A brief theological question.......

[Kamakiri]

Now that we've got a good amount of postings, the follow-up question to this, is....do you believe that your faith, past, present, or lack thereof, has created any of your political views, and if so how? And how is it different from others?

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Now that we've got a good amount of postings, the follow-up question to this, is....do you believe that your faith, past, present, or lack thereof, has created any of your political views, and if so how? And how is it different from others?

It may be one of the major factors in my rejection of the Republican party, as currently constituted. Any party that sucks up to Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Bob Jones, Ralph Reed and other such hateful morons has disqualified themselves from my consideration. Perhaps a bit harsh on my part, but so be it.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by finnbow

It may be one of the major factors in my rejection of the Republican party, as currently constituted. Any party that sucks up to Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Bob Jones, Ralph Reed and other such hateful morons has disqualified themselves from my consideration. Perhaps a bit harsh on my part, but so be it.

+1. And I was trying to be nice.

Dave

[noonereal]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Now that we've got a good amount of postings, the follow-up question to this, is....do you believe that your faith, past, present, or lack thereof, has created any of your political views, and if so how? And how is it different from others?

Absolutely.

I adopted (in principle) the message of Jesus as taking care of one another is what is best for the individual and the species.

(Why Born Again Christians don't get this is very perplexing to me.)

[d-ray657]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Now that we've got a good amount of postings, the follow-up question to this, is....do you believe that your faith, past, present, or lack thereof, has created any of your political views, and if so how? And how is it different from others?

Being brought up in the Methodist church affected my views on life and politics in many ways.

John Wesley, the father is Methodist theology, recognized reason as a large part of a religious life. The theology offers more than blind adherence to dogma.

The Social Principles of the Methodist Church were always progressive for their time. Early in the last century the Social Principles spoke against sweat-shops, in favor of a forty hour work week, and in favor of the ability of workers to organize for their mutual aid and benefit.

The Methodist churches with which I have been affiliated have always showed an openness to people of other faiths. I recall as a youth being very impressed that communion was offered to anyone who professed their faith in its purpose. Whether one actually professed such faith was a matter of individual conscience. Friends from more fundamentalist churches believed that unless you have been baptised in their particular church, you were headed for Hell.

Finally, although the terminology was not used at the time, it was evident that the village was very much involved in raising children. Many adults volunteered for sunday school and church programs. Those adults also held us accountable. We had basketball teams from the church. The fellowship hall was open to the community and regularly had something going on. We were able to go to the church nearly every day to play basketball. As yutes we knew every nook and cranny of the church.

EDIT: Oh yeah, we also learned the Golden Rule, and not the one that says he who has the gold makes the rules.

As a result of that upbringing, I see the need for a more egalitarian world, a need to work for social justice, seek respect for the religious beliefs of others, and don't see those different from me as enemies. I see a moral imperative to take care of those less fortunate.

Regards,

D-Ray

[Brother_Karl]

Raised in a secular household.
Loosely believed in some kind of god until I was around 15/16 years old.
My cousin managed to convert me to Christianity for 10 minutes when I was around 14 years old.
Never been to church.
Never been baptised.
Now an atheist who thinks that deism is either a pointless or untenable position to hold depending on the individuals specific position.

And, as far as I'm concerned, peoples view of how the universe operates always affects their political views. I, for example, think that everyone should be allowed to live for ever once the relevant technology comes along ETC.

[Deczor]

Raised a Catholic. Irish Catholic.
Now an athiest verging on anti-theist.

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Now that we've got a good amount of postings, the follow-up question to this, is....do you believe that your faith, past, present, or lack thereof, has created any of your political views, and if so how? And how is it different from others?

Spending my early years entrenched in catholic ritual seemed very normal at the time. I actually wanted to be a priest at one point.

When I became a teen and started questioning things the level of anger and resentment I got from people, especially my mum, was incredible. Never were any answers provided to any basic questions such as "how are Protestants different from us?", just a quick remark about how horrible they are or some such.

As I learned more about the world and people, the less religion seemed to make any sense. I didn't believe in god long before I know what Athiest really meant.

Now I think organised religion is dangerous. Very dangerous. The religious always have a tint on their view of the world and actions, or a hidden agenda. They can't, in my experience, see things as they really are and act correctly. It's always an "us and them" type view of the world. This has kind of turned much of global politics into a scorpion pit of agendas and stand-offishness. I think religion divides people even more than race or language does.

At least you know where you stand with athiests. They don't automatically hate you, try to bomb your plane/building/abortion clinic or refuse to negotiate equally. All the really bad stuff I have ever seen has been perpatrated by the religious. Bit of a no-brainer which camp to pitch your tent in really.

[noonereal]

Originally Posted by Deczor

Now I think organised religion is dangerous.

Organized religion, political parties, same thing and I agree.

[Combwork]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Now that we've got a good amount of postings, the follow-up question to this, is....do you believe that your faith, past, present, or lack thereof, has created any of your political views, and if so how? And how is it different from others?

No to both questions. I was brought up in a religeous family, went to Sunday school. I even went through a couple of weeks as a trainee teacher but truth to tell, I was more interested in the Vicker's daughter than anything else. As an aside, will someone please tell me why spellchecker thinks knickers is a reasonable substitute for Vicker's? Predictive text is one thing, but that's scary.

[d-ray657]

Originally Posted by Combwork

No to both questions. I was brought up in a religeous family, went to Sunday school. I even went through a couple of weeks as a trainee teacher but truth to tell, I was more interested in the Vicker's daughter than anything else. As an aside, will someone please tell me why spellchecker thinks knickers is a reasonable substitute for Vicker's? Predictive text is one thing, but that's scary.

Probably because it wasn't looking for vicar or vicar's. Spell check doesn't work on phonetics but on letter patterns.

Regards,

D-Ray