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How religion affects political decisions
Compare and Contrast Liberalism and Conservatism
Compare and Contrast Liberalism and Conservatism
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Finally, the major theme both sides agree with is that “there exists a transcendent moral order, which we ought to try and conform the ways of society.” (Kirk 7). A big fear for both sides is that liberals hold no absolute morals because “there is a secular faith here in the capacity of the ‘autonomous’ individual to create his own moral order, to perfect his humanity by a process of original ‘creativity’” (Kristol 2. 157). This is problematic because it can lead to arbitrary laws not based on moral grounds; “If society—if the state gives us the rights, it can take them away—they’re not inalienable” (Schaeffer 2). Conservatives hold that there are absolute morals which should guide the way our society is shaped. If there are no absolute morals, …show more content…
Largely, this is because “the [modern] conservative seeks to protect the elaborate social edifice which, under Providence, has developed in America—our government of laws and not of men…” (Kirk 44). The major difference between these two views is the evangelicals come across as defensive, while this view comes across as prudent. This tendency toward caution, instead of self-protection leaves modern conservatism open to more people than evangelical conservatism. However, modern conservatives could help bring evangelicals become more diverse because they “…[understand] the importance of religion in the life of the political community” (Kristol 1. 381). In other words, evangelicals do not have to defend their views with modern conservatives like they do with liberals. This allows for better political discourse, thus better diversity. This means that evangelicals could potentially change political engagement from defensive, to prudent. This in turn would help diversify evangelical Christians because they could focus their energy on adding to the discourse instead of defending what they feel are constant encroachments on their
Conservative jurisprudence can be understood as an agenda of conserving existing conditions, upholding restricted rights in cases concerning individual, society, and sexual liberty interests in order to retain in its traditional style as similar in the past as possible whereas liberal jurisprudence place itself with a constitutional theory that expand individual rights. By applying these ideologies in the interpretation of the legislation, it can be said that conservatives will interpret the text as a rulebook to be followed strictly as possible and they are able to justify employing the narrowest level of generality in their analyses of
Square Peg: Why Wesleyans Aren't Fundamentalists, a book edited by Al Truesdale and published by Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, examines two significantly different ways of understanding the nature and role of the Bible that mark different parts of Christ’s church. The first is represented by fundamentalism; the second by Wesleyan theology. The goal of the book is to help persons in Wesleyan denominations clearly understand the differences between Wesleyan theology and fundamentalist theology, and that even though both are of the Christian faith, how the theology between the two are incompatible with one another. “Without becoming divisive or claiming perfection in Christian doctrine, the various denominations hold theological positions that reflect their Christian experience, history and understanding of the Scriptures.” (loc 124 Kindle, Truesdale) Wesleyans believe that the proof of the gospel reside primarily in how a person lives their life and “not in logic and argumentation.” (loc 160 Kindle, Truesdale) They support the policy of that to get a better understanding of their faith, is the result of all fields of human exploration and research, from scientific to historical.
Let us begin by noting that any basic social structure faithful to liberal principles of political justice will inevitably prove nonneutral in its effects on many comprehensive doctrines and ways of life. This will be true for politically unreasonable doctrines and ways of life (militantly theocratic doctrines, or ways of life centered on violating the basic rights of others). But it may also prove true for comprehensive doctrines and ways of life more or less unopposed to most liberal political values (perhaps the doctrines or ways of life of certain traditional or anti-modern religious sects).
...ir political issues being supported or not. Non-evangelicals supported the moral cod of the evangelicals. When the evangelicals isolated themselves, they let the American culture to grew more secular. Evangelicals did not notice the change in American politics nor did they involve themselves in politics till their subculture was attacked. In academics, though they still did not care for it, they started to be more accepting of secular ideology. Though they are involved with the American culture and politics, evangelicals today are still partially isolated, like they still refrain from immoral music, television, and dancing. They are also involved with church activities. But the isolation of the ‘Christian Bubble’ does not do God’s will of showing God’s love to the world.
...ered a depth of understanding of the progression of the fundamentalist movement, and through that have come to better appreciate its impact on American culture. I have also obtained a better outlook on how the movement’s leaders interpreted and responded to their context which lead to further developments of fundamentalism. Previous assumptions of this movement have been reevaluated and adjusted from a flat narcissistic view of militarism fundamentalism to one that seeings the complex nuances within the overall movement. I appreciated the comprehensive analysis that included both the intellectual and social forces which made the whole movement comprehendible to the reader. One can see clearly where the antebellum period, Baconism, Common Sense realism, Premillennialism, Pietism, and many other influences contributed to the fundamentalist view within American society.
The Liberals value protecting and helping those who cannot for themselves, promotes fairness likes nurturing and strengthening oneself in order to help others. Project this into nation we see how the liberals hold the view that it is the duty of the government to alleviate social ills and to protect civil liberties and individual human rights. In other words Liberal policies generally emphasize the need for the government to solve problems while conservative policies generally emphasize empowerment of the individuals to solve problems. Conservatives value self discipline, responsibility and self reliance, upholding of established moral order then use of punishment to establish respect for authority. This serves as the basis of the view that government role should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own
Starting during the 1970s, factions of American conservatives slowly came together to form a new and more radical dissenting conservative movement, the New Right. The New Right was just as radical as its liberal opposite, with agendas to increase government involvement beyond the established conservative view of government’s role. Although New Right politicians made admirable advances to dissemble New Deal economic policies, the movement as a whole counters conservativism and the ideologies that America was founded on. Although the New Right adopts conservative economic ideologies, its social agenda weakened the conservative movement by focusing public attention to social and cultural issues that have no place within the established Old Right platform.
In the first chapter of Nathan Hatch’s book, The Democratization of American Christianity, he immediately states his central theme: democratization is central to understanding the development of American Christianity. In proving the significance of his thesis, he examines five distinct traditions of Christianity that developed in the nineteenth century: the Christian movement, Methodists, Baptists, Mormons and black churches. Despite these groups having diverse structural organization and theological demeanor, they all shared the commonality of the primacy of the individual conscience.
White evangelicalism has been working to help increase racial diversity amongst religion. However, their efforts seem to be failing. It is becoming more and more apparent through history, social life, and politics, that white evangelicalism is not doing the right things to help desegregate the black evangelicals. "Despite devoting consid¬erable time and energy to solving the problem of racial division, white evangelicalism likely does more to perpetuate the racialized society than to reduce it" (170). Much more needs to be done in the coming decades to ensure that we can reduce racial inequalities in the church, and hopefully one day close the gap to nothing, creating an all inclusive Christian church.
The conservative movement has played a crucial role in American politics in the post war era. Ronald Story and Bruce Laurie indentify various elements of the American conservatism. These elements include challenging authoritarian governments and modernist culture, upholding tradition, Christian religion and the rule of law, defending western civilization, and supporting republicanism. American conservatism has been characterized by competing ideologies and tension throughout history. The Americans who are politically liberal and economically conservative favor free trade, minimal state intervention, low taxes, and a small government. On the other hand, conservatives hold the view that American traditional values are normally undermined by secularism. Social conservatives have always opposed same-sex marriages and abortion, and instead have been supporting the idea of integrating prayer into the school curriculum (Story and Laurie 1).
The pieces on liberalism and conservatism has shown how different the two ideologies mean compared to the labels we see in American politics. The media has made it seems as though conservatives (which in the U.S. is becoming synonymous with Republican) is all against change, while liberals (Democrats) lie in the exact opposite of the spectrum: promoting changes. However, the essays by Locke, Berlin, and Oakeshott showed us how the two ideologies are much deeper than that. It is not just a manual of how to govern a nation, but rather ideals and philosophies. Furthermore, while contemporary politics have created an illusion that there is a clear and definite distinction between liberalism and conservatism, these essays show that they actually do overlap in many ways. In "Two Concepts of Liberty", Berlin categorizes liberty as "positive" and "negative". Positive liberty defines freedom as an individual being able to control his life and decisions in his own interests. On the other hand, in negative liberty, freedom exist when an individual is free from external interference. The major difference between the two concepts of liberty is that positive liberty focuses on the capability of an...
The Democrat Party’s and Republican Party’s ideologies and beliefs differ greatly from one another on all different issues. Their political cultures, which are defined as “the set of values, beliefs, and attitudes within which a political system operates” (Moten, 40) are very different from one another. They argue and disagree on issues that range from how the economy and the government should be run, to social issues such as gay marriage and abortion. I intend to compare the cultures of each political party, and in the process of doing so, show what issues both parties stand for and what they are against.
It is therefore belived that the many existing moralities in the world are founded on five psychological systems. These include the psychological preparations for detecting and reacting emotionally to issues related to harm/care, fairness/reciprocity, ingroup/loyalty, authority/respect, and purity/sanctity (Haidt & Graham, 2007, p. 1). A careful look at the five foundations shows that the first two, which include harm/care and fairness/reciprocity, are usually directed outwards towards other people, even to those outside the group. The other three, that is ingroup, authority and purity, are directed inwards towards the group itself. Liberals have moral intuition based on the first two foundations, that is harm/care, and fairness/reciprocity. Conservatives on the other hand normally rely upon all the five foundations.
American fundamentalism and American evangelicalism seem to go hand in hand. Evangelicalism and fundamentalism both stress life based on the bible, repentance, and a personal relationship with God. No one would deny the massive influence that fundamentalism had on evangelicalism or the similarities between the two. Although some historians would suggest that evangelicalism was experiential and sectarian while fundamentalism was conservative and anti-modernist, it is clear that fundamentalism would never have survived as long as it has if it was not able to adapt to modernity and exist within a pluralist society.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a taut and engaging piece of fiction, exploring the growing chasm between the East and the West. Mohsin Hamid has used a rather unique narrative mode- the dramatic monologue –and used it skillfully to weave an account of a young Pakistani’s class aspirations and inner struggle in corporate America. Throughout the novel, Hamid maintains a tense atmosphere, an atmosphere of imminent danger and radical violence. What results from the two devices is an allegorical reconstruction of post-9/11 tensions, and an inflective young man’s infatuation and disenchantment with America.