by neat blue dog 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
They are social conservatives because they share the same fundamentalist mindset as other religious fundamentalists.
However, there is a liberal mindset in the sense that they do believe in a government (although an imaginary one) that will help solve homelessness, joblessness, poverty, war, lack of healthcare, ect...everything that would be the ire of Ann Rand devotees.
They are anti gun and anti war, which would tend to be more associated with liberal politics in America, and they are more skeptical of the strong nationalism of most American conservatives.
This is asked a lot on here but I do think this is an interesting question, because of their 'neutrality' JWs have developed a politics which doesn't fit neatly along American sides, I believe this is why JWs are among the most racially diverse religions in America, their position has allowed them to avoid much of the racially charged nature of partisan American politics. If they had tied themselves to a particular party it would be an extremely different religion.
The only thing the JWs are remotely liberal on are the issues of gun control. Basic JW stances are stauch conservatism than anything else, including but not limited to:
Anti abortion
Anti gay rights
Anti trans rights
Favor of traditional roles
Emphasis on religious values
Socially, they are conservative/Republican. Can't get any deeper than that because JWs are politically neutral.
"Liberal" and "conservative" mean different things today than they did years ago.
The JWs are very similar to the religious side of conservativism. Anti-gay, anti-abortion, etc.
Yet not like conservatives in other ways. Conservatives tend to be gung-ho towards patriotism. My country, right or wrong. But the JWs aren't into that. No pledge of allegiance, no standing for the National Anthem, no flags, etc. Not that liberals are anti-country. But they can see it's not black and white, but gray. Yet JWs are gung-ho patriotic towards their own religion. My religion, right or wrong. Either you're all for it 100% or you're against us. The sort of nonsense mentality the pervades the right.
JWs also have a general disdain for other religions. The ones conservative politicians pander to.
I really don't think they're into the pro-big-business stances conservatives are and tax cuts for the richest among us. Which is more of a liberal position. They're supposedly fine to pay Ceasar's things to Caesar.
And they definitely support freedom of speech - at least when it is speech their religion is speaking.
Plus culturally, I kind of see that hippy herbal healing, natural cures thing going. At least it did when I was a JW. The thoughts that god made all of the cures to our ailments. We just had to find them in nature. And that they were better than medications.
And there's definitely the anti-war stuff.
I think within their religion, they're very like conservatives. The dogma, the patriotism. But in their day-to-day lives and thoughts, they're kind of more liberal. But if they were forced to pick, they'd say conservative because of the religious aspects. Not realizing the other positions that go with it because they're out of the political loop.
If you meet a liberal JW - they are awake, or about to be.
That described me!
I believe this is why JWs are among the most racially diverse religions in America
There seemed to be a lot of support among the black friends for President Obama. A sense of pride even though they were "supposed" to be neutral.
This conservative-liberal bullshit gets on my nerves.
I am neither. That thing causes so much unnecessary divisiveness. At the end of the day, we all have our own individual sets of vales and principles. Many of mine coincide with both conservative and liberal. I am me, not something that some people decide I'm supposed to be. I believe in what I believe because I choose to, not because liberals are this or conservatives do that.
The fundamental argument between conservatives and liberals is to what degree the federal government should weild power over the states. Liberals tend to be for "big government" - sweeping, national legislative reform to which all states are required to adhere as enforced by a monitoring agency (think: the Clean Power Act and the EPA or Housing Act of 1964 and HUD); while conservatives want to limit the power of the federal government and allow each state (read: the corporations that control state politics thru campaign contributions) to decide for themselves. Fiscal conservatives are rich mofos who want to tax income instead of assets (they couldn't give a fudge about religious ideals unless they can be manipulated to support business interests) and want to end New Deal era reforms. Social conservatives basically promote fundamentalist religious values.
All that's to say, neither. As far as the R&F is concerned, hypothetical political leanings are as diverse as those of the entire nation. Income, gender, race, ethnicity, location, education - all of these factor into political choices. It'd differ from region to region, city to city, congregation to congregation. They'd most likely mirror the statistics of the territory the congregation covers
The GB is most definitely conservative though.
At the end of the day, we all have our own individual sets of vales and principles. Many of mine coincide with both conservative and liberal. I am me, not something that some people decide I'm supposed to be
Amen to that scratchme1010
I`ll add my support to scratchme1010 post trying to label people as liberal or conservative or either left or Right of the spectrum is counter -productive because many people hold views of both sides of the spectrum ,and labeling them as such is a disservice..
