Insights into the Christian Right
Mar. 28th, 2005 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
astra_nomerMet up with a friend from high school for dinner. Let's call her Eve. We went to the same church together, too. It's funny, it's almost as if by staying in the area, her belief system hasn't changed either. She's still a born-again Christian and believes in a literal interpretation of the Bible, up to and including the Creation of the world in 7 days. She is also studying to teach high school chemistry.
Personally, I could not abide the contradictions between fundmentalist Christian beliefs and the scientific method, which is why I am no longer a Christian. At best, I'm an agnostic. I brought up the subject mostly because I'm so totally surrounded by people with similar political beliefs as me, and I just don't get where the Christian Right is coming from, despite having grown up surrounded by them.
Anyway, we had a heated discussion over dinner concerning Creationism and evolution and teaching in schools. Eve felt that by not being able to express her faith (i.e. Creationism) as an educator, her first amendment rights were beng violated. She thinks that believing in science is as much a faith as believing in God. And in some sense she may be right, even though I personally disagree.
She felt that there was more than adequate separation of church and state, and that since the Constitution was clearly founded on Judeo-Christian values, it's perfectly appropriate for the Ten Commandments to be displayed in government buildings. The Founding Fathers were Christians, what's wrong with establishing a Christian state?
I brought up the point about welfare, shouldn't a good Christian support welfare over warfare? Eve said why should it be the business of the government to provide welfare? I made the argument that it's a matter of deciding how the government should spend it's money, why shouldn't you vote for policies that give more to the poor? Eve responded that she doesn't trust the government to actually spend the money on the poor. That completely floored me. Sure, I can understand that you can't trust politicians, but that seems a little extreme.
Eve said that as an educator, she just cannot support "No Child Left Behind." But, when it came to voting last year, she had to prioritize her beliefs and values, and apparently opposition to gay marriage came out on top. I guess homosexuality is so abhorrent to her, that it was the top issue for her.
I still don't really grok the Christian right. But I consider Eve to be a fairly intelligent person, and our discussion gave me some interesting insights into the other viewpoint. I really do think she has the right to her religious beliefs. But I have the right to mine, too. And I guess it comes down to this -- the US is a democratic society, and if the majority of Americans hold a certain set of beliefs, do they have the right to impose that belief system on the rest of the country? Strictly speaking, perhaps they do. But the Constitution was also built to protect religious minorities in particular -- hence the the "no establishment of a state church" clause. Is the issue of evolution vs. creationism turning science into a religion? I really really hope not.
Personally, I could not abide the contradictions between fundmentalist Christian beliefs and the scientific method, which is why I am no longer a Christian. At best, I'm an agnostic. I brought up the subject mostly because I'm so totally surrounded by people with similar political beliefs as me, and I just don't get where the Christian Right is coming from, despite having grown up surrounded by them.
Anyway, we had a heated discussion over dinner concerning Creationism and evolution and teaching in schools. Eve felt that by not being able to express her faith (i.e. Creationism) as an educator, her first amendment rights were beng violated. She thinks that believing in science is as much a faith as believing in God. And in some sense she may be right, even though I personally disagree.
She felt that there was more than adequate separation of church and state, and that since the Constitution was clearly founded on Judeo-Christian values, it's perfectly appropriate for the Ten Commandments to be displayed in government buildings. The Founding Fathers were Christians, what's wrong with establishing a Christian state?
I brought up the point about welfare, shouldn't a good Christian support welfare over warfare? Eve said why should it be the business of the government to provide welfare? I made the argument that it's a matter of deciding how the government should spend it's money, why shouldn't you vote for policies that give more to the poor? Eve responded that she doesn't trust the government to actually spend the money on the poor. That completely floored me. Sure, I can understand that you can't trust politicians, but that seems a little extreme.
Eve said that as an educator, she just cannot support "No Child Left Behind." But, when it came to voting last year, she had to prioritize her beliefs and values, and apparently opposition to gay marriage came out on top. I guess homosexuality is so abhorrent to her, that it was the top issue for her.
I still don't really grok the Christian right. But I consider Eve to be a fairly intelligent person, and our discussion gave me some interesting insights into the other viewpoint. I really do think she has the right to her religious beliefs. But I have the right to mine, too. And I guess it comes down to this -- the US is a democratic society, and if the majority of Americans hold a certain set of beliefs, do they have the right to impose that belief system on the rest of the country? Strictly speaking, perhaps they do. But the Constitution was also built to protect religious minorities in particular -- hence the the "no establishment of a state church" clause. Is the issue of evolution vs. creationism turning science into a religion? I really really hope not.
