How Different Are Progressive and Conservative Christians? Part III

How do Liberals/Progressives and Conservatives en-vision the future?

How do Liberals/Progressives and Conservatives en-vision the future?

Conservatives often don’t have a good attitude toward this life, which might be referred to as a “veil of tears”, or as “a sorrow which will go away when Jesus comes again”. For many of us Liberals and Progressives, we like it here. This doesn’t mean that we don’t look forward to Eternal Life, or that we don’t see problems and sin inherent in life, but we believe that we can create a better earth through creative thinking and through compassionate and just and merciful policies.

We don’t accept the inevitability of war simply because it’s difficult to envision the possibility of peace. We don’t accept the inevitability of inequality because equality seems to be a pipe dream. We are willing to try to create something that has never been before – and to go through the difficult process of figuring it out, experimenting, making mistakes, and re-figuring.  We believe that there can be far more justice and mercy on earth. This means that we also believe that Humankind contains vast amounts of Goodness.

The Conservative often focuses on the Sinfulness of Humankind and the Hope in the future when it will all be gone and we will reach perfection.  Yet, we too see the problems within our world. What is sometimes called Moral Relativism by Conservatives comes about because Liberals don’t always see life quite so neatly. Liberals don’t tend to believe that they know all the answers, and that everything the Bible says is directly relevant to our age without some thinking behind it. We are more apt to consider, to think through and reflect on an idea, and see the moral ambiguity.

Sometimes we can get so deeply involved in Situational Ethics that we can lose our moral compass. Sometimes Conservatives can get so involved in Absolutes, so they cause more harm than good. For instance, Conservatives take an absolute stand against abortion – no wiggle room at all. But if their stand resulted in laws that prohibit abortion, this could cause more abortions, rather than fewer, with more deaths to women as well as to the fetus. The harm might outweigh the good. This would be considered a situation where there’s more harm than good, so another solution needs to be envisioned. Progressive/Liberals  want abortion to be safe, legal, and rare.   Liberals, like Conservatives, can go off the deep end, and have Wobbly Ethics, to the extent that anything goes and there might not be a moral parameter. But Conservatives can have Hard Ethics, with little compassion for anyone in difficult circumstances. Yes, they’re more apt to be very clear, and often more sure of themselves that they’re right, whereas liberals are more apt to see ambiguity in many moral decisions. Liberals are more apt to say it’s not enough to be Right. One also has to be Effective.  The social work of Liberals and Progressive/Liberals, many times done in the name of their religion, has led to abolition of slavery, women’s rights, prison reform, and more work in the field of peace-making. However, some of these areas have also been addressed by Evangelicals historically, and are now being addressed more by Evangelicals, although many Conservatives think that things can be better for everyone if they only accepted Christ. However, there is plenty of evidence that Born Again Christians in government do not guarantee a better society, (remember George W. and Tom DeLay and…!!!) and that belief, in itself, doesn’t solve many systemic political and social problems.  Often the jump from individual Faith to Social Action is less clear for Conservatives, but not always.  Often personal faith and a personal relationship with God is less clear for Liberals, but not always.  No matter what we do, or how hard we try, we are not going to be the same. Yet, just when we think we’ve put someone so carefully in a box, they keep jumping out of our categories.

So everything in this article may be true, somewhat, for some people. Is that a problem?