Where are the likeminded?

[bibledoctor]

That depends if the discussion about -The Nature of the Human Mind- is interchangeable with -Politics- ...

 

[Mariya116]

Lukaris, you make a valid point and thank you for your input. The sad thing is that when you are in a place where no one wants to listen to you, you are likely to leave that place and go somewhere else. This is how the GOP is losing young people, and I am afraid that the Church is in danger of losing its young people if it dismisses their opinions that are different from grandpas' and grandmas'. Young people want to belong in society, older people are more comfortable maintaining their long term beliefs and communicating only with those who share them. Telling young people to shut up and listen to their elders is not relating, it is distancing. Certainly, my priest deleting my blessing to the President on the election night is not a pleasant memory, and I will ask him about it when I get a chance.

 

[Mariya116]

That depends if the discussion about -The Nature of the Human Mind- is interchangeable with -Politics- ...

What do you mean, Bibledoctor?

 

[gracefullamb]

Certainly, my priest deleting my blessing to the President on the election night is not a pleasant memory, and I will ask him about it when I get a chance.

Is it perhaps just a matter of he didn't want any political related posts at all on the church's facebook page for fear it might cause strife or give the wrong impression to inquirers? Maybe your priest felt by allowing it, some might think your parish was supporting one party over the other or backing one candidate over the other. I ask because we pray for our President regardless of who he is.

 

[Wagonmaker]

LOL when did he say that?

A different kind of damage... there's also crystal meth... count the ways we can mess up our bodies...

Obama and pot: Barack Obama "I inhaled frequently" "That was the point" - YouTube

Yeah, crystal meth is way beyond my understanding. I don't have any exposure to the stuff you refer to. I am a "good" Baptist boy. Lol.

 

[Mariya116]

Is it perhaps just a matter of he didn't want any political related posts at all on the church's facebook page for fear it might cause strife or give the wrong impression to inquirers? Maybe your priest felt by allowing it, some might think your parish was supporting one party over the other or backing one candidate over the other. I ask because we pray for our President regardless of who he is.

Yeah, could be...

 

[katherine2001]

Wagonmaker, should we hold everyone to what they did when they were young people? Your late teens and twenties is a time when a lot of mistakes are made. It is a time to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. I remember when I lived in South Carolina that this type of thing was brought up about a GOP candidate when he was in his late teens and twenties. I didn't hold it against him either. People that age do a lot of stupid things--I know that I did. But I am not the same person now, and neither of these people are either.

 

[Dorothea]

The thing is what is there to be gained from any of the political parties in America?

The Republicans have given Americans over 20 years of warfare in the middle East which has drained the treasury, strained the military, promote cheap & unfair international trade that stymies the domestic business growth & benefits the idle rich, & betray & undermine any work ethic that is needed to sustain a healthy working & middle class tax base for a society to have less welfare, crime, & decay.


The Democrats support the same international trade policies that undermine domestic economic activity, tax working people into serfdom, perpetuate more serfdom with an endless welfare state, destroy avenues of revenue for taxation, gull union dupes into believing that big government will support the "workin guy" against the owner (yeah? look at those poor fools at Hostess cakes & look at bailed out General Motors who will now produce 70% of their autos oversees), gave us the "Arab spring" debacle, etc.


I rarely try to post anything about politics in the forum & do not mean to criticize anyone's views. Personally I wish the Orthodox Church could help make itself more visible for faith for society that would probably clash, not by design but default, with much of the political values of American society.

An honest and pretty accurate assessment, imo.

 

[Lukaris]

Lukaris, you make a valid point and thank you for your input. The sad thing is that when you are in a place where no one wants to listen to you, you are likely to leave that place and go somewhere else. This is how the GOP is losing young people, and I am afraid that the Church is in danger of losing its young people if it dismisses their opinions that are different from grandpas' and grandmas'. Young people want to belong in society, older people are more comfortable maintaining their long term beliefs and communicating only with those who share them. Telling young people to shut up and listen to their elders is not relating, it is distancing. Certainly, my priest deleting my blessing to the President on election night is not a pleasant memory, and I will ask him about it when I get a chance.

That is really strange that your blessing was deleted Mariya. I mean we are to pray for whoever the president may be in the DL; it would be one thing to perhaps critique your blessing & further discuss in civility but deletion displays a loser's lament tendency.

You have not directly said this but you seem to be indicating that there are attitudes in the church that are hangovers from the old ethnic mentality that are out of touch with its younger American descendents & often lacking an articulate theology to express Orthodox faith.

Personally I probably have much different political views than you but the church is about faith not politics. In expressing values, there will be overlap I guess between aspects of both but the ultimate truth of God in the Trinity renders politics as just another part of the fallen world. We also live moment to moment in a fallen world & in a tenuously free society that allows individual expression (thanks be to God). I should not judge any fellow parishoner on the political views that person holds. We should always be vigilant towards any politician who may want to undermine the rights of Orthodox Christians or any Christians.

The thing is our faith is about hearts & minds & it must be communicated in spirit & in truth in an expression of love. Our Lord does promise division though (see Luke 12:51-53) so we must all be careful & try to communicate in the way He would want us conform to (this ain't easy & I do not claim much wisdom on this). Good luck to you & God bless.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

My priest got pretty huffy with me and another guy, a Democrat, at coffee hour and imho was out of line. He's a wonderful man whom I love greatly, but his GOP politics were getting pushy and it seemed uncharacteristic of Father.

You have to remember that in the area in which I live, it's super duper conservative. It's the central valley, tons of farmers, old-fashioned, and in the Civil War, my town was SUPER confederate! They loved the confederacy. No African-Americans lived here for decades. I had a mother come to my classroom at parent-teacher conference the other day. She's black, from Georgia, and she was surprised how few people of color were in my town. I told her the history. We had a great conversation. Long story. Anyway, my point is that some areas are just super political. If you had an Obama yard sign in my town, your house will get egged or toilet papered, a bumper sticker and you'll get your car keyed up. Some areas are tough.

But politics shouldn't inform religion. Religion should inform politics imho.

My priest deleted my election night post on our church's website congratulating the President and wishing him many blessings. I love my priest to death and I was pretty surprised. Church is no place for partisanship.

 

[Dorothea]

I think everyone acted a bit out of their usual, calm and decent character a few days before the election, and for some, after the election. I saw this so much, and even I was acting a bit crabby and over-reacting. It just happens to even the best of them, it seems. I went out to eat with a small group from my church, including my priest, his wife, and their grandson, a few days after the election, and I sat there and didn't say too much because their views were not mine on the subject matter they were discussing, which was mostly about the two candidates and issues with the country moving towards socialism. I said a couple things, but zipped the mouth the rest of the time.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Dot, you'll have to teach me how to do that whole zipping thing. My priest got hardcore into politics and I argued with him I heard the socialism stuff, too. I need to learn the Dorothy school of silence!

I think everyone acted a bit out of their usual, calm and decent character a few days before the election, and for some, after the election. I saw this so much, and even I was acting a bit crabby and over-reacting. It just happens to even the best of them, it seems. I went out to eat with a small group from my church, including my priest, his wife, and their grandson, a few days after the election, and I sat there and didn't say too much because their views were not mine on the subject matter they were discussing, which was mostly about the two candidates and issues with the country moving towards socialism. I said a couple things, but zipped the mouth the rest of the time.

 

[Gxg (G²)]

I think everyone acted a bit out of their usual, calm and decent character a few days before the election, and for some, after the election. I saw this so much, and even I was acting a bit crabby and over-reacting. It just happens to even the best of them, it seems. I went out to eat with a small group from my church, including my priest, his wife, and their grandson, a few days after the election, and I sat there and didn't say too much because their views were not mine on the subject matter they were discussing, which was mostly about the two candidates and issues with the country moving towards socialism. I said a couple things, but zipped the mouth the rest of the time.

Indeed. I noticed where others who didn't like Romney and wanted Obama often felt where they had to be in secret with their applause with the president winning since they didn't want to have to deal with hassle on it and being attacked. Others who voted Democrat already had it where they were accussed of being pro-abortion because they voted for a party that advocated for Pro-Choice and others felt the Republican Party alone was "Pro-Life" ...even though there were Pro-Life Democrats who addressed the issues of the unborn via lifestyle and taking action to aid mothers.

And some were very vocal on their beliefs - respectful of where others were coming from but not staying hidden on it. Some Orthodox priests I followed, after the Democratic Convention and seeing other Orthodox leaders give the prayers they did and working alongside others in differing faiths, felt they didn't need to be undercover on the issue since it meant to them that others in Orthodoxy were in a myriad of backgrounds.

It seems sad when one says to another they can't follow Christ because they favor one party over another, as Jesus was not concerned with being either Democrat or Republican...Liberal or Conservative..and if nothing else, no one today is really fully on his side when seeing what each party is for.

 

[gracefullamb]

That is really strange that your blessing was deleted Mariya. I mean we are to pray for whoever the president may be in the DL; it would be one thing to perhaps critique your blessing & further discuss in civility but deletion displays a loser's lament tendency.

I know my priest and the church secretary only allow certain things posted on our parish facebook page. To be precise only news related to parish events and services, Archdiocese events, and events at the Orthodox churches in other Archdiocese are allowed to be posted. Nothing unrelated to the Church is allowed to be posted. We have also been asked when it pertains to an even at another parish to forward it to the church secretary who will take of posting after she checks to make sure all the information is correct. There may be another reason behind her priest's decision that has nothing to do with being a sore looser.

 

[katherine2001]

One very good thing about this election is that several pro-life Democrats won their elections this year. I am a strong believer in this organization:

Democrats For Life of America

What would be interesting to me would be to see what happened if pro-choice Republicans managed to take over the GOP and the pro-life Democrats managed to take over the Democrats. I wonder if those who have demonized the Democrats all these years would have the ability to vote for a Democrat since that would be the pro-life candidate.

 

[Gxg (G²)]

One very good thing about this election is that several pro-life Democrats won their elections this year. I am a strong believer in this organization:

Democrats For Life of America

What would be interesting to me would be to see what happened if pro-choice Republicans managed to take over the GOP and the pro-life Democrats managed to take over the Democrats. I wonder if those who have demonized the Democrats all these years would have the ability to vote for a Democrat since that would be the pro-life candidate.

Never considered that occurring - as it pertains to the ways that Pro-Life Democrats gained significant ground and may pave the way for pushing their goals forth for real change with helping others on the issue of abortion going down while the Republican Party became open to a Pro-Choice takeover where there was less focused on aiding children.

Switches have occurred before, as much of what the Republican party has been is exactly what the Democratic party used to be before a massive switch occurred during the era of Lyndon B.Johnson.

 

[Gxg (G²)]

You probably won't find pro-Israel the nation but the rest of your list was here in the posts. There are people here in favor of and against each of the rest of your list, enough that you won't be tarred and feathered for those thoughts.

Truly a mosaic when seeing how many people on all over the spectrum with the list.

 

[gzt]

It's okay to be a Democrat here, but it's best to keep politics off this board, IMO, because it IS in fact mostly orthogonal to our faith

 

[Gnarwhal]

Geez folks...

I'm dreaming of...

an online community where it's okay to be both Orthodox and Democrat. Does one exist?

I went on my other Orthodox/Catholic forum - I got booed to the point of personal attacks for not sharing their far fight views (racism and sexism included). It got so bad that comments were deleted and the thread locked by the female moderator.

I went on a Democratic forum - I kept my mouth shut because I felt I would get booed for not being far enough on the left (everyone here knows how I feel about pot).

If anyone knows of an appropriate forum for an open-minded, all ethnicities - accepting, tax - paying, social program - supporting, personal freedom - respecting, pro - Israel, college - educated young female Christian Democrat to fit in - let me know!

Thanxxx

I think TAW's a good fit for anybody. I've been exploring Orthodoxy for a while now and I don't feel like being a democrat has alienated me at all from the Church. I like TAW because it's largely apolitical, there are certain issues (especially relating to current affairs in the near east) that come up, but for the most part the focus isn't on politics the way it is with most Protestant and Catholic circles. I have a lot of love, respect and admiration for my friends here because they're compassionate and loving regardless of your political persuasions.

I share many of your views, although Israel may be where we differ, but I think you'll find more in common with Orthodox Christians than you may think.

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

 

[Dorothea]

Dot, you'll have to teach me how to do that whole zipping thing. My priest got hardcore into politics and I argued with him I heard the socialism stuff, too. I need to learn the Dorothy school of silence!

It works really well when one can actually apply it successfully. I've managed to do that on a couple occasions.