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Texas GOP Approves Party Platform

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Jeff, Jun 4, 2004.

  1. AroundTheWorld

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    Sounds exactly like Paul Pressler's agenda.
     
  2. MadMax

    MadMax Member

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    Things I'm bothered by:

    1. the fact that my faith and my voting record somehow ties me in with a platoform like this in total;

    2. the fact that people who claim Christ can't seem to adopt Christ's sense of mercy;

    3. that stuff like this makes those who follow Christ out to be petty -- see mcmark's post below -- and then distract from the grace of Christ..the magnitude of Christ;

    4. the near idolatry of worship for monuments and statues that carry some Judeo/Christian message on public grounds;

    5. the "us against them" mentality that seems to pervade the republican party right now while tying into some sense of Christianity.
     
  3. mc mark

    mc mark Member

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    Max could elaborate?

    I by no means meant to imply that people who follow religion are petty. If it seemed that way, my apologies.

    I have my own personal reasons for leaving the Southern Baptist religion and why my experience was soured by it.

    Again I apologize if I offended anyone.
     
  4. wouldabeen23

    wouldabeen23 Member

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    Max...you give me hope for Chrisendom--the evangelicals, on the other hand, are bent on making this country a theocracy..
     
  5. SamFisher

    SamFisher Member

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    Who is the Texas State GOP backing for Ayatollah this year?
     
  6. MadMax

    MadMax Member

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    no reason to be offended..it's not just Southern Baptists...the church at large has failed to show Christ's love. all denominations, Protestant and Catholic, have come up short. i guess that should be of little surprise. but it bothers me still.

    are you still a Christ-follower, though you left the Southern Baptist tradition?

    wouldabeen -- if evangelical is a term denoting some political affiliation, then i'm not one. if evangelical means a Christian who shares his faith with others, than I'm guilty. only not guilty enough.
     
  7. rimrocker

    rimrocker Member

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    Not to be alarmist here, but the people who wrote and approved this platform are in charge of the dominant party in the second-largest state of the Union. Furthermore, this group has supplied a large number of national figures.

    Yet another clue that the Republican Party is no longer run by Republicans.
     
  8. wouldabeen23

    wouldabeen23 Member

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    Take it as a combination--those who seek to use Christianity as a springboard for political action and insure that personal liberties and decisions are taken away in the name of Christ and "Family Values" by spreading THEIR version of the "good news"
     
  9. mc mark

    mc mark Member

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    I believe in large part the teachings of Christ but really follow no organized religion.

    How’s that for a contradiction?


    :)
     
  10. mrpaige

    mrpaige Member

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    Most, if not all, of the people who end up on these platform writing committees are not those who end up holding significant public office, though. These positions tend to bring out the craziest of the crazies.

    Of course, the real leadership could reject these issues or attempt to tone them down (because even if you agree with some of the general positions on a broader scale, the wording in this thing is often pretty harsh), but generally don't.
     
  11. MadMax

    MadMax Member

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    i don't see the contradiction, frankly. particularly to the extent that organized religion has watered down Jesus Christ.
     
  12. twhy77

    twhy77 Member

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    Why is everybody so intolerant of intolerance?

    Sorry, I don't like all the death penalties and Felony charges being thrown around in there, plus I have a lot of technical issues with things said in there; but other than that I can't say my faith does nothing to inform my political views.

    I mean does GV's belief in animal rights influence his poltical views, or does mc mark's humantarian ponderings stay absent from who he supports in elections? The idea that beliefs inform only religious opinion seems illogical. They inform all opinions. Disagree if you must, you're more than allowed too. Mocking only makes you as intolerant as the one you mock.
     
  13. MadMax

    MadMax Member

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    understood...my faith certainly shapes my politics. but the idea that God and the Republican party walk in lockstep together seems off to me. and many of the policies that this platform ascribes to are not ones that I would necessarily associate with Christ.
     
  14. MR. MEOWGI

    MR. MEOWGI Contributing Member

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    So as a Catholic, would you prefer the church to have total control of government? How do you separate the two? Would the ultimate goal to have the laws of America equal those of the Catholic Church? I'm not really just asking you personally, I'm just trying to figure these things out as a whole.

    ps, The Pope has condemned the war in Iraq. Should those who support the war or fight in it be denied communion?
     
  15. twhy77

    twhy77 Member

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    Completely agree. Its elitist and exclusionary whereas the message is to be inclusionary.

    MR. MEOWGI, I was not making the argument that their should be no seperation, the argument is the establishment cause; not the abolishment of religion from public and even governmental life. Why would religion be singled out, yet feminism, liberalism, animal rightism, humanism, atheism, homosexualism, conservatism, and liberalism can be included? Seems like the issue runs deeper, than just we need to seperate church and state. ITs as if someone is saying, the ideas of church are wrong and dangerous and should be kept out of political opinions.


    We've gone over the whole Catholic/no communion thing, do we really have to do it again?
     
  16. MR. MEOWGI

    MR. MEOWGI Contributing Member

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    Maybe because some of these 'isms are based on reasoning and not faith??? It's not really the ideas of the church that are wrong, maybe just the enforcement of those ideas.

    But why should a Catholic want a separation of, say, "Catholic Church and State"? Islam has no such beliefs, why should any other religion? If you believe yours to is the truth, why would you even want a separation?
     
  17. twhy77

    twhy77 Member

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    It's the question of freedom, one of the founding principles of our Church and of our country....forced religion is not religion...God cannot make us love him, we must choose to love him.

    Also, faith is not divorced from reason; MacB can give you a lengthy diatribe on that one...and are all of those things completely in tune with reason? Is love of fellow man compatible with reason?
     
  18. Supermac34

    Supermac34 President, Von Wafer Fan Club

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    It IS kind of a contradiction.

    Even Jesus followed the Jewish man's life, and was raised according to Jewish rules. While he was against the established hypocrisy of the Jewish hierarchy of the time, he certainly wasn't against the Jewish religion at all, just the people that ran it were doing a bad job.

    Remember that Jesus was a Jew and lived his life accordingly, even though he (as some people, including me, believe) was the son of God and the Savior.

    Jesus wasn't against religion...he was against the corrupt people running the religion at the time.

    OK...I've derailed this enough...

    Just a question...Is the questioning of the death penalty for rape an issue of the death penalty in general (you do or don't agree with the death penalty in any case), or you feel that rape doesn't justify death (but maybe in other circumstances)?
     
  19. Supermac34

    Supermac34 President, Von Wafer Fan Club

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    As I post again...

    It seems to me that the Constitution is such a fantastic document that we can have these kind of arguments. We are given freedom of religion and the state can't encroach on that. We don't have a national religion...such as the Church of England or whatnot...but that leaves a MASSIVE gray area. The power was also given to the people to elect those with their point of view. It only makes sense that if the majority of people are a certain religion, then that religion will be felt in the government.
     

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