Christian Politics

[WinePusher]

Here's an interesting post I came across from another forum. The following post is the work of another user, but since I am not a member there I decided to bring the discussion over here.

---This is something that confuses me often. The Christian Right, and indeed many Christians in general, seem to have political positions that dont exactly jive with their beliefs.

The biggest one I can think of at the moment is undocumented immigration. From reading the bible, it doesn't seem that Jesus would have actually cared that much if someone had proper paperwork or not; it was "Love thy neighbor" not "Love thy properly documented neighbor". Except a lot of the people who are really anti-immigration seem to be the Protestant Christians who talk about how important it is to be Christ-like.

I'm not trying to criticize, I'm just confused how many of these political positions came to be adopted when many violate the basic precepts of Christianity.---

Question: Do you agree that the political right wing is often in constrast with Christian social and ethical teaching?

[East of Eden]

As CB pointed out his long term pre VP average was about one percent. After he became a VP as you point out his average went up to around five percent. In one year in particular, 2006 he gave over 70% of his income. This killed two birds with one stone it finally divested him of his Halliburton holdings which he was supposed to do five years previous and it allowed him to keep most of it by exploiting an emergency tax loophole.

If it was legal, so what? Do you pay more taxes than you have to?

In this case you are assuming that Cheney simply because he is on the right wing is religious and also assuming Biden is not because you consider him to be on the left wing. Care to show that this claim of yours is true? As your numbers have shown Cheneys charitable giving is no more than Obamas so by your logic does that mean Obama and Cheney are equally religious?

I never said anything about Cheney or Biden's religion, I was responding to this:

"And here I was thinking your argument for bringing this up in the first place was to show that the religious give more to charity than the non religious but now it seems as if your argument has morphed into republicans give more than democrats and I hope you are not conflating the two."

To repeat, Republicans/Conservatives tend to be more religious, and so give more to charity.

[nygreenguy]

To repeat, Republicans/Conservatives tend to be more religious, and so give more to charity.

correlation =/= causation. Is their evidence the religious give more or that conservatives give more?

[East of Eden]

To repeat, Republicans/Conservatives tend to be more religious, and so give more to charity.

correlation =/= causation. Is their evidence the religious give more or that conservatives give more?

I believe it is that the religious give more than secular Americans, and conservatives tend to be more religious.

[nygreenguy]

To repeat, Republicans/Conservatives tend to be more religious, and so give more to charity.

correlation =/= causation. Is their evidence the religious give more or that conservatives give more?

I believe it is that the religious give more than secular Americans, and conservatives tend to be more religious.

Religious give more per capita? It wouldnt be fair to say "give more" as a whole, obviously.

And who says conservatives tend to be more religious? Fundamentalist, perhaps, but not necessarily more religious.

[flitzerbiest]

To repeat, Republicans/Conservatives tend to be more religious, and so give more to charity.

Only if you count money given toward churches as charity. While these gifts may indicate some aspect of generosity, they really amount to more of a de facto membership fee.

[East of Eden]

To repeat, Republicans/Conservatives tend to be more religious, and so give more to charity.

Only if you count money given toward churches as charity. While these gifts may indicate some aspect of generosity, they really amount to more of a de facto membership fee.

Nonsense. What happens if you don't pay the 'membership' fee? Nothing. Most pastors don't even know who gives what.

As we've discussed, religious Americans give more to secular charitable causes than secular Americans, and even donate blood more.

[East of Eden]

Religious give more per capita? It wouldnt be fair to say "give more" as a whole, obviously.

Per capita.

And who says conservatives tend to be more religious? Fundamentalist, perhaps, but not necessarily more religious.

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 27 (UPI) -- The dominant conservative bloc in the U.S. Republican electorate is populated by older and more religious voters, polls indicate.

Daily tracking polls reported by Gallup this year find 18 percent of Republicans and allied independents describing their political views as very conservative, while 53 percent are conservative and 29 percent are moderate or liberal.

While 62 percent of core Republicans called themselves conservative in 2000, the figure has been 70 percent or higher each year since 2008.

Conservative Republicans are much more likely than moderates to say religion is very important in their lives. Those who are very conservative are nearly twice as likely as moderates or liberals to attend religious services weekly -- 61 versus 32 percent.

Forty-three percent of very conservative Republicans and 42 percent of conservatives are 55 or older, compared with 34 percent of moderates or liberals. Only 16 percent of very conservative Republicans are aged 18 to 34, compared with 27 percent of moderates or liberals.

The results are based on telephone interviews from Jan. 2 through Sept. 23 with a random sample of 262,075 adults and a margin of error of less than 1 percent.

© 2010 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

[nygreenguy]

Religious give more per capita? It wouldnt be fair to say "give more" as a whole, obviously.

Per capita.

And who says conservatives tend to be more religious? Fundamentalist, perhaps, but not necessarily more religious.

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 27 (UPI) -- The dominant conservative bloc in the U.S. Republican electorate is populated by older and more religious voters, polls indicate.

Daily tracking polls reported by Gallup this year find 18 percent of Republicans and allied independents describing their political views as very conservative, while 53 percent are conservative and 29 percent are moderate or liberal.

While 62 percent of core Republicans called themselves conservative in 2000, the figure has been 70 percent or higher each year since 2008.

Conservative Republicans are much more likely than moderates to say religion is very important in their lives. Those who are very conservative are nearly twice as likely as moderates or liberals to attend religious services weekly -- 61 versus 32 percent.

Forty-three percent of very conservative Republicans and 42 percent of conservatives are 55 or older, compared with 34 percent of moderates or liberals. Only 16 percent of very conservative Republicans are aged 18 to 34, compared with 27 percent of moderates or liberals.

The results are based on telephone interviews from Jan. 2 through Sept. 23 with a random sample of 262,075 adults and a margin of error of less than 1 percent.

© 2010 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Sorry, when you said "more religious" I thought you meant more believers. I would still doubt that going to service makes you "more religious". It may make you more church going, but isnt necessarily a reflections of the strength of your faith.