Dr. Forbush Thinks

If we assume that the purpose of religion is to enhance the human experience by giving us solace in our existence, then we can try to understand in broad terms what the difference is between religious conservatives and religious liberals.

In general everyone would like his or her life to be better than it is. A conservative is a person who is generally happy with the way things are and they would only like to change the status quo if there is a high expectation that the change will make things better. A liberal on the other hand is a person who is generally not happy with the way things are. They are willing to change things in the hope that things will get better, because they can’t get much worse.

You can change the statement to a religion perspective easily by restating what I said this way:

Everyone wants religious solace in some way. A religious conservative is someone who finds this solace in his religion and is pretty happy about this. Any change to finding this comfort and consolation may be attempted only if they are certain that the change will help, not harm the arrangement. A religious liberal is not happy about how she/he finds his/her religious solace. This person is always in search of trying to make the religious experience better by many different methods. They may read the Bible in search of new understanding, or they may explore different religions or religious ideas in different ways.

Obviously this is quite abstract and general, but it is a good place to start to look at the different behavior of religious conservatives and religious liberals. There are religious conservatives in every faith, and they each believe that they have found the true religious way. The degree of conservative nature could be measured by asking how strongly one believes that they have found the one and only way to religious solace. Obviously the vocabulary differs from religion to religion, and different religions have different names for “religious solace.” Even an atheist has some level of comfort in his understanding of his place in the Universe. The agnostic would be more liberal if they search for solace, but are skeptical about the existence of God than the conservative atheist that knows for certain that God does not exist.

This helps to explain why each group behaves the way that they do. Conservative groups need assurance that they are right about what they believe, because doubt brings fear that they might be wrong. Other religious groups present a doubt to the conservative’s status quo. Thinking about problems in religious understanding lead to doubt, unless those questions are quickly answered. This behavior explains the need for annotated Bibles that have the answers for typical questions noted through out the book. Lingering questions can lead to doubt and doubt can lead to fear and fear can lead to less religious solace. Fear of losing religious solace permeates the religious conservative culture on many levels. And, it explains why it is so important for religious conservatives to prove that they have all the answers to life’s questions. These answers are often found in lists of laws and the adherence to strict rules and rituals.

Religious liberals typically believe that their faith is a good starting place to understand their place in the Universe. Being human and imperfect means that they can’t expect perfect solace, but they try any way. Religion is seen as a good suggestion for human behavior and trying to understand religious teachings gives insight into how to better live ones life. The exceptions and details of how to apply each rule, law or ritual gives insight, but they do not give all the answers. Answers can be found anywhere and in any aspect of life. Human imagination offers hypothetical situations that challenge laws and rules and these challenges offer insight that each situation is specific. This leads to the idea of situational ethics that liberals accept and conservatives deny.

The main point is that questions and indecision with respect to religion are feared by the conservative if they challenge his/her understanding of his religious foundation. The liberal already feels that her/his religious experience is less than it could be and questions about his/her understanding is already common place. Answering those questions is a hope for the religious liberal, but not the expectation.

Where you find yourself on the spectrum from religious liberal to religious conservative is most likely to be in the center for most people. There are issues and ideas that you believe and you fear challenges to those ideas. There are issues and ideas that you have doubts about and you wonder how they should be resolved. Conservative groups looking for members look for people who are searching, and they offer concrete answers in the hope that these answers will give the person religious solace. Conservatives find comfort in knowing that others agree with them, giving strength to their religious foundation. Liberal groups have a completely different attitude, believing that people looking for religious solace may stumble in and take some solace from community worship. Liberals expect that people will gain insight if they need it and people generally find what they need from the range of rituals, law and rules offered.


Liberal or Conservative, it doesn’t really matter because we are all looking for the same thing. The paths to religious solace are varied and many…








Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit



Politics