Finding a church for Christian Democrats

[AgapeBible]

Hi, I'm from southwest Florida, and my parents and I have been looking for a good Christian church that accepts Democrats. We were going to a Baptist church, but my parents had some problems in their Sunday School class with people making insulting remarks about Democrats. Basically, it is a Republican church. I am sick and tired of "Christians" acting like you have to be a coservative Republican in order to be a good Christian. They act as if Democrats are evil seculiar heathens and atheists on the Devil's side, were all liberal on the extreme left and crazy, we hate family values, modesty, and conservative Christian values. This is an unfair, inaccurate stereotype.

We are moderate, not liberal, democrats. We believe people should have the freedom to choose their own politics outside of the church and faith, spiritual beliefs. My family believes there are circumstances when abortion is necessary, such as when the woman is raped, if the mother's life is in danger from giving birth, like if she is too young, or there are difficulties, if the baby would be a waterhead baby, severly deformed and dsifigured, missing vital organs, and only live a few hours after birth. If the mother is mentally ill, handicapped, mentally challenged, on medication that causes birth deffects, then the baby would definitely be born messed up, and the woman would not be able to properly care for the baby because of her handicap, best to abort it. I'd say these are good reasons for abortion.


We also believe in helping out the poor, having government programs for children in poverty to feed and clothe them and educate them, children of every race and background should be treated equally when it comes to getting government assistance. The government should help the unemployed find jobs, should help people with drug and alcohol addictions get clean, if they are in jail they should have rehab programs for addicts in jail. The handicap mentally ill and disabled, the elderly and sick also need government help, and rich, selfish, greedy Republican politicians don't want to spend any of the precious budget dollars helping anybody in need, they want to line their own pockets with big fat raises, they are greedy, luxury-loving, selfish, and cheap as dirt.

And in the churches, the churches always beg for money. But what do they do with the money you give them? I like it when churches give charts expalining what they do with their donations and tithes. It is the duty of churches and Christians to help the poor and needy. What really bothers me is when the churches go overseeas to help the poor people in foreign countries and send missionaries to them, and they forget about the dire needs and suffering in America. We have plenty of immigrants that live in poverty in America, and of course their are American citizens that have plenty of problems being poor, with this economy its hard to pay bills and find a place to stay, make ends meet.


I feel like the people at the churches I go to don't like me or understand me. I feel like an outsider. Nobody wants to discuss the Bible in detail or theology.

 

[AgapeBible]

I know I got off-topic with my last posts. I have not been to church in a long time. First, off , I have a disability and I can't drive. So my mom or dad, I still live with my parents, has to drive me, and sometimes they don't want to go to church. Both my parents are saved, but they have sort of lost faith in churches. We watch Dr. Stanley on TV Sunday morning. My dad is cynical of hypocrite preachers.

My Dad and Mom have a problem with modern music in the churches, Christian rock or rap, they cannot stand it, it is too loud and obnoxious for them. They prefer traditional gospel, church music. So they do not like the younger churches with the awful music. It is difficult to find the right church that has enough old people for traditional gospel for my parents, and enough young people for a Sunday school class to keep me company, very difficult to find the right balance. And I live in a small town with only so many churches, and I certainly cannot go to a Catholic or Greek Orthodox church. My parents were Southern Baptists, they raised me Southern Baptist, but we have gone to Independent Baptist churches, Methodist, Lutheran, Non-denominational, Church of God, Church of Christ, Charismtic churches.


There are some good churches we have been too. Sometimes I feel weird going to a church that has casual dress, because I was always taught to dress up for church, and I usually do dress up and put on nice formal clothes and look very nice for church, but then I see people in the congregation wearing jeans, tshirts, and even tank tops and shorts! Sandals are ok because they can be decorative.


Well I must admit I did like the preacher's sermon at the Independent Baptist church I used to go to. He preached form the Bible and it was inspiring. I wish they had better SUnday school lessons. I guess I did like the Sunday school lesson, it was educational, I just felt lonely and out of place because the other people there are married or have been married and most of them had children. I've never been married and I don't have any children. Paul did say it was best to stay unmarried and virginal to serve the Lord.

 

[Biker Angel]

Like your Dad, I too am cynical of hypocrite preachers. Yes it is hard to find a good democrat church. I think Jesus was a democrat so it's hard to hear modern republican preachers talking about things and doing stuff just like the republicans do. Well anyway, I was just ridding thru and thought I would stop to post this. God Bless You.

 

[mighty2save]

I would look into a conservative Methodist church.

 

[Assyrian]

Speaking as an outside observer, I would think your best bet is to look for Christians organizations promoting issues you care about (and the reason you vote Democrat in the first place), christian groups campaigning for social justice comes to mind. Check out the Sojourners website for example, God's Politics Blog which has a directory of churches involved
Sojourners : Faith & Justice Church Directory

Are there any churches that that would link up with Tony Campolo and his Red Letter Christians? Or google fair trade in Florida to see if any churches are involved, or contact fair trade organisations there to see if they have links to any churches.

What about churches and Christian organizations that care for the environment and campaign to stop global warming or mountaintop removal?

You will then have to see how far down the Liberal Conservative spectrum the churches are and how comfortable you are there. Unfortunately when the church split between conservative and liberal the liberal wing made social justice a priority while the conservatives largely left it to them. A lot has changed since then any there are conservatives who realise Jesus loves social justice while, you also get the theologically liberal getting more mainstream, though not all of them. And there are all the emerging church people saying lets think this through again.

 

[E.C.]

I have been to many churches and frankly the only one where I have not heard any bit of politics has been at the Orthodox Church. The most that we've said is around election time when our priest reminds us, "This is what the church says about this party, this is what the church says about that party. With this in mind vote according to your conscience". That's it

As for financial records; the great majority of Orthodox churches do have those available for those who ask. As for theological discussions you can find many of those as well.

As for politics, I myself am a moderate Democrat of FDR sort.

 

[AgapeBible]

To be honest, I think abortion is wrong in most cases, it is the taking of innocent life. I don't think i will ever get pregnant, I never date or have sex, I am on birth control anyway, and I believe in what the bible says about chastity, that one should wait until they are married before having sex. I am saving myself for a future husband. I do have mental illness, that's the way God created me. He gave me problems but gave me gifts and talents also.


I have such mxed feelings for abortion, in a way I think it is wrong, it is murder of an unborn baby, and I am against the selfish use of it. But if the baby is caused by rape, well, even then the baby should not be blamed for what his or her father did, it is not the baby's fault, and if the mother's life is in danger, but doctors are not always right, there are women who give up their own lives for the sake of their children, but then the baby grows up without a mother. I do not hate children, but it bothers me when they are allowed to misbehave and not disciplined, especially little children screaming loudly in public. Have you ever been to the grocery store and seen heard toddlers screaming at the top of their lungs and throwing temper tantrums? And where I live, the mothers don't do anything about it. They don't even tell their kids to stop; they just ignore it. Sometimes the mothers will tell the toddlers to stop it, to be quiet, a very few will punish them for it.


I don't have a problem with the way people dress in church. I guess I just need to continue going. I should continue studyng the Bible and devotional, Christian books I have. SOmetimes I need a teacher well educated in the Bible and spiritual matters to explain it to me. I go to church for that. I wish I could get my parents to go.

 

[Baqueinfaith]

Agapedragon,

To be honest, you sound a lot like me...a perfectionist who overplans things. I live in an extremely diverse large metropolitan area and even I couldn't find a church that fit every one of my desires..and this was before I became Catholic.

That being said, is there an ELCA Lutheran congregation near where you live? As I understand it their members tend to be a bit more liberal, while their worship is a little bit more old-school.

How about Episcopalians? You might fit in there as well.

I don't know why you ruled out Catholic, but I will say this in case you re-consider. Social Justice ministries are a big part of seemingly most parishes. We also tend to do a lot of prison and homeless outreach and spend less time evangelizing in foreign countries (the local parishes do that) While the RCC's teachings on abortion are most assuredly NOT pro-choice in any way, you'll find that many Catholics themselves tend to be pretty liberal and (in my opinion, sadly) tend to disregard the church's teachings on that and in some places, on gay marriage as well. You'll find lots of democrats and moderate republicans in the pews and I don't think I've heard a priest go on a political screed. Also, you will find older styles of worship...everything from Ancient Ethiopic Rite, Classical Music, and Traditional American hymns.

But, as other have said, Lutheran, some Methodist, or Episcopalian might be good fits for you. I doubt you'll find an Eastern Orthodox or Oriental Orthodox church in your area (and you did indicate those are not options for you).

Just realize one thing: Finding a church is a bit like finding a husband/wife. When you find the one for you, you'll forget you ever wanted something different. All of those flaws and requirements will seem irrelevent and silly.

 

[Franny50]

I hear the Episcopal and ELCA Lutheran churches are big on social justice and have a number of initiatives and projects all over the world.There is more of a liberal and democratic feel in those two churches.

 

[A-FRIEND]

I would check out the Friends churches (Quakers), many of them are democrats, although the two Quakers that have been elected President were both Republicans.