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Why is the right wing more religious?

BilliardsBall

Veteran Member
It's interesting that monotheistic religions which preach left wing things like "loving thy neighbour" and the sanctity of life seem to find their home in right wing politics... could it be that life is only sacred until you don't agree with their choices.... surely not....

EDIT: This is an unfair generalisation, thanks for pointing that out. I now mean this only to apply to conservatism - of course it's possible to be a leftie religious person and I'm glad of it, we need more of that sort of thing.

I think you are close to discerning truth here, especially if you reverse the OP, it's more like "Why are the religious right-wing?"

I personally (and my fellow church members also) are working to be more balanced, I think it's important to pursue certain right wing and left wing causes alike. For example, I'm fine with gay marriage and gay rights, and work hard to subvert discrimination against gays, but I'm also foursquare against abortion with the exception of life of the mother.
 

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
It's hard wired.
Liberals and conservatives think differently, their brains are wired differently. They're different creatures, identifiable on brain scans.

There have been dozens of studies. Google. Study Predicts Political Beliefs With 83 Percent Accuracy | Science | Smithsonian
Conservatives are tribal, and perceive the world as threatening. They're fearful. Progressives are more sophisticated and cosmopolitan

The right wing tends toward authoritarianism. The authoritarian triad:
  1. Authoritarian submission — a high degree of submissiveness to the authorities who are perceived to be established and legitimate in the society in which one lives.
  2. Authoritarian aggression — a general aggressiveness directed against deviants, outgroups and other people that are perceived to be targets according to established authorities.
  3. Conventionalism — a high degree of adherence to the traditions and social norms that are perceived to be endorsed by society and its established authorities and a belief that others in one's society should also be required to adhere to these norms.

    Submission, aggressiveness, conventionalism.
  4. Studies have also correlated conservatism with fear -- a perception of the world as a threatening place. Conservatives value convention, familiarity and predictability. They fear change and diversity.
  5. These key psychological differences can determine whether you're liberal or conservative
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
It's interesting that monotheistic religions which preach left wing things like "loving thy neighbour" and the sanctity of life seem to find their home in right wing politics... could it be that life is only sacred until you don't agree with their choices.... surely not....

EDIT: This is an unfair generalisation, thanks for pointing that out. I now mean this only to apply to conservatism - of course it's possible to be a leftie religious person and I'm glad of it, we need more of that sort of thing.

I suspect the biggest reason is abortion. There is a strong element of prolife folks among evangelicals.
 

sealchan

Well-Known Member
Just popping this in for background....:)

Party affiliation - Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics

...and...
How religious groups voted in the midterm elections


What I find interesting is that while there is variation throughout the groups, the most ardently conservative/republican are the “evangelical” and/or “born again” Christians (although 20+% of them still vote Dem.).

I think this underscores the OP nicely.

The perception on the part of conservatives is that religion is only Christianity and all else is pagan and inferior. At least this is the attitude of an estimated 60% of the Trump voter. Now that Trump voter is a definite shift from what was the conservative base, but still most conservative politicians seem willing and able to acccomodate such thinking.

A Measure of Xenophobia
 
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Prestor John

Well-Known Member
It's interesting that monotheistic religions which preach left wing things like "loving thy neighbour" and the sanctity of life seem to find their home in right wing politics... could it be that life is only sacred until you don't agree with their choices.... surely not....

EDIT: This is an unfair generalisation, thanks for pointing that out. I now mean this only to apply to conservatism - of course it's possible to be a leftie religious person and I'm glad of it, we need more of that sort of thing.
I completely disagree with your assertion that conservatism does not promote the ideals of "loving thy neighbor" and the sanctity of life.

I also do not believe that leftists live by or promote these ideals. Not at all.

One of the very reasons that there are more religious conservatives than liberals is for that fact.

They believe that life is sacred and that we should love our neighbors.

Those are right-wing ideals.
 
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sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Well, I'm not friend of the Christian faith but even I'd spot an over-generalization or a caricature when I see one. :D

Despite what people think even the most extreme right winger completely understands the position of opposing views they just don't like 'em. Unfortunately, I can't say the same the other way around -- often these straw-men are the only things the liberals know about their opposition. The reality is there is a lot of nuance and variation on the side of the right end of politics, especially since there is no one demanding conformity of beliefs on that side of the spectrum; whereas, leftists will typically "eat their own" in an attempt to seem much more progressive or bully others into more progressive positions.
Funny, I see it just 180 the opposite.
 

pearl

Well-Known Member
against abortion with the exception of life of the mother.

I think there is some confusion as to the 'life of the mother'. It has to do with intent.
Conditions do exist where life-saving treatment of a mother necessarily results in the death of a preborn child. These treatments, though, are legally and morally not considered abortion.

If a pregnant woman suffers from cancer of the uterus and her condition is such that treatment cannot be safely postponed until a viable baby can be delivered, the woman could legally receive medical care even if the law allowed no abortions whatsoever. In spite of the fact that radiation treatment or actual removal of the uterus would result in the death of a preborn child, such an action is not an abortion because the intent of the procedure is not to destroy the baby-it is to provide the best care possible for the mother without directly attacking the child.

Similarly, if conception results in an ectopic (tubal) pregnancy requiring diseased tissue in the Fallopian tube to be removed (thereby necessitating the removal of the child with the tissue), the operation is not an abortion because there is no intent to commit one. The diseased tissue, not the baby, is the target of the doctor. The absence of a life-of-the-mother exception would not prevent life-saving treatment from being administered
 

The Reverend Bob

Fart Machine and Beastmaster
It's interesting that monotheistic religions which preach left wing things like "loving thy neighbour" and the sanctity of life seem to find their home in right wing politics... could it be that life is only sacred until you don't agree with their choices.... surely not....

EDIT: This is an unfair generalisation, thanks for pointing that out. I now mean this only to apply to conservatism - of course it's possible to be a leftie religious person and I'm glad of it, we need more of that sort of thing.
Ask yourself what do these conservatives actually wish to conserve and you will get the answer to why they are attracted to the religions they flock to
 

The Reverend Bob

Fart Machine and Beastmaster
A Conservative, or someone on the right, tends to favor time proven traditions. Conservation land is land that is preserved in its natural state. The major Religions, the nuclear family and the traditional roles of men and women are among those time proven traditions that are being conserved. These have been common to most humans for thousands of years.

Progressives are more faddish. They are not content with what has worked for centuries. Instead they prefer the latest fad, even if unproven.

Those on the right have a more confident sense of self, due to Conservative values having more data support, due to its longevity. Progressives tend to over compensate; loud and radial. This is needed to overcome the inner doubt connected to the smaller data support of novel and faddish beliefs.

The concept of fluid gender identity is less than ten years old. Whereas, male and female, period, is thousands of years old. It is easy to be confident in thousands of years of data, than a decade of data.

Big Government is more important for the left, since Big Government can be used like a hammer to force fads down everyone's throat, even if there is little in the way of long term data support. Small Government and freedom is more for those on the right, who have the benefit of long term common sense and data, that works today and tomorrow.
So it is all about maintaining and preserving that Patriarchy.
 

Shiranui117

Pronounced Shee-ra-noo-ee
Premium Member
It's interesting that monotheistic religions which preach left wing things like "loving thy neighbour" and the sanctity of life seem to find their home in right wing politics... could it be that life is only sacred until you don't agree with their choices.... surely not....

EDIT: This is an unfair generalisation, thanks for pointing that out. I now mean this only to apply to conservatism - of course it's possible to be a leftie religious person and I'm glad of it, we need more of that sort of thing.
Conservatives are more balanced among all six moral foundations (care, fairness, liberty, purity, loyalty, respect for authority), whereas liberals strongly emphasize care and fairness and somewhat care about liberty, and devalue the moral foundations of loyalty, purity, and respect for authority. Religions generally tend to expect some degree of purity, loyalty and respect for authority, which are more readily found among conservatives than liberals or libertarians.
 

dfnj

Well-Known Member
It's interesting that monotheistic religions which preach left wing things like "loving thy neighbour" and the sanctity of life seem to find their home in right wing politics... could it be that life is only sacred until you don't agree with their choices.... surely not....

EDIT: This is an unfair generalisation, thanks for pointing that out. I now mean this only to apply to conservatism - of course it's possible to be a leftie religious person and I'm glad of it, we need more of that sort of thing.

Right wing religion is more about loyalty to authority than it is about spirituality. People on the right like to be told exactly what to think by people they trust in authority. People on the left tend to be less critical of the messenger and concentrate more criticism on the message.

For me at least, a left wing based religion would be one where a God of unconditional love would allow everyone through the gates of Heaven to experience eternal bliss regardless of our Earthly sins. Since everyone gets to experience eternal bliss our sins do not warrant the cruel and unusual punishment of eternal suffering. A God of unconditional love would love each person without any conditions.

I think what it means to be on the left means to be less judgmental of other people, or at least try to be, and be more accepting and inclusive of our differences.
 

dfnj

Well-Known Member
Big Government is more important for the left, since Big Government can be used like a hammer to force fads down everyone's throat, even if there is little in the way of long term data support. Small Government and freedom is more for those on the right, who have the benefit of long term common sense and data, that works today and tomorrow.

I do not believe this is true. People may be left or right but we have only a one party government. We definitely have a single party communistic style collective government in this country. The thing is it's NOT the kind of communism that passes laws in the worker's favor. What we have in this country is Corporate communism where all the laws are passed in the corporations favor. The problems of our country are not rocket science. The billionaires pay the lobbyists to give money to the politicians in order to pass legislation creating cartels and monopolies in exchange for campaign financing. We have the best government money can buy! We have no competition. We have no free markets. There is no mechanism in the market to wring out the inefficiencies of CEO pay. Corporations use fancy data analytics to fix the pricing of wages, products, and services so every year the median workers wage gets driven deeper and deeper into a poverty wage. Here's the proof:

Quandl

The problem with the right wingers is they are always putting party before country. What we have in this country is diversion politics in order to preserve the status quo. Money talks. Everything else in politics that does not have anything to do with the purchasing power of the consumer dollar and livable wages is pure BS.
 

Mindmaster

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
At it's most basic, the difference between conservatives and progressives is that conservatives tend to idealise the past and progressives tend to idealise the future. A common complaint among conservatives is the degradation of traditional values. Progressives on the other hand tend to argue that it's those traditional values that are causing problems.

People tend to think conservatives don't like change, but it's also rather false -- they are happy to change if they have a reason, but they don't change things for the sake of changing them. But, to be fair, even liberals have standards they won't abandon and values similar to the conservative -- it's just a different set of views. Some of those are like the support of diversity, tolerance, etc... A conservative is likely to support those things with conditions, rather than an absolute sense. :D

TBH, to me the real difference is in how both see the way the government should interact with the people. Conservatives tend toward a minimalist government strategy -- aka "The People" know what's best for themselves except in the cases of criminal prosecution/activity, whereas the Liberals tend toward a "Government must provide/mandate" strategy. The difference "socially" rather than "economically" is not as great as it was say 30 years back -- most Conservatives are perfectly tolerant of LGBT, for example, even when they don't support those views.
 

Mindmaster

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
I am sure both left and right understand each others positions and arguments very well indeed.
Both do their best to enshrine their own positions into the law of the land at every opportunity.
Enforcing such laws is hardly bullying.
Of course there are nuances in peoples positions. but the necessary compromises applied in turning Ideas in to laws,
ensure that virtually all nuances are removed, in the name of certainty.
This is the way Law works.

Discussions like these "on Generalities" necessarily use and encompass "generalities"

You're assuming too much -- my conversations with liberals on any platform indicate that there is very little understanding on that side. If it's there, it's rare... There are a few -- Bill Maher, Tim Pool, etc... It's really damn rare... :D

The most common area of fault though on the liberal side are conflating the conviction of the oppositions view with religious beliefs. Most conservatives compartmentalize those things -- e.g. understand their faith, social view, and economic positions may necessarily be at odds to some degree and aim to resolve them. Liberals are more likely to abandon tradition for some sort of virtue points that appease their egos -- while simultaneously actually doing nothing. :D Mind you, I'm a right-leaning Libertarian by modern understandings... I've dealt with both sides -- they both want more government for "reasons", and I want way less... My political position has always been -- "I don't need a new daddy to tell me what to do when I've grown up." Both angles in popular politics are adverse to that notion, so I've ceded that I'll never be satisfied either way... lol
 

dfnj

Well-Known Member
Conservatives are more balanced among all six moral foundations (care, fairness, liberty, purity, loyalty, respect for authority),

Since Reaganomics wealth inequality is at all time highs. Trickle down economics just doesn't work. How many times are we going to see massive tax cuts for the rich along with the gutting of consumer protection laws and delays in raising the minimum wage before people wise up to the fact these policies only exacerbate wealth inequality. If you are billionaire everything is great! But if you are just some common Joe, not so much:


I really sick and tired of right wingers telling me what it means to be a liberal Democrat. Why do they get to define what it means. As a liberal Democrat, I will go with FDR's 1936 speech on what it means to be a liberal Democrat in this country:

"An old English judge once said: 'Necessitous men are not free men.' Liberty requires opportunity to make a living - a living decent according to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for.

For too many of us the political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality. A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people's property, other people's money, other people's labor - other people's lives. For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness.

Against economic tyranny such as this, the American citizen could appeal only to the organized power of government."

Speech before the 1936 Democratic National Convention

How can any conservative think they have any morals at all when wealth inequality is so out of proportion?

And for God sake why can't we have a minimum wage law that is based on some economic measure independent of inflation. Every 10 or 15 years we hash out the same God damn stupid arguments about the minimum wage. Conservatives want total control over people's economic lives. Liberals want to restore freedom and liberty to the worker making the median wage.
 
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