Liberals and Conservatives
Wednesday July 23, 2008
Liberals and conservatives
I have joked, in the past, that there are two kinds of Christians.
Liberals believe the Bible when they find it corroborated by science, academic research, or experience. Conservatives believe science, academic research, or their own experience only if they find it confirmed by the Bible.
Sometimes I think I came closer to reality than I intended.
So much depends on one’s definition of the terms liberal and conservative.
Unfortunately, the terms liberal and conservative also get tangled into politics, especially in the U.S.
As I understand it, the conservative right in the U.S. believes in church attendance every Sunday, capitalism, free markets, restrictive immigration, big corporations, the American way of life, tax cuts, personal wealth, and God.
The liberal left believes exactly the same things, but slightly less noisily.
Which makes the distinction between them perfectly clear. Doesn’t it?
Different definitions
To me, a liberal is open to new understandings—wherever they come from. Sometimes those new understandings will confirm the validity of a traditional doctrine or practice; sometimes they force a reassessment.
That does not mean throwing out the old concept—a presumption commonly made by conservatives. It merely requires viewing it through new lenses.
My definition of a conservative is one whose mind is made up, who doesn’t want to be confused by new facts. Faith is not a negotiable item.
But the former Anglican bishop of Kootenay Diocese, David Crawley, tossed off a definition that made me think again.
A liberal, said David, believes that all humans are basically good. Therefore humans will always choose the right path, if they just have the right education.
A conservative, he continued, believes that all humans are basically bad. They are born “fallen,” with a natural predilection towards evil. Therefore they need rules, to keep them on the right path.
Reconsidering liberalism
I would normally consider myself a liberal. I honor and respect the Bible. I certainly don’t want to trash it, simply because I can find occasional contradictions or inconsistencies that reflect the culture of the times when it was written.
I believe that the traditions and doctrines of the Christian church are always open to re-interpretation—as we learn from science, psychology, experience, and other faiths.
As a self-professed liberal, I take my creed from the words of Jesus, “You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
By David Crawley’s definition, though, I think I’m becoming a conservative.
The Internet offered a glorious opportunity for free communication. Instead, it seems to have been taken over by spammers and pornographers.
Big corporations hire platoons of lawyers and accountants to show them how to short-circuit the law. Corporate CEOs inflate their incomes as the firm nosedives.
Governments refuse to act on climate change; trawlers ravage depleted oceans; forest industries cut trees as if there was an endless supply…
All of these could do otherwise. They have the education, and the intelligence, to make other choices. But they don’t. They choose to pursue their own short-term goals. Just the way criminals do.
They lead me to despair.
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Copyright © 2007 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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