick a church that conforms to their values than to conform to the values of a church. I think that the political divide between churches is an outcome of this culture war.

The divide is also caused by Evangelical churches having such a stronghold on the republican party in certain areas of the country. The only people who think that this is a good thing are the Evangelical Christians. For me it is a huge turn off.
 
Darkdale

Darkdale

World Leader Pretend
It's just, I've noticed that in heathen circles, politics is a little taboo. We just don't talk about it, because it has little to do with living a good heathen life.
 
Sunstone

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
What our country needs right now is more divisiveness. There simply isn't enough divisiveness as it is. Conservatives should not have liberal friends and liberals should not have conservative friends. We should even live in seperate communities, like the Protestants and Catholics do in Northern Ireland. Praise be that religions are becoming segregated according to politics! This can only be seen as a humanizing development. I heartedly applaud the practice of making politics more important than anything else in life!
 
robtex

robtex

Veteran Member
Darkdale said:
. Religion is taking positions on economic theory.
Does anyone see this as being problematic?
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In what way. Help qualify this for us to better see where you are coming from.
 
B

Beck63Don

Member
Sunstone said:
What our country needs right now is more divisiveness. There simply isn't enough divisiveness as it is. Conservatives should not have liberal friends and liberals should not have conservative friends. We should even live in seperate communities, like the Protestants and Catholics do in Northern Ireland. Praise be that religions are becoming segregated according to politics! This can only be seen as a humanizing development. I heartedly applaud the practice of making politics more important than anything else in life!
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This is really sad, Sunstone. You seem to forget that Northern Ireland is not a very happy place. We shouldn't make politics the most important thing in life. Community is more important than politics. Love is more important than politics. Lots of things are way more important than politics. You're way off the map, Sunstone!
 
painted wolf

painted wolf

Grey Muzzle
I how much more vocal this all becomes around the season for "peace on Earth good will tword man"

The idea that people will burn in hell (or wherever) for voting a certen way only bodes ill for our future. IMHO

wa:do
 
Darkdale

Darkdale

World Leader Pretend
robtex said:
In what way. Help qualify this for us to better see where you are coming from.
Click to expand...

Well, it's a vague problem I think, because many times the foundations for our religious beliefs are the same for our economic and political beliefs. But it is the increased division within individual religions that seems to be causing problems. "Liberal" vs. "Conservative" Christianity is an example of this.

In the pagan community, where conservatives are greatly out numbered, there is an increasing division. If you are a conservative you are treated like absolute crap in most pagan circles. So one thing I've seen is lots of right wing pagan blogging going on, to create pleasant environments for pagans.

But within heathenism, there is very little talk of politics. It is thought the discussion of politics breaks frith. It also has created a stronger community in my opinion. So would other religions be better off if politics wasn't apart of their religious culture?
 
Dayv

Dayv

Member
I believe Sunstone was being sarcastic, Lady Moon, at least that's how I took it. It's become impossible not to notice this religion/culture war. I think it was at least started by christians being told to seperate their religion from state issues, then some christians blew it out of purportion and make it sound like they're being picked on because they have to do what everyone else does (and what they should have had to do to begin with). It's become rather heated, especially now 'round the holidays with the supposed 'war on christmas.' My parents are strong christians (and a little arrogent and intolerant) and religion's become a rather brutal issue (they told me once I'm only a druid because I'm lazy, however that works..?), so, yeah, it hasn't been terribly fun for me.
 
Scuba Pete

Scuba Pete

Le plongeur avec attitude...
Indeed, many churches abhor any politicization of the Gospel. I recently went through this at my own church where a deacon made a comment supporting war in such a way it appeared that this official church dogma. After a few meetings and such, it was determined that the only thing the church believes corporately in is to pray for peace, as instructed by the scriptures.
 
A

angellous_evangellous

Guest
Darkdale said:
Has anyone noticed that the culture war currently being waged in the West has woven its' way into the fabric of religion? Now we have Conservative Christians and Liberal Christians. The pagan community is very much divided between conservatives and liberals. Religion is taking positions on economic theory.

Does anyone see this as being problematic?
Click to expand...
YES!! From the Christian POV, unity is very important. We are supposed to be one "body" that cannot be divided. Discord in the "body" is very displeasing to God. We're supposed to be getting along and providing for eachother. Instead, division is causing us to neglect the needs of other Christians and non-believers.

When we neglect others, we are no longer Christians and cannot be called Christians, because "Christian" means "little Christ" - one who acts like Jesus.

I call myself a "Christian" because of my ancient creedal confession, but others are going to have to determine if I actually am a Christian.
 
B

Beck63Don

Member
Dayv said:
I believe Sunstone was being sarcastic, Lady Moon, at least that's how I took it. It's become impossible not to notice this religion/culture war. I think it was at least started by christians being told to seperate their religion from state issues, then some christians blew it out of purportion and make it sound like they're being picked on because they have to do what everyone else does (and what they should have had to do to begin with). It's become rather heated, especially now 'round the holidays with the supposed 'war on christmas.' My parents are strong christians (and a little arrogent and intolerant) and religion's become a rather brutal issue (they told me once I'm only a druid because I'm lazy, however that works..?), so, yeah, it hasn't been terribly fun for me.
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Well, maybe Sunstone shouldn't be so sarcastic that it's hard to tell where he's coming from. i sympathize with you because of your parents. I haven't told mine yet that I'm a Pagan, and they might freak when I do. LOL! ;)
 
A

angellous_evangellous

Guest
NetDoc said:
Indeed, many churches abhor any politicization of the Gospel. I recently went through this at my own church where a deacon made a comment supporting war in such a way it appeared that this official church dogma. After a few meetings and such, it was determined that the only thing the church believes corporately in is to pray for peace, as instructed by the scriptures.
Click to expand...
Yes. Where I am from, pastors encouraged their churches to do the "Christian thing" and vote for Bush. Every time there was a chance to vote for anyone who supported the pastor's agenda, we were told to vote. My wife and I even got a booklet published by Focus on the Family (affectionately called the KKK in my home, but that is a different story) that told us even the Rail Road commissioner's views on homosexuality and abortion. What the hell does that have to do with being a RR commissioner?!
 
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