Question for Christian conservatives

[courts]

How do you reconcile Jesus' teachings with your beliefs? I don't think the average conservative believes in or obeys the Golden Rule or loves his neighbor as himself. Giving tax cuts to the rich and turning the poor and immigrants away isn't very Christian in my book.

Thoughts?

your post is why i am opposed to christianity, beyond mere disbelief. i view it as inherently justifying egalitarian and self-hating tendencies in the west, to a greater extent than many other myths. granted it can be interpreted differently, in a way that is not liberal. but the potential is there and has clearly manifested itself in various left-wing traditions and humanism. hence i agree with the critique of christianity by a lot of the european 'new right' and right-wing radicals.

[courts]

How do you reconcile Jesus' teachings with your beliefs? I don't think the average conservative believes in or obeys the Golden Rule or loves his neighbor as himself. Giving tax cuts to the rich and turning the poor and immigrants away isn't very Christian in my book.

Thoughts?

your post is why i am opposed to christianity, beyond mere disbelief. i view it as inherently justifying egalitarian and self-hating tendencies in the west, to a greater extent than many other myths. granted it can be interpreted differently, in a way that is not liberal. but the potential is there and has clearly manifested itself in various left-wing traditions and humanism. hence i agree with the critique of christianity by a lot of the european 'new right' and right-wing radicals.

I'll agree with the self-hating part being inherent in Christianity, but not equality, at least in the modern political sense. The Gospels are full of examples of Jesus helping the poor and curing the sick, but he doesn't campaign for political action in any meaningful way. The whole notion of an egalitarian society would have been completely foreign at that time. The Bible doesn't deal with discrimination in the same way as a modern society would, and advocates discrimination against non-believers if anything. A better description of the appropriate way to deal with the poor would be "solidarity" than "equality" (at least political equality).

If you interpret literally Jesus' statements about the camel going through the eye of the needle (see this thread) or his command to the rich man to give everything to the poor to be literal and universal, neither political party fits either at all.

The problem you run into more than anything else is that Jesus taught to a small, persecuted minority primarily about how to deal with their interpersonal relationships. He gave little if any instruction about how to operate a Christian nation or government, only how to treat individual people.

when i say egalitarian i mean more so than in a literal sense of policy prescription or ideology. christianity has been commonly interpreted as holding that people are fundamentally wicked and only through christ could all people be saved, even the most outcast and hated groups. it was a stark departure from the much more regional-minded and tribal paganism of the era, or judaism for that matter. further the ethos of christianity was more focused on self sacrifice and the glorification of the 'meek' than the strong and the conventionally heroic (i.e. the warrior, the conqueror, the journeyman). it is therefore easy to see where much of the humanism and left/liberal notions are derived from christianity, even among many on the left profess to be strictly secular or anti-christian materialists.