Christian Liberal

What comes to mind when you hear the words, Christian Liberal? Recently, I heard someone say that a liberal cannot be a Christian. Is this true? Is Christian Liberal an oxymoron?

I suppose it might depend on what exact definition we use for both Christian and Liberal. For Liberal, or progressive, let’s generalize and say it is someone in the United States who has concerns for social justice, equality, freedom of choice—especially abortion–and LGBTQ rights. They might also support more relaxed immigration and immigrant rights, gun control, universal healthcare through the government, the environment and climate change issues, and science-based decisions.

A Christian would be someone who believes in God and the Holy Spirit, follows Jesus, believes He was the Son of God, sees the bible as their sacred source, and tries to follow the 10 commandments and other biblical guidelines.

Now, you may have heard the expression, the godless left. Is there any merit to this saying? Let’s explore this idea or possibility that a Liberal cannot really be a Christian. Again, it depends on how rigid we are with definitions, but there are some concerns.

Before going any further, I have to add a personal note. I was a far left liberal or progressive for probably 25 or 30 years of my life. I had strong opinions, and disdain for conservatives. Interestingly, for the most part during those years, I had little relationship with God or Jesus. I am not sure what came first, but around 2020, I began turning more clearly “Christian” (reading the bible, praying, going to church, etc.) and completely changing my views to the point that I was not only more conservative (but not tied to any label), but seeing the left as confused and misguided and even dangerous on most issues, at least in practice, although I think our goals are not all that different with regards to compassion, justice, the environment, etc.

To be clear, I see nearly all humanity as “programmed,” that is, confused or indoctrinated in many ways, including both liberals and conservatives, Christians and New Agers and other spiritual views. So, I hope we can explore this topic with honesty and curiousity, not to blame or claim anything, but to learn and grow.

1. First, we can look at a big one: abortion. This is pretty clear. The bible says “Thou shall not kill,” and as hard as we might try to convince ourself that abortion is not murder, or that the fetus is not a life or baby, it is hard to argue that a Christian could support abortion. Again, there can be arguments of gestation or cases of incest or rape. And liberals far outnumber conservatives in support for abortion rights.
2. Vaccine Mandates: We might ask, what do vaccine mandates have to do with being liberal or Christian. Possibly quite a bit actually. I checked and compared a half dozen polls that show that, depending on the vaccine mandates, approximately two out of three Democrats support the mandates, while only about one in three Republicans support the vaccine mandates. What some speculate is that liberals, again, trust the government more, but also you could argue that they sometimes see the government as their savior and protector more than God. It is an interesting thought. If this is true, this would help explain the almost cult like triggering response when there is any discussion of true scientific research to determine if vaccines are safe and effective. The left claim that they back the science, but their actions do not always add up, or perhaps it is only certain science they support. Remember Anthony Fauci’s famous statement, “I am Science.” It is also interesting to point out the enormous contradiction. The left argues vehemently for freedom for women to choose with regards to abortion: “My body my choice.” But the cult-like cognitive dissonance is astounding when the same idea of “My body my choice” is presented with regards to vaccines and vaccine mandates.
3. God versus Government: This is related to the above vaccine mandate beliefs. I know, that’s not a fair contrast, but there is some argument and even evidence to explore here. The left generally supports bigger government. Studies have shown that those who support bigger government and more mandates, are more likely to be agnostic or atheist. In one study, 37% of Democrats were religiously unaffiliated, while only 21% of Republicans were unaffiliated. Other studies demonstrate this as well. So there seems to be a correlation where we can generalize, with exceptions of course: Liberals believe more in big government and Conservatives believe more in God.
4. LGBTQ: Christians believe that we were made in the image and likeness of the Creator, and that God is perfect. By far more of the left than right argue that, in effect, God made mistakes, and put people in wrong bodies, or made some people who prefer same sex relationships. More liberals than conservatives believe children should have the right to attempt to change their birth gender, which some of us feel is impossible. In my humble opinion, true science will one day demonstrate that humanity has been tricked and tinkered with, that is, with vaccines, chemicals—some through chem trails–hormone disruption, and intense programing through the culture, schools, movies, entertainment industry, etc. Our natural sex drive and biological clarity, not to mention fertility, have been tampered with.

In other words, in my opinion once again, we can love everyone: straight, gay, trans, etc. and see that we are all at war, or really under attack. I personally certainly have nothing against any gay or lesbian or trans person, as I ultimately see them as victims. Many even need mental help. They—and we–are being warred upon. I don’t mean to get too off topic, but we do not help our LGBTQ friends by agreeing with their false beliefs, that they can simply change their gender by operation or declaration. Madness added to madness, or untruth added to untruth does not result in sanity or healing.

Back to the main point, I believe Jesus would love everyone, but speak truth to the illusion, and again, more liberals than conservatives would certainly be at odds with God on this one. God’s natural creation—men, women and children–is being tinkered with.

5. Weaponized Empathy: This leads us to weaponized empathy or compassion. The left might claim that they are the more compassionate, tolerant group, but I believe this is often untrue. If one scratches beneath the surface, the supposedly tolerant left quickly often move directly into triggered hostility. Trump Derangement Syndrome is a perfect example.

What I see happening is that the left more than the right is falling for weaponized empathy around issues like the environment, climate change, border issues and immigration, vaccination, and others. In other words, once they buy into the false assumption, that climate change is the issue as stated, or that softer borders or vaccine mandates helps everyone, it leads to a cascade of faulty beliefs and political support and great division and trampling on the very freedom and rights the left claim to want to protect.

6. Spiritual War: We also have to mention what is obvious to many, but not so obvious to some. Depending on the topic, whether it be belief in the devil or Satan, or that there is a battle between good and evil, conservatives are more likely to believe in it than liberals. This is tremendously important. If one is not aware of the spiritual war, and the way the evil ones operate, you are vulnerable of being not only hurt or killed, but endangering others. In my opinion, the COVID vaccine mandates and lockdown methods, which are now clearly shown to have caused tremendous death and destruction, were much more supported by liberals than conservatives. So again, the left is seen here as less believing in God, Satan and spiritual wars. As one of my spiritual teachers, Bhagavan once said, “To see is to be free.”
7. Taxes: This ties into taxes. The left has been historically more supportive of higher taxes. Those who better understand the spiritual war and the government’s place in this war understand that taxes are a tool of the evil ones, and the money does not go where it is supposed to go. Once one sees the spiritual war—which is of course manifested on the physical level—everything comes into clarity. Stealing is condemned in the bible, and that is what taxation really is.
8. Tolerance: I already mention the pseudo tolerance, and this also ties into supposed equity and inclusion. Once again, this is where things get insane. Right now there are states like California, where there was no slavery, attempting to take money from those who never owned slaves, or whose relatives never owned slaves, and give it to people who were never slaves, or whose relatives were never slaves. What would Jesus say or do? This is theft, and again, stealing is not godly.

I have to add a personal experience here. I used to give talks at Unity and Unitarian churches. Unitarian churches are often left leaning, and there is generally little talk of God, but more activist and intellectual discussions. I once spoke at the (now closed) Marysville Unitarian church, and during my talk (I was very liberal at the time), I said, “We speak a lot about compassion and tolerance here at this church, but I think that if God showed up at the door one day, we might not let Him in!”

As for scripture, although the bible certainly does not endorse conservatism or liberalism, there is some scripture that might suggest a conflict between being liberal and also being a Christian:

The bible promotes traditional family structures and marriage (Genesis 2:24 and Ephesians 5:22-33), which conflicts with how most liberals feel about LGBTQ. The bible promotes the sanctity of life (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 129:13-16) which could conflict on liberal views of abortion and euthanasia. The bible also promotes responsibility and hard work (Proverbs 6:6-11 and 2 Thessalonians 3:10), which could conflict with ideas of taxation, government intervention, and wealth redistribution.

On the other hand, one could argue that there is scripture than upholds a more liberal perspective:

Love, compassion and inclusion for all people, including the marginalized (Mattthew 25:40 and Mark 12:30-31), and social justice (Psalm 89:14 and Jeremiah 22:3).

I often say that the spiritual war is causing this division between left and right. The real war is between good and evil, or God (or God’s creation) and Satan. Most people—left or right—want the same things: clean air, clean water, less war, more peace, etc. I do feel that more people on the left at this time have fallen for the programming a bit more deeply. It does not matter how noble your goals and aspirations (social justice, immigration, vaccinated populace, etc.), if we are not aligned with truth, we can be of little value, cause more harm than good, or even end up a tool of the evil ones.

Left or right, each of us might do well by reading the bible, learning what Jesus taught, and pray for discernment and to be used as an instrument of peace, love and healing in our world. When we do that, the political label no longer holds any real meaning.