How SoCons Can Win the Culture Wars - Lessons from Ultra-Orthodox Judaism

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Looks like wishful thinking.  The trend, as of now, is not on the side of the conservatives, and that's in spite of the fact that the media portrays all Christians as a bunch of old white conservatives and tricks people into thinking they can only be religious conservatives or secular liberals (similar, in a way, to how they suppress third parties by not reporting on them).

I also find it quite rash to assume that a child will be a conservative Christian simply because their parents are.  Heck, they could turn out to be militant atheists for all we know.  And as long as folks like Pat Robertson remain the symbol of modern Christianity (you can blame both Christians and the media for that one), both liberals and conservatives will pay the price for it.  You cannot simply "make the transition out of the faith more difficult" by segregating people.  In fact, you risk alienating more people in doing so, hurting the religion even further.

As far as the culture wars go, even the most conservative of Christians are beginning to concede them.  One of the biggest reparative therapy centers, Exodus International, closed its doors and the president apologized for the harm it caused not too long ago.  The more the fundamentalists alienate themselves, and the more battles they concede, the brighter the future for religious progressives alike.  All we have to do is not make the same mistakes the religious right made.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I also find it quite rash to assume that a child will be a conservative Christian simply because their parents are.  Heck, they could turn out to be militant atheists for all we know.  And as long as folks like Pat Robertson remain the symbol of modern Christianity (you can blame both Christians and the media for that one), both liberals and conservatives will pay the price for it.  You cannot simply "make the transition out of the faith more difficult" by segregating people.  In fact, you risk alienating more people in doing so, hurting the religion even further.

I think you missed his point Scott; if we took the lifestyle of the Orthodox Jews as our model, renouncing the faith would require basically disowning everything about your life, from your family to your home to your school. If we created a bubble as the Orthodox Jews do, it almost certainly would achieve that purpose as it has for the Orthodox Jews (or at least enough of one that their population is rapidly rising).

But will this hold true for people as they enter adulthood, and are no longer tethered to the customs of their families or of their communities unless their financial situations coerce them to be?  Even then, you can say you are part of the faith, but completely disown it all on your own terms, even behind those who hold you to it the most.

I mean, we need to account for the evolving attitudes of religion in general as well as differences in heritage.  This strategy may have worked for Orthodox Jews thanks to centuries of persecution that helped them maintain a sense of unity, but I don't think you can get Christians to all say, "Okay, we'll just mimic the Jews," and then expect similar outcomes.