According to the interview I listened to, the phenomenon of searching for a church that matches our politics is largely responsible for the declining number of church-goers (again, particularly among young people). According to the authors, these young people – most often liberal rather than conservative at that point in their lives – see most religious denominations as being quite conservative. And because conservatism is the polar opposite of their politics, they turn away from any form of organized religion.
This is rather thought-provoking, don’t you think? Do we develop a stand on political issues that aligns with our religious convictions? Or is our faith the starting point from which our political views are developed?
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What an interesting thought! The funny thing is though that the Catholic Church contains all political factions within itself - although extremists on the right and left tend to only favour their own view of the Church, or how they think the church ought to be. As is evidenced by the many arguments on certain Facebook discussion groups!
ReplyDeleteI probably do align myself most strongly with those elements of the Church which match my politics, but would struggle to say which came first. I would hope it was my Faith. Without faith, I doubt I would bother with political issues at all.
Interesting. In the past I think that many picked churches based on their childhood traditions, friendships, and ideologies. I think that most folks embrace a political party based on ideology. So maybe this isn't all that new of a phenomenon.
ReplyDeleteI think that where one goes to church does not always reflect one's politics though and vice-versa.
Well, we'd HOPE that "B" is the answer here. But I'd have to say that in my experience, most people would say "A."
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