Written by: Tempus
Not that you'll ever read any of these, since it's almost a decade later, but hey.
@Kitourahime:
Someone once wrote that one of the biggest differences between progressives and conservatives is that conservatives value "tradition," while progressives do no.
I'll add something to that. Religious conservatives value tradition. They value it so much that they wish to impose it on the people around them by law or force, whether those people want it or not.
@Alethe: there are Christian fundies who regard the pain and misery of childbirth as humankind's rightful punishment by God, and hold any attempt to avoid or mitigate it using anesthesia as both a mortal sin and a crime against nature. I've met them.
Many of those same people also oppose "socialism," welfare, universal healthcare, social safety nets and unemployment insurance for the exact same reasons--because according to their dogma, after the Fall, mankind was sentenced to suffer and toil for all daily necessities until the end of time, and unless someone is both able and willing to pay for it directly out of their own pocket by the sweat of their own labor, they should not receive food, housing, or medical care (because he that does not work will not eat, etc., etc.). They fully advocate leaving the poor to die, because in this view, it's no more than man's "just punishment" for Adam and Eve's transgression in the Garden.
Those particular fundies tend to square this with Jesus' teachings on charity for the sick, unlucky and poor in one of two ways:
(1) by viewing it as having nothing to do with the poor themselves, really--they exist so that the Faithful can showcase how faithful and obedient they are by giving a portion of their hard-earned time and labor to the undeserving. In other words, God makes poor and sick people so that Christians can preen and look good.
and:
(2) "Charity" includes the tithe you give to the Church, and your church then divvies it up among those who need it. If your church runs a soup kitchen, good for them, but if aid is solely administered to members of that church based on ministerial fiat, well, that's fine, too. After all, Jesus said to help your brothers--and he OBVIOUSLY meant the members of the church. If po' folks want any help, well, they can join a church. And if the church decides to use the tithes to expand a parking lot or add a multimedia wing, well, it's God's money now.
These people rarely seem to feel much compunction to give to charities outside their church. Their charity requirement is fully satisfied, after all.
