Current Events > I never understood why religious Christians tend to be Republican

(+) Yeah! (+)

The party's values are literally opposite the core values of Christianity (loving thy neighbor, providing for the weak/poor, etc). I have nothing against Christianity in itself, but it seems like so many people twist it or cherry pick things like gay marriage to fit their own values. Like how can you call yourself a good Christian and simultaneously want to kick out all the illegals?

It basically comes down to abortion, really.
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Taxation is theft and theft is not Christan-like

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Because modern Christianity has nothing to do with the teachings of Christ. Whatsoever.

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Because the Republicans whole bit is to manipulate them?

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Endgame posted...

It basically comes down to abortion, really.

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Endgame posted...

It basically comes down to abortion, really.

This.

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umax555 posted...

The party's values are literally opposite the core values of Christianity (loving thy neighbor, providing for the weak/poor, etc). I have nothing against Christianity in itself, but it seems like so many people twist it or cherry pick things like gay marriage to fit their own values. Like how can you call yourself a good Christian and simultaneously want to kick out all the illegals?

Because Christianity in America is more about how hating abortion and rights for brown people

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The main argument Ive seen posited is that the government shouldnt be doing X, which seems arbitrary but whatever >_>

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The weird thing I keep seeing pop up from conservative Christians on Gamefaqs is that "charity is good, but the government shouldn't -make- us do it."

As a Christian, charity should be the priority, but you'll always see private control of funds be higher priority than that.

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umax555 posted...

The party's values are literally opposite the core values of Christianity (loving thy neighbor, providing for the weak/poor, etc). I have nothing against Christianity in itself, but it seems like so many people twist it or cherry pick things like gay marriage to fit their own values. Like how can you call yourself a good Christian and simultaneously want to kick out all the illegals?

Churches do provide for the poor themselves. Many probably don't see the need for/observe the consistent waste and incompetence of government aid. That being said, churches in my experience tend to be more sympathetic to government programs for the poor than people give them credit for. A lot of it is they see the open hostility of large portions of the left to people of faith and vote accordingly

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I'm more of a Libertarian tbh

us Christian Libertarians are good people, you lot should make friends with one

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Magyar15 posted...

Churches do provide for the poor themselves. Many probably don't see the need for/observe the consistent waste and incompetence of government aid. That being said, churches in my experience tend to be more sympathetic to government programs for the poor than people give them credit for. A lot of it is they see the open hostility of large portions of the left to people of faith and vote accordingly

I don't buy that last bit. The "open hostility of the left" is almost entirely limited to dying forums and social media.

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ohnoitschris posted...

I'm more of a Libertarian tbh

us Christian Libertarians are good people, you lot should make friends with one

Christian Libertarian.... thats an oxymoron.

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Abortion is one part of it, but there's also anti-homosexuality block (which came more from Paul than Jesus) which means they aren't going to side with the people who are pro LGBT.

Guide posted...

I don't buy that last bit. The "open hostility of the left" is almost entirely limited to dying forums and social media.

Social media is really influential, unfortunately. Also, the regular media is also both extremely ignorant of the lives/institutions of religious people and partly for that reason, is extremely hostile to aspects of it that they don't understand. For example, see the current reporting on Amy Coney Barrett.

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I think its because Christianity is about tradition which is a pretty big aspect for Republicans.
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Republicans cater to them. Liberals actually care about people so that means they support the LGBTQ and other religions like Muslims...Christians can't have that now. Also, Abortion...Those few issues have made it easy for corrupt politicians who are in the closet to invoke Jesus' name for votes...

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Abortion

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religious people are easily manipulable

republicans drive up fear

easy

Maybe because you don't try to understand.

As a Christian who knows many Christians, most of which vote Republican, it's not because they agree with all GOP policies, it's because Christians tend to be one issue voters and that issue is abortion. If you can't understand this, you don't understand Christianity.

Unsugarized_Foo posted...

Taxation is theft and theft is not Christan-like

Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's".

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Most don't read the Bible or Jesus' words. They repeat with their preachers tell them and many if not most preachers focus more on the OT with the mad, jealous, and vengeful god. At least that's how it is down south in my experiences.

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TheKingOf-Kings posted...

Christian Libertarian.... thats an oxymoron.

christian originalism was for all intents and purposes left-libertarian

tolstoy's writings on the topic had an awful lot to say about the evils of the state

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Southernfatman posted...

Most don't read the Bible or Jesus' words. They repeat with their preachers tell them and many if not most preachers focus more on the OT with the mad, jealous, and vengeful god. At least that's how it is down south in my experiences.

Well yea, most Christians tend to pick and choose what they follow, because their religion is just a way for them to keep certain people down while still feeling morally superior. For some reason we've made religion untouchable in this country, so anyone who hides behind it somehow feels they're the better person, even while shouting slurs at gay people or praising the death of a minority.

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Because Republicans want to force everyone to live a Christian life

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A lot of bigotry in this topic

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Republicans embrace the evangelicals and cater to them whereas the Dems don't. There should be a clear separation of church and state and policy shouldn't be dictated by religious views but the reality is they will always be a major voting bloc. As long as Republicans keep meeting them at the door, they will keep swaying further to the right.

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nexigrams posted...

Because modern Christianity has nothing to do with the teachings of Christ. Whatsoever.

This.

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christians are weird to me

you have a short life and then you're going to heaven for eternity and you choose to get a job, have kids, go to church every once in a while, try to be good but not always

It sounds like there's some doubt there, because if I believed that 100% I'd be a christ-like monk for my short time on earth to guarantee my chance at eternity

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umax555 posted...

cherry pick things like gay marriage

https://i.imgur.com/Zc5tAPY.jpg?1

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Christianity is the antithesis of Jesus philosophy so it makes perfect sense.

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Republicans and Christians are afraid of just about everything and are a perfect fit.

Theres also the myth of prosperity where the most pious are rewarded financially by God and hence supply-side Jesus. Its really how well-off suburban whites reconcile with the collectivist and ascetic teachings of Jesus.

They also get the warm and fuzzy feeling of knowing that they are saved due to the having a personal relationship with Jesus and that most of humanity will burn. Its how people deluded themselves to think that they are Gods chosen people.

You know why some people are so upset about quarantine restrictions on church services? Its because they cant be seen at the church itself. They cant theologically divest a relationship with God from a building.

And the thing is Im not as critical of religion as I seem, Ive just become disgusted with American Protestantism over the last several years.

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Both tend heavily towards conservatism, wherein status-quo is the ideal.

UnhndredDescole posted...

That story about the fig tree always seemed weird

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https://www.reddit.com/r/RadicalChristianity/

Endgame posted...

It basically comes down to abortion, really.

Which is funny because The Bible doesnt even say that life begins at conception.


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VonOrdelia posted...

That story about the fig tree always seemed weird

Note that Jesus cursed that one specific fig tree. Not all of them.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Note that Jesus cursed that one specific fig tree. Not all of them.

That's the thing it wasn't even the proper season for figs and he's Jesus why not just make their be figs?

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Magyar15 posted...

A lot of bigotry in this topic

Thing is...

nexigrams posted...

Because modern Christianity has nothing to do with the teachings of Christ. Whatsoever.

This post is mostly correct. Humans have warped the original ideas behind Christ's teachings into the ultimate weapon. They pick a few lines from the Bible, yank them out of their original context, and use their own invented context to mold the lines into a set of rules that forever damns those different from them. I've seen both "correct" and "incorrect" usage of the Bible's words. My dad and a bunch of other church members helped many during the horrific aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Dad was essentially the people/resource manager for the recovery. He and the others did this out of a Christ-based love for their neighbor. This is what Christianity should be about.

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VonOrdelia posted...

That's the thing it wasn't even the proper season for figs and he's Jesus why not just make their be figs?

The fish and loaves incident tells us that Jesus needs something to work with for the dupe glitch.

This is what we call in the research world a confounding variable. Just because there is a correlation between being Christian and being Republican, does not mean that one causes the other or that there is a direct effect (in most cases).

From what I have seen, both tend to stem from a third (confounding) variable: rural living. People in rural areas are more likely to be Republican due to conservative policies (supposedly) benefiting their way of life. People in rural areas are also more traditionally church-going and Christian. I experienced this when I lived in Oklahoma for almost a decade.

Once you start to move to urban areas, you start finding more Christian Democrats. It's more about location than it is anything else.

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mustachedmystic posted...

Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's".

Caesar ain't need shit - Saul

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Questionmarktarius posted...

The fish and loaves incident tells us that Jesus needs something to work with for the dupe glitch.

I'm suddenly thinking of the dupe glitch from Oblivion where I used to like flood the area with cheese wedges lol

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"See, what he really meant was..."

The Christian/Republican motto.

Edit: I grew up Christian in a small town (was confirmed and all that jazz) and the amount of hypocrisy the Christians spout was enough to turn me away.


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Eat More Beef posted...

"See, what he really meant was..."

The Christian/Republican motto.

I've never heard the fig tree thing adequately explained in any way other than "even Jesus had a bad day sometimes"

Eat More Beef posted...

Edit: I grew up Christian in a small town (was confirmed and all that jazz) and the amount of hypocrisy the Christians spout was enough to turn me away.

Can Christ be blamed for the hypocrisy of humanity?

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VonOrdelia posted...

I'm suddenly thinking of the dupe glitch from Oblivion where I used to like flood the area with cheese wedges lol

It's closer to walking on water where there isn't proper wild Pokemon data and duplicating the fish/loaves in his sixth item slot

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On_The_Edge posted...

Maybe because you don't try to understand.

As a Christian who knows many Christians, most of which vote Republican, it's not because they agree with all GOP policies, it's because Christians tend to be one issue voters and that issue is abortion. If you can't understand this, you don't understand Christianity.

This, to an extent. It has more to do with a two party system problem that just can't be resolved unless human behavior changes completely. I'll use the example of the user score on an IMDB page for a movie. Notice how majority of the votes are either 1's or 10's? Why? Well imagine if you saw a movie you think deserves a lower or high score than what is shown, you know a score 2-9 won't make that big of a dent from say extremes like a 1 or a 10.

The same concept of extremes are kind of put into our 2 party system. Back then we had like 13 different political ties but the results were always the same, the same 2 parties would always get the majority of the votes because they are the polar opposites.

So Christians are stuck to pick between 2 parties, both in which they are not going to agree on everything. So what Christians have to do is put a priority list on what they deem as important and vote according to it. Difference is Republicans come to embrace the Christians with their "God and Christianity is #1" mantra. And yes there are others like "church and state should not be seperated", "abortion", "gay marriage", "war on drugs", etc.

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