Christian voting...

[Corvus]

Why is it that so many Christian Americans vote Republican? Is it because liberal Christianity doesn't really have a hold in America?

Wouldn't more liberal policies, like charity and equitable division of wealth, be more suited to Christian principles? Or is Republican party traditionalism seen as more important than sacrificing income?

[ST88]

But in socialist policies, the individuals have no free choice on who to help. It is the government that decides the allocation of funds...

I freely give a large percentage of my time and money to various charities. And now on top of this, the government expects me to pay even more money for programs that I don't want to support.

I strongly believe it is up to individuals to help other individuals. I do not want a third party bureaucracy who has no stake in the matter to be involved. If all individuals would give their time and money to help others, there'd be far less problems in the world. Or even if the Church would obey the Bible and help the disadvantaged, that in itself would probably solve all the problems.

When I give money, I try to give directly to the organization and without going through some middleman. It is much more efficient use of funds to give directly. And the government is even more inefficient than private organization such as the United Way.

Also, private charities are much more effective than governmental agencies. One reason is that the people who work in the private charities have a personal passion for their cause. Often pay is little, so there has to be some personal overriding reason for them to be involved in it.

Anyways, I believe that it's up to individuals to care for others and it's not the role of the government to do it.

I disagree with your basic premise. While it is more efficient in a monetary sense to directly donate to specific charities, it is not necessarily better for society as a whole. By offering grants to different charities from a general pool of available funds, the government is giving a chance to charities that may not be popular enough to attract enough funds, or do not have the advertising machinery to get their message out to the population.

Democrats such as myself favor the general disbursement model of charitable giving because they recognize the danger of making value judgments about whether or not one charity is more deserving of funds than another. There are questions about whether or not the charity is legitimate and how much money it requires to do its work, but there is no quantifiable amount of being deserving.

I think this is what many Christians object to -- that organizations such as Planned Parenthood are treated as bureaucratic equals to other non-divisive charities. The question here is, Can government force its citizens to support causes that they may disagree with or find abhorrent? I say, Yes they can, to protect the minority from the tyrrany of the majority. In my view, a primary role of government is to protect its citizens from a free market, whether it's free market capitalism or free market charitable giving.

I want for there to be a bureaucratic middleman who has no "stake" in the charity involved to be spending the money on charitable giving. I want my government to be dispassionate about the help it gives to its citizens, if only because it recognizes that there are people who need help, and that the type of help is not relevant to the need for it.

[otseng]

I disagree with your basic premise. While it is more efficient in a monetary sense to directly donate to specific charities, it is not necessarily better for society as a whole. By offering grants to different charities from a general pool of available funds, the government is giving a chance to charities that may not be popular enough to attract enough funds, or do not have the advertising machinery to get their message out to the population.

Economics and politics are areas I enjoy discussing and would love to engage in some dialogue on. However, it would really deviate from the intent of this thread. Or if you can somehow relate it to religion, feel free to start a thread on it.

[ST88]

Economics and politics are areas I enjoy discussing and would love to engage in some dialogue on. However, it would really deviate from the intent of this thread. Or if you can somehow relate it to religion, feel free to start a thread on it.

I had hoped that I did relate this to religion. Christian objections to the Democratic position on charitable giving tend to cause them to vote Republican. The Republican position tends not to give government support to any charitable causes (or, in practice, to indicate their opposition to it), and so are not objectionable to Christians. And because the reach of government is a fundamental issue between Democrats and Republicans, this is a viable distinction.

[Crixus]

I had hoped that I did relate this to religion. Christian objections to the Democratic position on charitable giving tend to cause them to vote Republican. The Republican position tends not to give government support to any charitable causes (or, in practice, to indicate their opposition to it), and so are not objectionable to Christians. And because the reach of government is a fundamental issue between Democrats and Republicans, this is a viable distinction.

I disagree completely, most Christians I know would find themselves on the far Left, except for one distinction which is of great importance to them, the Democratic, I know they are not really Left but they are the American pretend-Left, position on abortion and their tendency to embrace groups which often seem, or sometimes in fact are, anti-Christian. Abortion is the largest issue really because it is viewed as indiscriminate killing, and whether or not you agree with that view it is still of great importance to Christians. Obviously being myself a hard-line Leftist, I weep at the fact that Christians, as I see it, are duped into following a group of people who only care about the Christians as far as their backing yields large quantities of wealth to the elite, and an exemption for the exploitation of the masses.

[Angry McFurious]

Why is it that so many Christian Americans vote Republican? Is it because liberal Christianity doesn't really have a hold in America?

Wouldn't more liberal policies, like charity and equitable division of wealth, be more suited to Christian principles? Or is Republican party traditionalism seen as more important than sacrificing income?

if thats all you see between these political partys your a blind man.

Also what is your source for knowing more christians are Rep and not Liberal? After all this is "Liberal America". It has more to do with your location in the country than religion in my opinion.

[perspective]

Why is it that so many Christian Americans vote Republican? Is it because liberal Christianity doesn't really have a hold in America?

Wouldn't more liberal policies, like charity and equitable division of wealth, be more suited to Christian principles? Or is Republican party traditionalism seen as more important than sacrificing income?

if thats all you see between these political partys your a blind man.

Also what is your source for knowing more christians are Rep and not Liberal? After all this is "Liberal America". It has more to do with your location in the country than religion in my opinion.

You might question the wisdom in insulting a moderator. Please refer to Rule #1, and refrain from personal attacks, no matter how mild they seem to you. Also, for your information, those of us who debate with Corvus on a regular basis, and those of us who read his other posts - both here and at America's Debate, know that he is summarizing and not simply lacking depth or intelligence. Please be slower to judge and quicker to offer your own in-depth analysis of statements that you feel to be lacking depth.

[Angry McFurious]

So you are deny this is not a "Liberal America" or that Location of the country does not influence your political party? P.S. Rule one is over used when someone disagrees.

[Angry McFurious]

if thats all you see between these political partys your a blind man.

I did not call him a blind man. "you are a blind man" is a personal attack. Have a nice day

[Angry McFurious]

I had hoped that I did relate this to religion. Christian objections to the Democratic position on charitable giving tend to cause them to vote Republican. The Republican position tends not to give government support to any charitable causes (or, in practice, to indicate their opposition to it), and so are not objectionable to Christians. And because the reach of government is a fundamental issue between Democrats and Republicans, this is a viable distinction.

I disagree completely, most Christians I know would find themselves on the far Left, except for one distinction which is of great importance to them, the Democratic, I know they are not really Left but they are the American pretend-Left, position on abortion and their tendency to embrace groups which often seem, or sometimes in fact are, anti-Christian.

Proof now. Bible belt. Region of the contry being the south. Right wing holds the majority of christians. Happy now?

[Lotan]

Here's some scary stuff...

"33 Extreme Reasons to Give Bush the Boot"

http://www.buzzflash.com/farrell/04/08/far04029.html