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Old 03-26-2005, 08:49 PM   #9 (permalink)
irateplatypus
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Manx
That's the whole question - so when you say you are not sure why I posed the question, are you saying that they do not? Are you speaking for all conservatives now?
of course not, but i'm not the one who started a thread with an unqualified premise.

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I know you to be someone who believes it is a good thing to have a lot of religion in politics.
wrong.

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I am one who believes no religion should be in politics. There are certainly conservatives who believe similarly to you, in this respect, and there are those who believe similarly to me. And then there are the many who fall somewhere in between.
your presumptions are irritating.

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You, personally, may not find the religious control of the conservative party to be in anyway troublesome, but I have seen quite a conservative backlash to it recently, due to the Schiavo case. I have also noted quite a few conservatives who have consistently disagreed with the religious position on abortion (atleast as it is applied to politics and law) and gay marriage, etc.
religious people cast a single vote each, just like you. just because a larger percentage of religious people vote one way or the other doesn't necessitate religious control.

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The religious right is an extreme element of conservativism. I will always attempt to marginalize religion as long as religion attempts to control politics.
but what's extreme about it? i defy you to describe a major plank in the conservative platform that is unequivocably "extreme". my guess is that you cannot. it's very conventient to think that people who disagree with you are extreme.

the simple fact is that religion and politics intersect at the crossroads of morality. each seeks to define morality on specific terms (be that the law of the ten commandments or the law passed in congress). when you say that religion controls politics, you're really only objecting to people using their votes to forward their moral ideals that differ from your own. religion paranoia is a crutch for these types of arguments. the decision to not pull the plug on a comatose person or to not shred the flesh of a viable fetus in a mother's womb and suck out the limbs with a vacuum can be made without religion. when you describe opposing arguments entirely with a frame of religious motivation in a secular republic such as ours... you disqualify all positions other than your own on illegitimate grounds.
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Last edited by irateplatypus; 03-26-2005 at 08:53 PM..
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