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The origin of the Left and Right in politics.

Maria Billingsley

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Lit's getbthi
I won't elaborate to much on this short video from Michael Knowles and let it do the speaking.

Brings up some interesting points which may relate to todays social and political divisions and conflicts.

Lets gets this straight. Clearly this video is trying to paint the " Left" in a light that is not the least bit accurate. Right from the beginning, where he expains the birth of right and left , he needs some clarification. It's true history is explained below.

I would certainly be sitting on the left!

During the French Revolution, the "Right" side of the National Assembly represented a powerful solidarity between the Monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church, both of which sought to maintain the traditional "Divine Right" of kings and the state-sanctioned authority of the clergy. In sharp contrast, the "Left" became the home of the Huguenots and other Protestants who had long suffered under religious persecution, alongside secular thinkers who championed the separation of church and state. This group believed that true liberty could only be achieved by breaking the monopolistic grip of the Crown and the Church.
 
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Maria Billingsley

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I won't elaborate to much on this short video from Michael Knowles and let it do the speaking.

Brings up some interesting points which may relate to todays social and political divisions and conflicts.

As a result of this major correction between church and state, there was a radical movement to wipe out all Christianity however it was not completly realized. The " radical " movement in a sense brought back the natural order of the Fathers will,
" render unto Ceasar what is Ceasars and render unto God what is God's. It was absolutely necessary to wipe out this unholy alliance between the monarchy and the church even though is caused a momentary vacuum. The history:

While the French Revolution began with a sharp divide between the monarchical "Right" and the Protestant and secular "Left," the initial push for the separation of church and state eventually spiraled into a radical campaign of dechristianization that sought to erase the faith entirely. However, recognizing that a nation could not be governed in a spiritual vacuum, Napoleon Bonaparte eventually brokered the Concordat of 1801, which brought the Roman Catholic Church back into French society to restore moral order. Crucially, Napoleon ensured the Church remained out of politics by making the clergy state-salaried employees and requiring an oath of allegiance to the government, effectively stripping the Church of its former political sovereignty.
 
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Maria Billingsley

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I won't elaborate to much on this short video from Michael Knowles and let it do the speaking.

Brings up some interesting points which may relate to todays social and political divisions and conflicts.

Now let's look at what was actually happening in Mexico.

In both pre-revolutionary France and 19th-century Mexico, the Roman Catholic Church wielded a level of systemic power that rivaled or exceeded that of the civil government, functioning as a dominant economic and social sovereign. The Church maintained a staggering monopoly over land, owning between one-quarter and one-half of all usable territory and acting as the nation's primary bank and source of credit. Beyond its immense wealth, the Church held total legal sovereignty through the fueros, which exempted the clergy from civil laws and allowed them to be tried only in their own religious courts. Furthermore, the Church controlled every aspect of the social record, holding the exclusive right to certify births, marriages, and deaths, while also maintaining a complete monopoly over education and hospitals. By exercising this "state within a state" authority, the Church essentially dictated the legal identity and moral life of the people, a concentration of "worldly goods" that the radical Left eventually sought to dismantle by force.
 
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Maria Billingsley

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I won't elaborate to much on this short video from Michael Knowles and let it do the speaking.

Brings up some interesting points which may relate to todays social and political divisions and conflicts.

I wanted to add some accurate historical context to this video because this post is claiming that it " may relate to today's social and political divisions and conflicts ". I disagree. Today's tension is the hypocrisy present in many MAGA churches. No one is destroying Christianity as a matter of fact, the very words of Jesus Christ of Nazareth " love thy neighbor " are repeated continously within left circles. In conclusion, this video is so inexcusable that it should be labeled as far right propaganda.
 
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I wanted to add some accurate historical context to this video because this post is claiming that it " may relate to today's social and political divisions and conflicts ". I disagree. Today's tension is the hypocrisy present in many MAGA churches. No one is destroying Christianity as a matter of fact, the very words of Jesus Christ of Nazareth " love thy neighbor " are repeated continously within left circles. In conclusion, this video is so inexcusable that it should be labeled as far right propaganda.
Actually I was thinking more generall and not specific examples. A general ideological position of the Right and Left about belief in God. For which the church represented throughout society.

To the developing ideologies on the Left that opposed God and the church. Ideologies that specifically were designed to oppose and tear down Gods authority through the church in society.

It seems throughout our history we have seen the church attacked in different ways. Its a common theme.

I am talking about the efforts by secular ideology that specifically wants to target the church and destroy it. Any movement that is designed to attack Christian faith and the church they worship in is not Christian. They are anti Christ.

Throughout history it has always been the Right that has aligned with God and Christ.

The Left by its very nature is liberal in its ideas that allow plural beliefs and even anti Christ beliefs in being consistent in upholding its basic belief that no single religion is truth. Even non religion or anti Christ ideas must also be upheld as inclusive beliefs of equal value as far as equality of belief.

Whereas I don't think I have ever heard of a Right based party reject God or Christ as their only belief. They don't support other beliefs. Though they support the right for people to hold other beliefs under the consitutions.

But that is different to the actually ideological position of accepting or promoting alternative beliefs or doctrines opposed to the bible.
 
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Maria Billingsley

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Actually I was thinking more about the belief in God. For which the church represented throughout society. To the developing ideologies that opposed God and the church. Ideologies that specifically were designed to oppose and tear down Gods authority through the church in society.

It seems throughout our history we have seen the church attacked in different ways. Its a common theme.

I am talking about the efforts by secular ideology that specifically want to target the church and destroy it. Any movement that is designed to attack Christian faith and the church they worship in is not Christian. They are anti Christ.
Historically, which church are you speaking of? Let's not overlook the fact that for centuries, the Roman Catholic Church wielded its immense power to suppress any perceived threat to its religious and political monopoly, resulting in a staggering death toll that reached into the millions. Don't forget the inquisition!
I dont know of any secular group in the United States that want to destroy the Church. Atheists are typically humanists.
 
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Michael Knowles has mischaracterized the nature of what's going on in Minneapolis/St Paul. He said early in the video: "The mob in this case said that they were protesting the deportation of criminals and the enforcement of federal immigration law, so why would they target the church? The answer is simple: Leftists always target the church." From there, he went on to talk about the French Revolution and Pol Pot and so forth.

The protestors at Cities Church object to the activities of ICE in the Twin Cities, and they claim that one of the church leaders, David Easterwood, is one of the directors of ICE in the Twin Cities. Their protest is directed not against the Christian faith but against ICE.

(Source for the above: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/...e_code=1.HFA.F-td.QLxAazX1SGcL&smid=url-share)

I don't think the protestors should have entered a church. (Similarly, ICE should be staying away from churches. We have significant numbers of Episcopalians in my diocese who are afraid to go to church now.) But Mr. Knowles misunderstands them if he thinks they're protesting Christianity.

He also misunderstands, or perhaps deliberately mischaracterizes, the Twin Cities protests. ICE has crossed a line and is now threatening immigrants with no criminal record, immigrants awaiting asylum hearings, immigrants with full legal standing, and US citizens. There have been deaths in the Twin Cities at the hands of ICE. That's why there are protests.
 
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Richard T

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I wanted to add some accurate historical context to this video because this post is claiming that it " may relate to today's social and political divisions and conflicts ". I disagree. Today's tension is the hypocrisy present in many MAGA churches. No one is destroying Christianity as a matter of fact, the very words of Jesus Christ of Nazareth " love thy neighbor " are repeated continously within left circles. In conclusion, this video is so inexcusable that it should be labeled as far right propaganda.
Thanks i won't have to watch it all cause every post I have seen of yours has good discernment. I reiterate often the foundation of repentance is humility, not the love of money. Weird eschatology too from many Maga Christians. I hang with many, but Trump I think is supposed to fail, to expose the weakness of America. I am in no way saying I am better but that path is not maga. The other problem with left/right is that it should be far more convoluted because left/right only is not a good descriptor of ideology, it is too simplified to rest on two axes.
 
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Historically, which church are you speaking of? Let's not overlook the fact that for centuries, the Roman Catholic Church wielded its immense power to suppress any perceived threat to its religious and political monopoly, resulting in a staggering death toll that reached into the millions. Don't forget the inquisition!
This thread is not for anti-Catholic propaganda.
 
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Valletta

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Michael Knowles has mischaracterized the nature of what's going on in Minneapolis/St Paul. He said early in the video: "The mob in this case said that they were protesting the deportation of criminals and the enforcement of federal immigration law, so why would they target the church? The answer is simple: Leftists always target the church." From there, he went on to talk about the French Revolution and Pol Pot and so forth.

The protestors at Cities Church object to the activities of ICE in the Twin Cities, and they claim that one of the church leaders, David Easterwood, is one of the directors of ICE in the Twin Cities. Their protest is directed not against the Christian faith but against ICE.

(Source for the above: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/...e_code=1.HFA.F-td.QLxAazX1SGcL&smid=url-share)

I don't think the protestors should have entered a church. (Similarly, ICE should be staying away from churches. We have significant numbers of Episcopalians in my diocese who are afraid to go to church now.) But Mr. Knowles misunderstands them if he thinks they're protesting Christianity.

He also misunderstands, or perhaps deliberately mischaracterizes, the Twin Cities protests. ICE has crossed a line and is now threatening immigrants with no criminal record, immigrants awaiting asylum hearings, immigrants with full legal standing, and US citizens. There have been deaths in the Twin Cities at the hands of ICE. That's why there are protests.
The protestors are much more responsible for the deaths than ICE. ICE has crossed no line, Governor Walz has fanned the flames of hatred by name calling and talking about "atrocities" committed by ICE. It is a political narrative. Agitators have interfered in arrests, one guy they were after in Minneapolis was wanted for facilitating child sex acts and now he is free because of the "protesters." Are we even going to see an apology from those who allowed this man to escape when more children are sexually abused because he got free? We know the answer. Human trafficking is big money in Minnesota, there were just some Asian women being trafficked a couple of miles from where I live. Some Minnesotans don't want trafficking to stop.
 
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I wanted to add some accurate historical context to this video because this post is claiming that it " may relate to today's social and political divisions and conflicts ". I disagree. Today's tension is the hypocrisy present in many MAGA churches. No one is destroying Christianity as a matter of fact, the very words of Jesus Christ of Nazareth " love thy neighbor " are repeated continously within left circles. In conclusion, this video is so inexcusable that it should be labeled as far right propaganda.
Extreme leftism is communism, the right is anti-communism. Communists are godless. Communists have killed over 100 million people.
 
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Maria Billingsley

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This thread is not for anti-Catholic propaganda.
Anti- Catholic? I am a fully baptised and confirmed Catholic. I learned about Jesus Christ of Nazareth from my Catholic school. I am very appreciative of the foundation. Thay being said, I am not going to tip toe through its dark history. The RCC has repented.
Thanks for sharing.
 
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Valletta

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Anti- Catholic? I am a fully baptised and confirmed Catholic. I learned about Jesus Christ of Nazareth from my Catholic school. I am very appreciative of the foundation. Thay being said, I am not going to tip toe through its dark history. The RCC has repented.
Thanks for sharing.
Your numbers leave a lot to be desired. There's been plenty of sinners and wrongoding in the Catholic faith just like others, but much of the numbers and history were fabricated during and after the reformation.
 
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some interesting points which may relate to todays social and political divisions and conflicts.
There are evil people who get into communist stuff while other worldly people can get into religious stuff . . . wherever there is possible power to be had, and opportunity to get what evil people want.

There is secular sex trafficking, while also there have been pedophile predators in clerical costumes.

Yes, communists have killed a lot of people. And how many people have been killed by Protestants and Catholics . . . in earlier history?

I don't intend to evaluate religious groups today by what others have done in the past. Evil people did the killing; not all Protestants and Catholics today are evil.

Worldly people use whatever works for them. By the way . . . I now note how ones are today so busy with pointing at how many people have been murdered by "communists". Well . . . a moment ago, a number of these people were making a major thing about how many unborn people have been killed in the United States!! But now all of a sudden, it's such a big thing how Communists and Muslims have been doing so much killing. And just forget what "Christian" religious people have done.

But what we have now is independence and freedom with individual rights, in the United States. Indians and Mexicans have been slaughtered; so now let us have peace, please be nice to us, now that we have what we want, please. But since we have individual power, now individuals can kill their own unborn with whom they could learn how to love. And we can just keep attention to the Muslims and Communists and to Israeli action in Gaza.

So, even if certain Christian groups and places are not known to be acting violently, how come they and their buildings can be attacked? Possibly it can be because an organized group can be a target, since it can be controlled more or less from the top, thus having all the people below in control. So-o-o-o, then - - a Catholic hierarchy or Protestant organization or a local church can be a target . . . by getting into the leadership so then the whole group might be controlled. This seems to have happened in, for only one example, the American Episcopal church: I have been told the ones at the top are clearly not about the Bible and its moral standards.

And the Methodists have split, I have been told. Well, whoever stays with the "liberal" side of the split might tend to go the way of the leadership so they can be controlled. Meanwhile . . . :) . . . now you will have the Biblical Methodists with members who might stay with the conservative part of the split, even if they find they do not agree with what the leaders consider to be Biblical > they won't leave, possibly, because their version of Methodism is all they have left after the split, and they are loyal to the **name** "Methodist". And, like this, there are Episcopals who won't switch to Catholic or Baptist or Congregational (conservative) because they are loyal to the name "Episcopal" and hope to rescue the Episcopal church or at least use the setting to reach others for Christ.

In any case, then, what you could be seeing is how ones seeking power can try to take over a whole group. That can be more efficient than reaching people one at a time > instead, control a group of thousands, even millions, in maybe a few years of effort . . . or spend years reaching to some one person and then go after another one :) If you don't care about the people, working on some one person requires "too much" effort.

But Jesus reached people personally. Yes, He handled group activities; however, perhaps our most attention-getting stories are about individuals He helped and how He related personally with Peter and Thomas and Mary and Martha and others. Our Father is personal with each of us, and Jesus calls us individually to come to ***Him*** (Matthew 11:28-30, 1 Corinthians 6:17), but then to share and care as His family (John 13:34, John 17:20-23).

So . . . can we say that a lot of large-scale church organization is about personal relating as God's family????

I would say, basically not. But it is a target, so ones can adopt all the members and use them **without putting much personal attention into each member**. And it can be a target if it is interfering with people getting what they want. And I suppose a number of church people can try to use the numbers of their groups for political and land control purposes. Plus, by trying to control the non-religious in large numbers, this can make the organization a target.

They "might" not be attacking certain religious buildings and groups because they are against the preaching of the cross, then.

And there might be money in the mix.

And ones claiming Islam can want the land. And they seem to have ways of killing other Muslims and anyone else who is not into Islam: and, specifically, Shiites and Sunnis can be killing each other. And the Taliban, once, raided a dancing girl party in Afghanistan, and they killed all the men who were there, since those guys were plainly acting against Taliban rules. And, by the way, in the early Christian scriptures, ones with Moses were told to kill anyone who went against the LORD; there could be times when the obedient ones were told to put to the sword all the others who were not obeying God. Taliban rules of execution can be similar to the rules of the Law of Moses; and the Shia Iranian regime is possibly doing the killing off of ones who the rulers feel are against their basic Shari'ah Law things . . . which is similar to how with Moses the Jews would execute ones who openly went against God.

So the religious ones, then, have taken turns with secular people, in killing for some "reason". Moses did so, by commandment of God. And so, ones later would suppose if they were the right ones, then God would expect them, too, to kill ones found to be against God.
 
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There are evil people who get into communist stuff while other worldly people can get into religious stuff . . . wherever there is possible power to be had, and opportunity to get what evil people want.
Yes and the interesting thing I think Knowles was pointing out was the common theme throughout history with revolutions is that the church is always the target. Sooner or later the attention turns to the church.

As though whatever the Communist, Marxist or hard socialist uprising. It seems to be something that sees the church as a threat. Which suggests its about power and control. Which is the opposite of Christs church. This is perhaps one of the world principalities the bible mentions that rises against Christs church.
There is secular sex trafficking, while also there have been pedophile predators in clerical costumes.
I think this is more about direct sin. Its not political but moral. Which is another layer of dark or demonic spirits as part of human fallen flesh. But communuism or Marxism may be in principles a good system. Or subscribe to moral goods such as equality for all. But its how they achieve this.
Yes, communists have killed a lot of people. And how many people have been killed by Protestants and Catholics . . . in earlier history?
Yes. Which I think is the opposite side of the coin. Just as world powers attack the church. The church will become political and attack other world powers. But this is the church stepping into the boxing ring of political ideology.
I don't intend to evaluate religious groups today by what others have done in the past. Evil people did the killing; not all Protestants and Catholics today are evil.
Yes I think you can have a communist or someone who lives within a communist culture can be good and even a Christian. In fact in some ways the masses oppressed by communism are doing nothing wrong. They are trying to survive and live with little. They are resilent.

But like all political ideologies they become extreme and at their worst they are evil.
Worldly people use whatever works for them. By the way . . . I now note how ones are today so busy with pointing at how many people have been murdered by "communists". Well . . . a moment ago, a number of these people were making a major thing about how many unborn people have been killed in the United States!! But now all of a sudden, it's such a big thing how Communists and Muslims have been doing so much killing. And just forget what "Christian" religious people have done.
Yes I think that is the greatest issue facing the church. That they are seen as hyocrites and don't practice what they preach.

But in context at least in recent times the church overall and even the fringe ones are more well behaved on average. This has been supported by research. Church or religion has a way of making people behave or else lol. But it does help with healthy mind and body.
But what we have now is independence and freedom with individual rights,
I think the rise of civil and individual rights has changed the political climate. As opposed to collective rights.
in the United States. Indians and Mexicans have been slaughtered; so now let us have peace, please be nice to us, now that we have what we want, please. But since we have individual power, now individuals can kill their own unborn with whom they could learn how to love. And we can just keep attention to the Muslims and Communists and to Israeli action in Gaza.
You make a good point. There is a conflict between individualism and collectivism. Indigenous peoples will usually be more collective and even putting others before themselves. This is similar to Christian ideals.

So perhaps there is or should be at least a common belief on this as opposed to the individualist and materialist worldview. This is qanother aspect of the dynamics between the world and Christs church. The bible mentions these invisible pricipalities and dark forces that work against Christ.
So, even if certain Christian groups and places are not known to be acting violently, how come they and their buildings can be attacked? Possibly it can be because an organized group can be a target, since it can be controlled more or less from the top, thus having all the people below in control.
It is about power and control. Even if its a church doing it. Fundementally all these world ideologies are about control and power. But when it gets to a point where the church and especially Christianity is targeted as part of the power and control between all these entities. Its not as if the church has done something wrong. Its more a case that because its about power and control ultimately one will want to control the other.

But ultimately for the church they cannot rise up like the world. They are not like the world. Or at least are not suppose to be. But they cannot justify it and expect to be a serious force in the force on terms with the worlds rules. It will always be seen as a threat the more the different power entities drift apart with conflicting beliefs.
So-o-o-o, then - - a Catholic hierarchy or Protestant organization or a local church can be a target . . . by getting into the leadership so then the whole group might be controlled. This seems to have happened in, for only one example, the American Episcopal church: I have been told the ones at the top are clearly not about the Bible and its moral standards.
Heres the thing though. This had already happened to the wider society before it went into the churches. This was an engineered change from within. As opposed to past revolutions where the people wared or rioted against those in power.

Around post 60s revolutions they came up with the idea to get people into influencing positions within academia and the institutions. Which after a generation or two they became the politicians, NGO's, agencys, specialists consulting the State.

This then spread to the wider society and into the church. So really many church don't look that much different to the world.
And the Methodists have split, I have been told. Well, whoever stays with the "liberal" side of the split might tend to go the way of the leadership so they can be controlled. Meanwhile . . . :) . . . now you will have the Biblical Methodists with members who might stay with the conservative part of the split, even if they find they do not agree with what the leaders consider to be Biblical > they won't leave, possibly, because their version of Methodism is all they have left after the split, and they are loyal to the **name** "Methodist". And, like this, there are Episcopals who won't switch to Catholic or Baptist or Congregational (conservative) because they are loyal to the name "Episcopal" and hope to rescue the Episcopal church or at least use the setting to reach others for Christ.

In any case, then, what you could be seeing is how ones seeking power can try to take over a whole group. That can be more efficient than reaching people one at a time > instead, control a group of thousands, even millions, in maybe a few years of effort . . . or spend years reaching to some one person and then go after another one :) If you don't care about the people, working on some one person requires "too much" effort.
But Jesus reached people personally. Yes, He handled group activities; however, perhaps our most attention-getting stories are about individuals He helped and how He related personally with Peter and Thomas and Mary and Martha and others. Our Father is personal with each of us, and Jesus calls us individually to come to ***Him*** (Matthew 11:28-30, 1 Corinthians 6:17), but then to share and care as His family (John 13:34, John 17:20-23).

So . . . can we say that a lot of large-scale church organization is about personal relating as God's family????

I would say, basically not. But it is a target, so ones can adopt all the members and use them **without putting much personal attention into each member**. And it can be a target if it is interfering with people getting what they want. And I suppose a number of church people can try to use the numbers of their groups for political and land control purposes. Plus, by trying to control the non-religious in large numbers, this can make the organization a target.

They "might" not be attacking certain religious buildings and groups because they are against the preaching of the cross, then.

And there might be money in the mix.
Yes money and power. I think the power of media has changed things a lot as well. More people reached. But more importantly more people indoctrinated by whatever they want to push.

But nevermind all that. We know its not good. Clement mentions that where there is division there is no Christ. He has left the room while everyone is arguing and fighting among themselves or at others.

Christians just need to stay away from such division. No matter what reasons or rationalisation is given for the justification of persisting with division. It is not of Christ. Christ cannot be with division and political fighting.
And ones claiming Islam can want the land. And they seem to have ways of killing other Muslims and anyone else who is not into Islam: and, specifically, Shiites and Sunnis can be killing each other. And the Taliban, once, raided a dancing girl party in Afghanistan, and they killed all the men who were there, since those guys were plainly acting against Taliban rules. And, by the way, in the early Christian scriptures, ones with Moses were told to kill anyone who went against the LORD; there could be times when the obedient ones were told to put to the sword all the others who were not obeying God. Taliban rules of execution can be similar to the rules of the Law of Moses; and the Shia Iranian regime is possibly doing the killing off of ones who the rulers feel are against their basic Shari'ah Law things . . . which is similar to how with Moses the Jews would execute ones who openly went against God.

So the religious ones, then, have taken turns with secular people, in killing for some "reason". Moses did so, by commandment of God. And so, ones later would suppose if they were the right ones, then God would expect them, too, to kill ones found to be against God.
Thats another aspect to the dynamics. As well as political ideologies like Communism or Marxism want to target the church. We have radical Islam wanting to do the same.

In some ways we have seen these forces working together despite being from completely different worldviews. Because they have a common enermy in Christ.
 
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stevevw

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But I am interested in the origin of the Left. According to Knowles this originated with the French. The Left was born out of the rejection of a given society and the God that created that society.

It was the liberation from those restraints.

What is percieved as the ultimate restraint against liberalism ? The church and especially Christianity in that it was and is the religion of the west that the French were primarily rejecting.

That is why ultimately the Left in whatever form it takes will come for the church. The church and God represent a threat to restraining the freedom and liberalism of those who reject any authority over the individual.

Ultimately I think this is a spiritual battle between Christ and the world.
 
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PloverWing

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But I am interested in the origin of the Left. According to Knowles this originated with the French. The Left was born out of the rejection of a given society and the God that created that society.

It was the liberation from those restraints.

What is percieved as the ultimate restraint against liberalism ? The church and especially Christianity in that it was and is the religion of the west that the French were primarily rejecting.

That is why ultimately the Left in whatever form it takes will come for the church. The church and God represent a threat to restraining the freedom and liberalism of those who reject any authority over the individual.

Ultimately I think this is a spiritual battle between Christ and the world.

The terms "Left" and "Right" originated with the French legislature, but the values we associate with the Left -- caring for the poor and protecting human rights -- have origins much older than the French Revolution. In some times and places, the Christian church has been supportive of these values.
 
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stevevw

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The terms "Left" and "Right" originated with the French legislature, but the values we associate with the Left -- caring for the poor and protecting human rights -- have origins much older than the French Revolution. In some times and places, the Christian church has been supportive of these values.
I thought the church was built on these values. The bible actually teaches this. To help the poor and widows.

But I don't think thats a uniquely Left thing. This is a fundemental value of all Christians. The early church would have been very conservative and protective of the Christian community.

The problem with getting into politics and civil and individual rights is that its a world ideology. We all support humans being treated good. But individual rights can be a matter of subjective opinion.

The only rights should be we are all made in Gods image full stop. This is the basis. The world will base rights on their version. Human treatment and morals needs to be grounded in something. Thats either Christ or not Christ.
 
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