Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Why is being religious so closely tied with conservative politics?

pan6467 · 10-24-2007, 08:47 PM

I believe that the conservative nature is the answer. I covered this in another thread.

In the 60's and 70's the Dems. became the party of anti-war, feminism, gun control, equal rights, "liberalism" in general. They wanted a freer more open society and government and took somewhat radical stances.

The conservative church goers were more apt to be the conservative, middle class, who gained under Eisenhower and while they may have agreed with a few of the stances (such as the Vietnam War), they disagreed with the majority of the views and especially the radicalism. They wanted a status quo, if change were to come they wanted it slowly and not governmentally ordered.

Now, there were also a group of "reverends" that had followings and power through the religion. (Remember one of the most very basic tenets in religion is to preach fear of change and that only your beliefs (as told to you by your church leaders) is the only truth. Organized religion is, IMHO, used as a way to control the masses.

So through Falwell, Robertson and some others, they formed the "Moral Majority" just as the GOP was weak and lost as to what to do. It was the 70's and Watergate after all. The party was in shambles and lost it's momentum. The Moral Majority got the GOP to be viable again.The "Moral Majority" was based on religion but also welcomed the NRA (the Dems wanted to take guns from hard working Christian men), they welcomed those men and women, who thought women's rights would negatively affect the standards they had been brought up by (it was not Christian to have the woman go out and leave the children and work), they welcomed the pro-lifers, they used the Dems embrace of Equal Rights as that of the party that welcomed the Black Panthers, the GOP welcomed the isolationists who saw trade as slicing our own throats...... and so on and so on.

Each step welcoming the people into the party and as the leaders became more Christian in views the party's platform became far more "Christian".

All the while the Dems. were trying to find their identity, they weren't the "radicals" the press and GOP and Moral Majority portrayed them, but it did work to get the fringes who liked the Dem platform but were opposed to 1 or 2 issues they felt morally against (Abortion, Gun Control, etc).

That's why today there isn't much of a difference in party platforms. However, in order to show difference, the radicals and extremists of each party have taken control and squeezed the middle, centrists, moderates, whatever you wish to call them, out. This I believe is why so many are so distrusting and the polls ratings for both parties, congress and the president are so low.

10-24-2007, 08:47 PM	#17 (permalink)
pan6467 Lennonite Priest Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA	I believe that the conservative nature is the answer. I covered this in another thread. In the 60's and 70's the Dems. became the party of anti-war, feminism, gun control, equal rights, "liberalism" in general. They wanted a freer more open society and government and took somewhat radical stances. The conservative church goers were more apt to be the conservative, middle class, who gained under Eisenhower and while they may have agreed with a few of the stances (such as the Vietnam War), they disagreed with the majority of the views and especially the radicalism. They wanted a status quo, if change were to come they wanted it slowly and not governmentally ordered. Now, there were also a group of "reverends" that had followings and power through the religion. (Remember one of the most very basic tenets in religion is to preach fear of change and that only your beliefs (as told to you by your church leaders) is the only truth. Organized religion is, IMHO, used as a way to control the masses. So through Falwell, Robertson and some others, they formed the "Moral Majority" just as the GOP was weak and lost as to what to do. It was the 70's and Watergate after all. The party was in shambles and lost it's momentum. The Moral Majority got the GOP to be viable again.The "Moral Majority" was based on religion but also welcomed the NRA (the Dems wanted to take guns from hard working Christian men), they welcomed those men and women, who thought women's rights would negatively affect the standards they had been brought up by (it was not Christian to have the woman go out and leave the children and work), they welcomed the pro-lifers, they used the Dems embrace of Equal Rights as that of the party that welcomed the Black Panthers, the GOP welcomed the isolationists who saw trade as slicing our own throats...... and so on and so on. Each step welcoming the people into the party and as the leaders became more Christian in views the party's platform became far more "Christian". All the while the Dems. were trying to find their identity, they weren't the "radicals" the press and GOP and Moral Majority portrayed them, but it did work to get the fringes who liked the Dem platform but were opposed to 1 or 2 issues they felt morally against (Abortion, Gun Control, etc). That's why today there isn't much of a difference in party platforms. However, in order to show difference, the radicals and extremists of each party have taken control and squeezed the middle, centrists, moderates, whatever you wish to call them, out. This I believe is why so many are so distrusting and the polls ratings for both parties, congress and the president are so low. __________________ I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"