Why are most Christians politically right wing?

Francis Drake said:

There is no such thing as Christian socialism. Particularly as it was invented by a God hating atheist.

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That literally never happened. Marx, who you appear to be alluding to, did not invent socialism, and Christian socialism has been around since the 1800s. In fact it was founded in the UK and the American Pledge of Allegiance was written by one.

Francis Drake said:

More Marxist propaganda.
The basis of the Law of Moses is capitalist.

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Hardly. Being able to borrow money to build a business is at the very core of capitalism and is prohibited under the OT law. The law also makes sale of land impossible as it reverts to the 'original' owner every 50 years. The Law of Moses is in direct opposition to Capitalism on many points. It is Feudalism.

keith99 said:

Hardly. Being able to borrow money to build a business is at the very core of capitalism and is prohibited under the OT law. The law also makes sale of land impossible as it reverts to the 'original' owner every 50 years. The Law of Moses is in direct opposition to Capitalism on many points. It is Feudalism.

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I think it reflects a pastoral society.

iluvatar5150 said:

This ignores the issues of problems that are not only large in scale, but also geographically correlated (i.e. when they impact large numbers of people in a single place) and/or require some level of expertise to address. For example, "the community" isn't much help when everybody's house has been flooded. Nor is "the community" going to be effective at fighting malaria or water-born illnesses.

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That is still small scale love. I am talking about everyone loving each other like they are brothers: that would survive anything - including disasters. Unless we are talking about Noah, everyone's house won't be flooded, and that is when entire nations open up their walls to their brothers in need.

We, as humans, see each other as competition, so it is foreign for us to think of each other as brothers on such a large scale.

timothyu said:

It often takes only one person to put them in that position in the first place. But yes sometime community is required.

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It is inevitable that it takes more than one person to pull another out of homelessness, or drug addiction, or prostitution, or even out of plain poverty.

And because of the nature of the world, some people can't be pulled out of it. That's why Jesus said--and His words cannot be refuted--"the poor you have with you always." It's not always their fault, that's the nature of the world's system, lorded over by Satan.

Is that not also the purpose of the church? Even crowd-funding is outpacing the church these days. The church has often become like the governments telling others to dig deep.

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You seem to have been arguing against that in the last couple of posts.

Francis Drake said:

I'm not against taxation for justifiable causes like defence of the country or road building etc. But there is no biblical or spiritual justification to steal people's money for handouts to others. Despite calling it taxation, its just theft by another name.

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If you're not talking about the handling of resources within the Body of Christ, if you're talking about how Caesar handles the resources that Romans 13 puts under his control, then the authority to wield the sword includes the authority to extract taxes. Jesus never said that Caesar did not have that authority.

Francis Drake said:

More Marxist propaganda.
The basis of the Law of Moses is capitalist.

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The Law of Moses does not govern the economy of either Caesar or the Body of Christ.

timothyu said:

Moses was about gain at the expense of others rather than redistribution?

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The Mosaic Law required that wealthy farmers allow the poor to glean in their fields--and forbade them from using efficient harvesting methods that would have left the fields bare.

The Mosaic Law required the wealthy to loan money without interest to the poor, and then liquidated the debts every seven years--while requiring the wealthy make loans to the poor even up to the sixth year.

The Mosaic Law required the wealthy to support an annual pot luck for the poor.

Francis Drake said:

Yet another straw man argument.
The Egyptians and Canaanites were the enemies of God under judgement.

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Not so much the Egyptians. Egypt remained a safe haven for Jews fleeing bad Jewish governments from Solomon's time right up through Jesus' time.

keith99 said:

Hardly. Being able to borrow money to build a business is at the very core of capitalism and is prohibited under the OT law. The law also makes sale of land impossible as it reverts to the 'original' owner every 50 years. The Law of Moses is in direct opposition to Capitalism on many points. It is Feudalism.

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Well, reverting land back to the original owners (going all the way back to the division of the land by Joshua) would prevent feudalism as well. The Mosaic Law permitted borrowing and then also cancelled all debts every seven years.

Kaon said:

That is still small scale love. I am talking about everyone loving each other like they are brothers: that would survive anything - including disasters. Unless we are talking about Noah, everyone's house won't be flooded, and that is when entire nations open up their walls to their brothers in need.

We, as humans, see each other as competition, so it is foreign for us to think of each other as brothers on such a large scale.

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Speaking of flooding and such. A year prior to Hurricane Katrina, the state of Lousiana and FEMA had run an exercise scenario of a Cat 5 hurricane striking New Orleans. As the exercise proved that FEMA and the state were totally unprepared to handle the likely aftermath, they both decided...that they could do nothing.

A full year before Hurricane Katrina actually struck, FEMA and the state informed New Orleans government agencies, charity organizations, and religious organizations that if a Cat 5 hurricane ever struck New Orleans, they were all on their own. A full year before Katrina.

The only organization that took that warning to heart was the Mormon church. They laid out an evacuation plan that was much like plans I helped write in the Air Force.

Every member of LDS in New Orleans was assigned someone to ride with if/when an order was given to evacuate the city. Each member knew exactly who his ride would be. They had "mobility bags" kept packed. Arrangements were made with Mormons well outside the danger area to take in the evacuees as long-term guests, so each Mormon in New Orleans knew who he would stay with if/when he was evacuated. Those persons who would receive evacuees prepared the means to house them.

That is the kind of thing the Body of Christ should be doing across the board.

DM25 said:

Socialism actually has nothing to do with religion, but the concept is a lot more Christ-like than capitalism is.

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Which system thrives on oppression without giving back. Jesus came to save the oppressed.

DM25 said:

I never understood this because what the right stands for is not even biblical. Two of the things that are absolutely biblical and correct from the right/conservatism are : 1. Anti-LGBT and 2. Pro-Life. And I agree with this, along with general traditional family values and biblical morality. But everything else in the right wing you can argue is completely against Christianity and what Jesus taught. Everything in the right seems to be based on political identity and culture, not Jesus Christ. So I don't understand why right wing politics caters to Christian evangelicals so much.

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It used to be ... (days of Reagan) wanting smaller and less government control.

ie -
government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem

Both parties are now off the rails in this regard.

I cannot count the number of times, in my whole CF experience, how much that question has been asked. It's very common, and the discussions (which sometimes have been known to turn into debate and even branch out into ugly arguments) are seemingly endless.

I am one of those rare ones in the realm of Christianity that cannot make a connection with politics of any kind with Christianity, as my views are all over the spectrum (what I can understand of politics, anyway), so I'm not sure I can give a satisfactory response here. Because it's just so corrupt all the way around, and although I'm aware some will disagree, I do not see a "lesser of two evils". I've said that before, but that is my honest opinion. That is why I don't affiliate myself with any political party, even if I ever do find a third party candidate that comes the closest to my stances as a whole. And I'm sorry, but neither the Republicans or the Democrats have it (no offense to my fellow elephant and donkey friends out there). I'm actually getting sick of the same old stuff they bring to the table all the time, and the arguments go round and round with no end in sight.

Well, here's something I want to get straight: I strongly believe in moral values as we understand them from the reading and study of God's Word, and every Christian (I hope) should be able to agree on that much. I agree that God's Word should be preached without compromise and believe strongly that issues should be addressed in church. Abortion, for example, is something that I personally believe is wrong no matter what (this and a couple of other issues may be why many Christians may lean Republican, understandably), and even in cases like rape and so forth, there are ways to lovingly encourage expectant mothers to keep their babies (or to at least put them up for adoption if they are unable to care for them or find them to be a constant reminder of their traumatic experiences). However, I also believe there are other issues to look at from a Biblical standpoint, as well, as all sin is alike in the eyes of God in that the ultimate consequence is the same for those who don't repent, and that is why I disagree with condemning those who can't bring themselves to vote straight Republican). I also strongly disagree with politicking from the platform in church, regardless of party. To pray for rulers and the government as a whole, I agree with that completely as it is Scriptural (1 Timothy 2:1-2). But aside from that, the church should be encouraged to vote their conscience on what they honestly feel is right, and not judge those who might disagree (no matter the side). Politics is just one of those topics that tend to divide more than unite, and I see it more and more all the time. Leaves me shaking my head.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts. I do not wish to debate with anyone.

Speedwell said:

So make a practical application of your proverb: Opposition to any kind of gun control laws, for instance.

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Jesus told His disciples to buy swords (Luke 22:36) but He told them not to use them (Matthew 26:52). God lets his sheepdogs keep their teeth.

DM25 said:

I never understood this because what the right stands for is not even biblical. Two of the things that are absolutely biblical and correct from the right/conservatism are : 1. Anti-LGBT and 2. Pro-Life. And I agree with this, along with general traditional family values and biblical morality. But everything else in the right wing you can argue is completely against Christianity and what Jesus taught. Everything in the right seems to be based on political identity and culture, not Jesus Christ. So I don't understand why right wing politics caters to Christian evangelicals so much.

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The main reason would be because the political left go so far extreme into anti-Christianity.... that they somewhat resemble the mind set of the Bolshevik Party of Russia...... not quite that bad but headed in that direction.......

DM25 said:

I never understood this because what the right stands for is not even biblical. Two of the things that are absolutely biblical and correct from the right/conservatism are : 1. Anti-LGBT and 2. Pro-Life. And I agree with this, along with general traditional family values and biblical morality. But everything else in the right wing you can argue is completely against Christianity and what Jesus taught. Everything in the right seems to be based on political identity and culture, not Jesus Christ. So I don't understand why right wing politics caters to Christian evangelicals so much.

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DennisTate said:

The main reason would be because the political left go so far extreme into anti-Christianity.... that they somewhat resemble the mind set of the Bolshevik Party of Russia...... not quite that bad but headed in that direction.......

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I’m going to try and “condense” your logic: please forgive me if I am in error and correct me,

Are you saying
“The ‘religious right’ became so antithetical to the ‘help the poor and needy’ parts of Christianity BECAUSE the ‘irreligious-left’ HATES Christianity!”

Have I missed something?