Minn. Star Tribune: The things that separate us

[wildflower]

I wanted to paste so much more in...

the whole article is at

http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/4986723.html
(you may get a reigstration required page)

The Things That Separate Us

Dane Smith and Eric Black, Star Tribune
September 18, 2004

While it's a stretch to say that the nation is splitting apart over politics, it is divided in a new way over morality and religion. These issues are a growing source of tension, according to experts, polls and interviews with Minnesota voters.

snip

This "religiosity" split has been widely noted by those who think political discord is abnormally high in America today, but religious differences have long been tied to political differences in American and Minnesota history. Protestants have tended to vote Republican and Catholics have been Democrats. But that's changing somewhat.

Nowadays, most observers agree, the denominational divide is disappearing and the splits are occurring within the larger faiths. Evangelical Protestants and traditionalist Catholics are separating against mainstream Protestants and the non-religious.

snip

Republicans were more likely than Democrats to name "abortion" and "same-sex" marriage as moral issues. Democrats were more likely than Republicans to name "the gap between rich and poor" and "expanding health care to all Americans."

[UpInArms]

1. biggest difference

GOP tries to legislate morality and wants to watch what you do in every moment of your life - growing the government into "Big Brother"

Dems want to inject ethics into the debate - why people succeed or fail in life - based on principles and honesty - doesn't necessarily grow the government, but makes it accountable

Wish people could just see through all the garbage and realize they are going to have to live in the world that they make.

[Shallah Kali]

2. GOP wants to control individuals but let corps do whatever they want

Dems are not so concerned about individuals but want to restrain the Enrons of the world. That is my take on the differences.

[wildflower]

3. The article has an interesting thesis on how this started in the 60s

Snips from th next section of the article:

----
A '60s hangover

Some observers trace the intrusion of religion and morality into politics to the sexual and social revolutions of the 1960s. Abortion and gay rights simply were not issues in the 1950s.

snip

Gertrude Himmelfarb, a historian who has written extensively about moral issues, argues that the '60s counterculture produced an overreaction that "denigrated precisely those values -- work, thrift, temperance, self-discipline" that help people get ahead in life.
-----

The last section is about the prevalence of religion in America & the blending of religion, morality and politics.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/4986723.html

[John Q. Citizen]

4. I wonder how civil rights fits in?

The other disconect is that Jesus preached nothing about gay right nor abortian, but of course he did say "turn the other cheek," and "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to pass through the gates of heaven."

It seems to me that many modern religious conservatives have embraced the old testiment at the expense of the new testiment.

[UpInArms]

5. I had a discussion with a fundie last w/e and

asked when was the last time she had eaten pork as the Old Testament forbids that.

These people want to speciously apply this book to today - learning absolutely no lessons, just cherrypicking passages that do not apply to reality.

It pisses me off.

When the first thing out of someone's mouth is "I'm a Xtian", I always wait for the next statement to be that of a bigot. So far, I have not been proven wrong.

Then I tell whoever it is, that Jesus was a liberal and thank all the gods - I am one, too.

Wasn't there some teaching in the "buy bull" about going into a closet so that you could actually relate to gawd?