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Fundamentalists cannot stand being either ignored or rejected. That is why they must force their belief and behavior on the rest of using the force of secular law. IMHO the first thing they would legislate is forcing us to pay their tithe. They cannot exist on voluntary payments. They must compel payment to prove sancity. Effectively they are just a very elaborate protection racket. Don't pay and yopur are damned. Pay and yiou are saved.
The Religious Left was a crucial leader of the civil rights movement:
The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
The Reverend Al Sharpton
The Reverend Jesse Jackson
Furthermore Catholics, which most people assume are conservatives, actually tend to lean to the left. Catholics have tended to vote for the Democratic presidential candidate over the Republican in all but 5 elections since FDR.
The reason you don't hear much about the religious left is that, being liberals and all, they aren't out there beating you over the head with their religious dogma or attempting to force their beliefs through legislation. Also, they tend to come from Mainline Protestant denominations who tend to frown upon on pious bragging and sanctimonious behavior. You're not likely to see people try to out-Jesus each other at an Lutheran or Presbyterian gathering.
You know gomexico. My wife and I had a similar conversation about this the other day. It was a similar premise. Were Jesus walking among us today, He would more than likely be called a kook, ridiculed, and more than likely killed for his his beliefs.
Kind of effed up when you think about it.
It goes to show the truism of the saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same. And it would be today's so-called Christian right that would be leading the charge against the hippie preaching a message of love thy neighbor.
I've often thought that Jesus would weep if he could witness what has been done in his name.
It goes to show the truism of the saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same. And it would be today's so-called Christian right that would be leading the charge against the hippie preaching a message of love thy neighbor.
I've often thought that Jesus would weep if he could witness what has been done in his name.
I'm sure that He already is. I believe in God for sure, but I certainly don't play the "my God is better than your God" crap. Nor due I s**** on other people because they may be different from me, or believe differently than I do.
Me personally, I think a little God in our lives doesn't hurt anyone, but when you start persecuting others or harming others in God's name, then that is where organized (man-made) religion becomes a HUGE turn off for me! I guess I'm a bit unique in my thoughts and beliefs, but I've always felt the message was much simpler, as in your reference to what the hippies and Jesus Himself preached.
You know gomexico. My wife and I had a similar conversation about this the other day. It was a similar premise. Were Jesus walking among us today, He would more than likely be called a kook, ridiculed, and more than likely killed for his his beliefs.
Kind of effed up when you think about it.
Jesus already came back to Earth. He's living in homeless shelters and on the streets, scraping for whatever he can get to buy a bit of food.
often people forget that african americans are far more religious, on average, than white people. fundamentalist rural Christians and urban black church-goers have a great deal in common. anyhow, that is a huge segment of the 'religious left'
I think Jeremiah Wright and Jesse Jackson have both received a LOT of media attention and they have been very vocal about their political beliefs.
If you can't see all the folks who are lined up on the left, are very devout religous leaders, and yet very much political activists, you simply aren't looking.
I would also ask . . . where does Farrakhan fit in on that spectrum?
I believe the OP is being quite selective about his use of "right" and "left" religious beliefs and their connection to politics.
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