Two rules on religion and politics (illegal, controversial, deaths, marijuana)

[bawac34618]

I found these on another site and I really agree here. I would like to get thoughts from both liberal and conservative perspectives?

1. The Bible can be used to support just about any reasonable political opinion. It is neither conservative nor liberal.

2. If you are going to be taken seriously in politics, you can't use "because the Bible says so" as the only rationale for any policy. You can use it as one reason, but if it is your only one it will never fly in our country. We don't live in a theocracy, so you have to have practical reasons behind policy proposals.

In terms of today's most controversial issues, I think abortion is a legitimate debate because there are practical reasons, beyond "the Bible says so" to oppose it. The same argument cannot be made for same-sex marriage, which is opposed for religious reasons only. Same with other social issues like marijuana. Thoughts?

[T0103E]

Yes, I'd agree with those. Not sure I'd agree that the social issues you mentioned are the most controversial, but I agree with your point.

This is actually the thing that lead me to libertarianism when I first got interested in politics. My family was religious, but I came to the conclusion on my own that just because I'm against something for personal reasons doesn't make it okay to force on others by way of the state.

I'm not religious as I was at the time, so I kind of appreciate that past-me was that objective.

[jacqueg]

I concur with those points.

Here in the US, you're gonna need more than a bible quote to justify a law. Even many christians agree.

[chadgates]

Right.

I argue this point with my church family all the time.

I think abortion is abhorrently immoral, but I would never consider reversing that law.

The gay marriage thing, while many Christians have a hard time articulating it, goes back to the idea of marriage being a holy thing ordained by God. There are many analogous lines of thought throughout the Bible concerning Jesus and the Church "His bride" and how a loving, respectful holy marriage should be lived out on Earth. So, although it sounds superficial to some, many Christians have a problem with the TERM marriage (ie redefining marriage) being applied to what is thought to be a less traditional marriage.

[r small]

Religion and politics by themselves are fine. But mixed together make for a particularly nasty brew.

[OwlAndSparrow]

Very good points.

Yeah, there really isn't a good argument against gay marriage outside of strict religious prohibitions, and even those ignore the fact that people have been getting married outside of Christian society for millennia. Yes, marriage is a Christian sacrament, but that's not all that it is. It's also a part of human culture all over the world. Christians shouldn't get to make the rules for everyone else.

Abortion is something that many religious people feel strongly about, but the debate itself isn't inherently religious. The biblical references in abortion debates are just edicts about murder. The real question is whether or not abortion is murder or which abortions could be considered murder. It's probably a trickier question than either side wants to admit, and both sides seem to want to attribute malicious motives to the other, which helps no one.

[cb at sea]

The reason for Roe vs. Wade was to stop the deaths of women who were getting illegal, backstreet abortions...they were dying horrible deaths. The mothers were, in essence, being murdered and the legalization of abortion was to stop those deaths and to give women who were hell-bent on getting an abortion a safe way to do so. Because, if you really, really want one, a law won't stop you.

[burdell]

Originally Posted by r small

Religion and politics by themselves are fine. But mixed together make for a particularly nasty brew.

I agree. IMO, those who place their religion ahead of their country are better suited to the clergy than the White House.