- Jan 2, 2015
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To me (I consider myself moderate), being moderate is not the opposite of strong zeal. I can be very zealous. But I am not likely to be very zealous for extreme or fringe positions or petty matters or personal preferences, but to reserve zeal for the core of orthodox belief. For second-order issues or adiaphora, I'm much more likely to adopt a generosity of approach.
It's my experience that most people use "liberalism" to mean something pejorative, and then find something with which they disagree on which to hang the label.
To me, a liberal is someone who is happy to depart from orthodoxy (and therefore, a liberal Catholic might be a bit different from a liberal Anglican, and so forth).
Liberals typically, and happily, define and identify themselves, but some take cover behind a "moderate" label, which is why I wish the SoP were more clear in this forum so that people couldn't get away with that, nor would they feel the need to.
A forum in which conservatives and liberals can remain such while discussing issues would be welcome.
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