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Churches are nominally conservative. In practice, most aren't anywhere NEAR being conservative.
There are countless Christian denominations. Some are very liberal; some are very conservative. It's impossible to generalize and it depends on the denomination. I think it is safe to safe that most of the familiar denominations--Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran--are not particularly conservative. Southern Baptists, Mormons, Adventists and the Pentecostals are pretty conservative. Although Catholics are theoretically conservative, in actual practice I don't think they are except for their still official prohibitions against birth control and abortion.
There are so many threads on P&OC about evangelical and fundamentalist Christians--who are usually very conservative--that many non-church goers here probably think this group makes up a much larger percentage of total Christians than they really do.
In point of fact he was a traditionalist, but I digress. The early progressive movement in america was championed by the religious folk. However, since ww2 the progressive/socialist/liberal movement in america has been largely socialistic in nature and draws upon marx, a jewish athiest. It was marx that taught american progressives/liberals that "religion was the opiate of the masses."
Did you make this up yourself or read it in a book somewhere?
There are countless Christian denominations. Some are very liberal; some are very conservative. It's impossible to generalize and it depends on the denomination. I think it is safe to safe that most of the familiar denominations--Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran--are not particularly conservative. Southern Baptists, Mormons, Adventists and the Pentecostals are pretty conservative. Although Catholics are theoretically conservative, in actual practice I don't think they are except for their still official prohibitions against birth control and abortion.
There are so many threads on P&OC about evangelical and fundamentalist Christians--who are usually very conservative--that many non-church goers here probably think this group makes up a much larger percentage of total Christians than they really do.
I don't know where you've lived, but where I've lived (Texas, Hawaii, Alabama, Colorado, Virginia, Illinois) and where I've visited I have not seen these wonderfully progressive churches that you think are common. You can throw a rock in any direction and hit a church from where I live today and, upon close examination only ONE of the many hundreds of churches near my home would be considered "progressive/liberal".
To think this trend ends where I live is pretty silly.
Perhaps these wise words from a retired pastor provide a glimpse into why Churches appear to be more fundamentalist/conservative...
"Too many people are using religion as a sword to fight those with whom they disagree, instead of as a plowshare to help their fellow neighbors tend the land and form a community"
There are countless Christian denominations. Some are very liberal; some are very conservative. It's impossible to generalize and it depends on the denomination. I think it is safe to safe that most of the familiar denominations--Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran--are not particularly conservative. Southern Baptists, Mormons, Adventists and the Pentecostals are pretty conservative. Although Catholics are theoretically conservative, in actual practice I don't think they are except for their still official prohibitions against birth control and abortion.
There are so many threads on P&OC about evangelical and fundamentalist Christians--who are usually very conservative--that many non-church goers here probably think this group makes up a much larger percentage of total Christians than they really do.
Perhaps these wise words from a retired pastor provide a glimpse into why Churches appear to be more fundamentalist/conservative...
"Too many people are using religion as a sword to fight those with whom they disagree, instead of as a plowshare to help their fellow neighbors tend the land and form a community"
I don't know where you've lived, but where I've lived (Texas, Hawaii, Alabama, Colorado, Virginia, Illinois) and where I've visited I have not seen these wonderfully progressive churches that you think are common. You can throw a rock in any direction and hit a church from where I live today and, upon close examination only ONE of the many hundreds of churches near my home would be considered "progressive/liberal".
To think this trend ends where I live is pretty silly.
I didn't mean to infer they were politically active in a progressive way--just that the denominations I mentioned as being "liberal" don't make a big deal out of taking stands on issues the way some other churches do. At least to my knowledge, they don't. The Catholic Church is still officially pro-life and against birth control but they are active in helping immigrants in their communities. (Many of the illegal immigrants are Catholic.) My cousin is a Lutheran minister with a gay daughter and he and his wife are as liberal politically as one gets.
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