Believer: “I’m a liberal Christian.”
Me: “Why put the word ‘liberal’ in front of Christian?”
Believer: “So you’ll know I’m not a conservative!”
Me: “Why is that important?”
Believer: “Conservatives are evil.”
Me: “So you’re saying you’re a Non-Evil Christian.”
Believer: “Yes.”
Me: “You could just say ‘Christian’ and I would infer the non-evil part.”
Believer: “But you wouldn’t know my political views.”
Me: “Doesn’t Christianity shape your political views?”
Believer: “Of course! My faith influences every aspect of my life!”
Me: “Then shouldn’t I be able to see your politics in the way you live?”
Believer: “Yes. But you’ll probably misunderstand.”
Me: “I will?”
Believer: “Yes. Liberals are always misunderstood by Christians.”
Me: “Now you seem to be saying that liberals and Christians are different things.”
Believer: “That’s because you’re twisting my words!”
Me: “Sorry. Do you need a break?”
Believer: “No. But thank you for being sensitive.”
Me: “Sure. How does the ‘liberal’ label clarify your beliefs?”
Believer: “It tells you I care about people and want to help the poor.”
Me: “Those ideas are already contained in Christianity.”
Believer: “Well, it tells you I think everyone should be treated fairly.”
Me: “That is also contained in Christianity.”
Believer: “Yes, but conservatives don’t do those things!”
Me: “What things?”
Believer: “Conservatives don’t care about people or help the poor!”
Me: “Rea…”
Believer: “Or believe in fairness!”
Me: “Okay. But Christians do all those things, right?”
Believer: “Yes!”
Me: “So what if we drop ‘conservative’ and just say ‘Christian’?”
Believer: “That won’t work.”
Me: “Why?”
Believer: “Because then we might mistake them for liberals.”
4 Responses
Could you give an example of at least one of your god’s commands that you have not obeyed?
I think the basic misunderstanding is in the “how”. A liberal Christian believes in helping the poor, etc. in a hands off, let the government take care of everyone, sort of way. A conservative Christian believes that we help the poor, etc. in a personal way. That we are responsible to do the work, not the government. Oh, and conservative Christians have that little hang up on the word “obedience”. For some odd reason, we think since the Bible stresses obeying all of God’s commands, that we should do that, not just the ones that make everyone feel good and disregarding any that might make someone feel God isn’t being fair. You know, the ones that say don’t do something they want to do.
I agree with you, MommaBear!
I’ve had this conversation with John before, and I told him that I think labels are useful–and actually NECESSARY–so long as they’re clear and understood well enough by everyone using them.
Most people are pretty clear on the differences between “liberal” and “conservative,” so they can be helpful clarifications. But this is why I usually DON’T call myself a Feminist. It doesn’t matter how the dictionary defines it, the name has taken on a different connotation with most people. (It’s a “liberal” term now.)
As language changes, we have to be willing to change with it, in order to have conversations without confusing others. 🙂
Seems like the guy is confused about not only what a Christian is but also what conservative means.