Fundamentalist Christians and the American Left

Why is it that Fundamentalist/ Evangelical Christians feel that they are on the Right side of the political spectrum?  They want to be able to tell others how to live their life through political regulation.  That doesn’t sound like the Right to me.

The Left side of the political spectrum is larger, more powerful government that tells people how to live their lives, and the Right is a smaller, less intrusive government that leaves people to their own devices.  How can you say that gays can’t get married or that a woman can’t have an abortion* and still say that you are on the Right?

I know why you feel that you must do this.  I grew up in a Catholic household, in a majority Catholic city, in a majority Catholic state, and attended a Catholic school for 9 years.  Believe me, I have heard all of the arguments before - “It says it right here in the Bible,” “They are sinning and we must save their souls,” “They don’t know about the Word of God, and it is up to us to teach it to them,” etc, etc, etc.

But, all of these arguments just prove my point.  You are using your beliefs to rule someone else’s life.  Our Constitution guarantees people in our country certain freedoms, one of which is the pursuit of happiness**.  This means that people are allowed to live how ever they want, as long as they are not impinging on the rights of others.  When you use government regulations to force someone to live how you want them to instead of how they want to, you are impinging on their rights.

If all of this preaching actually did any good, you wouldn’t have to do it.  The entire world would have become Christian 500 years ago when the Europeans started trying to spread it around the world.  In fact many, many atheists say that the reason that the are atheists is that they were tired of people pushing their beliefs down his throat (don’t believe me?  Go to www.atheistforums.com.  There are many, many posts that say exactly that).  Did you know that preaching in public is actually a sin? ***

You will just have to live with the fact that not everyone will live the way that you want them to.  This is the United States of America, and people have the Constitutional right to live how ever they want to, as long as they are not negatively affecting others.  How will gays getting married negatively affect you?  There is no right to not be offended, and that is the only “problem” that this will cause you.

You must get over the fact that people will do things that you don’t like.  You live a life that they find reprehensible, and you feel the same about them.  If people were supposed to all be the same, we wouldn’t need laws, we wouldn’t have countries, and we wouldn’t have different religions.  This is the way that the world works.  Get used to it.

People are always going to see things differently.  This is how God made us.  I think even Fundamentalists can appreciate that.


* -  I believe that abortion is an abomination, but who am I to tell someone how they can and can’t live?  It is not up to me to get someone else into Heaven.  I have my own family to worry about.  God gave us all free will, and the woman is a grown up who can make her own decisions.  She is the one that will have to deal with the consequences of her actions, here on Earth and after she dies.

** -  This phrase is actually in the Declaration of Independence, but the idea is carried over into the Constitution and is one of the reasons that it was drawn up in the first place.
   -  6/15/2010 Edit - I have recently found out an interesting story concerning this phrase.  It was originally supposed to be the word property, but the Founders knew that the Southerners would use this as a justification for owning slaves (they were considered property).  Once changed to pursuit of happiness, slavery was no longer condoned in the Constitution.  The only reason that it was not outlawed was that the Southern Delegation threatened to start their own country (and not join the U.S.), and there was no way for the Colonies to win the war with England without them.

*** -  Mathew 6:5-8 - these are Jesus’ own words, and they come directly before He teaches the Lord’s Prayer.

⁵And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ⁶But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.