Guys – have a quick puff of your joint before heading down the aisle with your boyfriend. In addition to re-electing Obama, various American states voted to legalise dope and gay marriage. OK, so they weren't necessarily the same states, but you get the picture. Last night was a victory for secular liberal America – or, to put it another way, America's emerging secular liberal majority.
Read the whole thing.
So...is he right? I'll just put this out there for comments.
PS: As long as we're on the subject of Britain, the Church of England just chose a (relatively) conservative evangelical for the new Archbishop of Canterbury. Given the liberal mainline status of the Episcopal Church USA (the US affiliate of the Church of England), expect sparks.
is he right? maybe, but then again most of what he said reflects my desires.Without a strong conservative Republican party it's likely the US will follow the same course as Europe. As individual states pass laws that survive federal challenges liberal legislation will persist and grow regardless of how opposed the other states are. That being said the Republican party is by no means weak. Most state legislatures are predominantly republican. Congress is gridlocked still and the supreme court has been strikingly conservative besides supporting healthcare.
ReplyDeleteStates legalizing gay marriage and recreational marijuana is a great step forward but, if the federal government reacts decisively against those laws this may prove to only be a flash in the pan. I love the idea and the logic of the article relating the US as slowly becoming like Europe but since it sounds almost too good to be true i have to question it.
This article is essentially about the continuously widening gap between Christians and politics. Since the beginning of our nation there has been an attempt to separate church and state. In the first amendment it says that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" regardless of this there are still laws and people fighting for laws that have an underlying religious agenda. Recently secular liberal Americans have been winning. With more and more non religious 20 somethings being able to vote and more liberal politicians, certain states are becoming more European.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the idea of a more liberal "Euro" America is nice, but in all honesty, I don't think it will actually happen. At least not in the next 15 years.
I don't really see this as the end of Christianity and politics. I'll admit that I was lectured by my Tea Party-supporting Family as to the moral and spiritual ramifications of supporting the president, but again I see this more as merely the transformation of what the marriage between Christianity and politics.
ReplyDeleteAs Christians are we less concerned about abortion and gay marriage? I am, at least. I don't see that as the major issue of our time, and I believe that Christianity isn't necessarily leaving the political spectrum as much as it is "evolving" (jab intended).
I don't think we're so much becoming Europe so much as we are catching up with the rest of civilized western civilization.
I don’t know if I would go so far as to say that the Religious Right is dead. I see it more as they’re taking a moment to gather their thoughts and round up their troops so they can combat the recent liberal headway that has been made throughout the country. It’s obvious that America, as a whole, isn’t as conservative as it was even 100 years ago, but I don’t think this means that the Republican Party has given up their hopes of having their Christian values mandated to the entire country from Washington. In fact, I see Christian Republicans coming together stronger than ever for the 2016 election in an attempt to ensure that a candidate who stanchly supports conservative Christian values lands in the White House.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree that the American religious right is "dead", but they are on the decline in my opinion. In the U.S. we see signs of it everyday. The growing support for marijuana legalization and same-sex marriage are just two examples of many. The number of people attending church is declining, while the rates of divorce and non-traditional families are going up as people become less bound to religious tradition. The decline of adherence to these values among Americans is evident in the most recent election, where many voters were turned off by the conservative religious values of the GOP.
ReplyDeletePart of what helped re-elect the President was large support from young, progressive voters. As these voters grow older and spread into society they will likely phase out many conservative ideas that are being preserved by previous generations. It is unlikely the religious right will ever be completely dead, but there path of decline is likely to continue considering the changing political, social, and religious atmosphere in America.
As a statement in general, no, I do not think the Religious right is dead. Can it ever really be dead? No. I think that some of the liberal voters for marijuana and same sex marriage identify with some sort of religion and some Christian churches accept homosexual congregates. Things change and times change, generations evolve along with those changes. Religious right will never die, even if it becomes smaller and less influential, it will still be there, waiting to rise again.
ReplyDeleteI don’t agree that religion in politics is dead; rather, it is changing and pulling itself away from the right, or at least not solely affiliating itself with the right. Religious voters have come, in my opinion, to understand that corrupt, ineffective government that we now have, is not doing its job. The distance between religion and politics is beginning to detach itself from one another. Perhaps religious voters also see the role of government as insignificant since most of the issues revolve around social and moral issues rather than economic ones. Religious voters may make a comeback with role in politics but I believe its role with the right is diminishing. Political parties are making religious voters tear their beliefs between two sides (Dems and Reps) that cannot seem to get anything done or even compromise on issues. This article shows that since the religious right is losing “support”, the left is gaining momentum thus winning the election and the passing of liberal legislation.
ReplyDeleteDR.Earnhardt
ReplyDeleteWinfield Robertson Johns
Monday, November 12, 2012
Do I agree?
I do somewhat agree that the statement suspect to explaining the way by which our society is moving towards becoming a country of no longer will there be a mandate of religious means. One may like to point to these recent decisions to say that America is becoming a non-Christian specific religious specific nation and national society. This may be true for some things but at the moment this answer is a non-cutthroat one. That is to say that yes our nation for the message of gay marriage and marijuana is becoming one of a no longer careful one however those phonetically in the far right base are still out in some areas larger than before. This answer to the question is a definite yes and no for, society as a new generation is coming is becoming a society of non-impositions, and the society as a whole is one of still a very fervent religious manner, lastly society has to die out and let the failed portion leave and this soon will be so.
I wouldn't necessarily say that religious rights in politics are dead, but rather separating from political matters, as it should be in the first place. However, there are many that solely go into political affairs due to religious reasons, such as homosexuality for instance (in the bible, it's bad, etc.. etc..) It seems as though the arguments that religious folk go for are based on the economy and well-being of the country, opposed to social issues and moral obligations that are rightfully bound to everyone. I agree that the economy and well-being is important, but also focus on social issues and moral obligations, so why can we not have both? This article just seems to be defining the widening gap between Christians and politics.
ReplyDeleteGiancarlo Lookman 11/27/12
ReplyDeleteThe article over hypes the state election results. Liberal leaning states supporting a liberal agenda doesn’t mean the religious right is dead. The article failed to mention that the Republicans held onto the house; one could interrupt that as a ‘mandate from the people.’ Also his two main points are misrepresented; It makes me wonder where he gets his information from. His first point was dead wrong, Romney received more evangelical support then McCain and even Bush (1). Also even though Obama’s faith plays less of a role then previous presidents, he is far from post Christian. During the 2008 campaign he supported the biblical creation of the universe (2); Marco Rubio recently made similar comments about his belief in the start of the universe. His main evidence is faulty which just leaves his outlandish statement with no backing.
One blog commenter made a great point that the legalization of weed might have been legalized in some states but the federal government supremacy could overturn the vote.
(1) http://times247.com/articles/romney-bests-bush-mccain-in-evangelical-support
(2) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/21/barack-obama-earth-creation_n_2170810.html