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I just wanted to throw this poll out there in response to some feelings I’ve been experiencing of late. As a favor, PLEASE don’t turn this thread into a political debate as that is not my purpose in posting. Rather, it stems from the observation that my own personal political beliefs have been changing and I’m curious if the same is true of others who pass through a faith crisis. As for me I checked the second option, I became more liberal after my faith crisis. Or rather, I’m becoming more liberal, as I haven’t finished changing my political beliefs yet. As a bit of background I grew up in a very conservative home, politically and religiously, like most “good” Mormons. I always considered my self pretty unbiased and informed. I had a hard time understanding how good Mormons could be liberals (sorry, but it’s true), at least as far as social issues are concerned. When prop 8 came out I didn’t see what all the fuss was about. Homosexuality is wrong so of course gay marriage should be prohibited. When I stumbled across Mormon feminism (courteousness of Joanna Brooks) for the first time I was appalled that people actually thought that way.
But as of my faith crisis, I feel as though mine eyes have been opened! For some reason now I feel I can better understand the liberal side on these issues in a way my TBM self could not, and I AGREE with them! Why should anyone force their beliefs on another (gay marriage)? Why on EARTH did I have a problem with feminists!?
To be fair I still feel fiscally conservative but who knows how I’ll feel tomorrow? This is truly a liberating (if difficult) journey of self discovery!
Answer the poll and tell us about how your faith struggles have influenced you politically.
I can’t see the poll on my phone but I’d say I’ve become marginally more liberal, but have always been pretty left leaning anyway. I think being mormon and conservative is fairly American. In Europe many Mormon’s tend to be fairly progressive/liberal/socialist. Tend to. Actually it’s more mixed, but politics is in no way the statement of religious commitment that some Utah TBMs perceive it to be. You should look up the political threads on MDDB from last week. There was some bile and vitriol like never before. I found it almost amusing.
MDDB? I am not a “conservative or a liberal”. I am a left winger, not a “liberal”, “neo-liberal” or whatever. The biggest tragedy of American politics is that it has lost the radical left for so called “liberalism”, a poor weak willed middle class substitute, which keeps the rich on top. Social democracy, socialism, anarchism etc, have been politely airbrushed out. Mind you, you can’t even mention the s word in an American context without people thinking you’re a Communist or want to start a police state.
SamBee wrote:You can’t even mention the s word in an American context without people thinking you’re a Communist or want to start a police state.
Depends. I hear more and more people self identifying as Socialist and being socially accepted just fine. Moreover if you talk about just the principles of socialism without labeling it as such you’ll find even more people accepting.
johnh wrote:MDDB?
I believe it refers tohttp://www.mormondialogue.org/http://www.mormondialogue.org/” class=”bbcode_url”> johnh wrote:MDDB?
Sorry, yes, eman’s correct, it’s the mormondialogue board. It’s where a lot of the BYU scholars and apologists hang out. It’s useful, but can get very aggressive and defensive.
Wayfarer has some epic posts on there and DBmormon too. Post with caution!
I’ve been aware of my heterodoxy all my life and have been a mixed bag politically for a long, long time. I selected that I have become more conservative mostly because of the way I ended up voting before and after my faith crisis, not because I have ever been a huge fan of either party or even the two-party system in general. Also, about the time I graduated from high school I remember thinking what is so bad about socialism and why not legalize gambling, prostitution, marijuana, etc.? Regardless of what you want to call it I think the best way to describe my political evolution over time is that I have become much less idealistic and have developed a certain level of distaste for pet causes whether people are pushing green energy, trying to redistribute wealth, etc. I guess I have just gotten more used to the idea of necessary evil and that some less-than-ideal situations are still better than any realistic alternatives. It seems obvious to me that it is both possible and likely that politicians will quite often try to do way more than they really should and end up implementing solutions that are actually worse than the original perceived problems they were reacting to. That’s why at this point I would almost always favor allowing as much individual freedom as possible over strict government control as long as they can get away with this regardless of whether it is a liberal position (allowing abortion, gay marriage, etc.) or a conservative position (resisting excessive taxes and business regulations). However, I would never let something like abortion be the primary determining factor in who I vote for and the main things I really care about are concerns like creating/maintaining a good balance of economic opportunity and stability, crime prevention and law enforcement, the cost of basic living expenses, inflation, etc.
Since my faith crisis in the mid-90’s my political views have shifted in some areas. However, some thoughts: – I don’t think any of my current political views are a result of my faith crisis.
– Many of the issues that we call “political” are really social (same-sex marriage), which then have a necessary political aspect, because you can’t change something that major without changing laws.
– I don’t consider myself conservative or liberal or anything-winger. Those labels are far too course to be of value. In the US, I have the same position as one political party on some issues, the other party on some other issues, and neither party on many issues.
– I believe it is morally dangerous for a person to think of himself/herself as more evolved, more intelligent, or more right than people with whom they disagree politically. I have known good and faithful members of the LDS church that were republicans, democrats, libertarians, and independents. I’ve known jerks in each of those political columns. Just like with our own position with the church, each person has to come to terms with what works for them politically, and it’s nobody else’s business.
I’ve become more liberal during my faith crisis as most Americans would describe it, but I’d describe it as being more tolerant and understanding and less judgmental. Black and white (figuratively speaking) are no longer the only colors I see in my church and that has naturally extended to my broader view of life. That being said other aspects of my political beliefs haven’t changed one bit. Fiscal issues come to mind.
Interesting replies so far. I knew when I created this post that there would be many that would not want to identify as liberal or conservative and departed adding the last option basically allowing them to opt out but figured then they just wouldn’t vote. It’s so hard to put a label on political belief as there are just so many factors that go into play. Thanks for participating. I especially like how Roadrunner put it. I would agree that I feel more tolerant and therefore more accepting of what are traditionally liberal supported issues. I like the idea of describing myself as now “Seeing in color” rather than black and white. Maybe I’ll start using this when referring to my new life path with my wife. She quickly has grown tired of me referring to myself as an apostate. 😈 Quote:She quickly has grown tired of me referring to myself as an apostate.
😈 You think?!
😆 Since I’m doing this on the iPad and don’t want to take the time to be detailed and verbose I’ll try to keep it brief. In high school and for about three years after graduation I was pretty liberal. I joined the Army right out of high school and barely stayed out of trouble in the conservative culture. After deciding to reenlist and getting married I started leaning conservative. Then I had a kid and joined the Church. In about four years I went from rebellious liberal to pretty staunch conservative. Now about thirty five years later the liberal is coming back out after all those years of being repressed. Living in the corridor hasn’t helped but counseling has.
eman wrote:SamBee wrote:You can’t even mention the s word in an American context without people thinking you’re a Communist or want to start a police state.
Depends. I hear more and more people self identifying as Socialist and being socially accepted just fine. Moreover if you talk about just the principles of socialism without labeling it as such you’ll find even more people accepting.
Liberal isn’t “left”, it’s the soggy center!!!👿 👿 👿 Why do Americans think “liberalism” is leftist?
Because McCarthyism did for anything left of center? Probably…
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