5 Examples Showing the Differences Between Liberals and Conservatives on “Religious Freedom:” Part 2

3. Birth Control

Liberals: This kind of ties in with the abortion issue. See, most liberals (as I said earlier) aren’t pro-abortion. And the best way to lower abortion rates is to increase the accessibility and availability of birth control. Even if some liberals might oppose some methods of birth control, they don’t mandate that other people must be restricted from using them. Again, liberals support the right for Americans to choose for themselves. And being that for many women birth control is an actual health issue, not just a way to help prevent unplanned pregnancies, it’s vital that health care plans offer access to these contraceptives. For liberals it’s about people having the choice to choose for themselves. If people want to use them, great, they have the freedom to do so. If some people object to contraceptives, that’s fine too, they don’t have to use them.

Conservatives: Many conservatives oppose birth control. They believe it’s against their religion. If it were up to many of them they’d do as much as they could to limit and restrict access to all forms of contraceptives. Even in the Hobby Lobby case, one business owner argued that their business should have the right to deny thousands of women the choice of birth control methods based on their religious beliefs. By winning that case, one person’s religious beliefs are now being forced on thousands of women who might not share them.

4. Prayer in School

Liberals: This one is pretty simple – keep religion out of public school. If some students want to personally pray while they’re in class, they’re more than free to do so silently to themselves. I know I did. But guess what, nobody ever knew. Because I kept it to myself. Religion has no place in a place of public education. No one is saying people can’t pray to themselves in class, we’re just saying public schools shouldn’t promote or organize religious prayers or events. That way nobody is forced to observe the religious practices of religions in which they do not believe.

Conservatives: Many conservatives believe that public school should include religion. Heck, many believe that creationism should be taught alongside evolution. They also often support organized prayer in school (Christian of course). If conservatives had their way millions of American students in public school would be forced to observe religious practices that they do not follow. The right to freedom from religion for those students (and parents) who don’t want themselves or their children subjected to religions that they don’t follow or believe in would be violated.

5. Freedom of Religion in General

Liberals: For liberals, it’s pretty simple. If you want to believe in a particular religion, you’re free to do so – privately. People can go to church 7 days a week if they want to and read the Bible every single day. People can believe in whatever religion they want. If people chose to not believe in any kind of religion at all, that’s perfectly alright too. The issue is that every American is free to live their personal lives as religiously, or as detached from religion, as they want. If someone believes that all homosexuals are going against God, that’s their right to personally feel that way. Just don’t try to tell others they have to share that particular view. In the liberal world, every American gets to choose for themselves. In the liberal world every single religion is viewed equally and not one single American would be forced to follow laws based on a religion in which they do not believe.

Conservatives: Many believe that this country was founded, and should be based on, Christianity. They want laws to written from scripture. To them our First Amendment only applies to Christian Americans and not Americans who follow other religions or don’t follow any religion at all. Many conservatives believe that denying them their right to impose their religion on others violates their rights – yet they don’t seem to believe that others who don’t share their same religious views should be given any kind of religious rights. Under their ideology, one religion would rule over 330 million people.

Notice the difference? When it comes to “religious freedoms” and conservatives, it’s all about them forcing their views on others. When it comes to liberals, it’s all about keeping religion private and out of government so that not one single American is forced to adhere to laws based on a religion they don’t follow.

So, while conservatives go on and on about “religious freedom” what they really mean is their “right” to have one religion ruling over 330 million Americans. When it comes to liberals, it’s about actual freedom. It’s about letting every American decided for themselves what religion (if any) that they’ll follow.

Because true “religious freedom” is about letting every individual decide for themselves whether or not they’ll follow a particular religion. It’s not about telling millions of Americans that they must adhere to the rules set by a certain religion whether they believe in it or not.

5 Examples Showing the Differences Between Liberals and Conservatives on “Religious Freedom:” Part 1

I’ll give conservatives this much – when they latch onto a piece of propaganda, they sure as heck dedicate themselves to it. For years they’ve been trying to violate our First Amendment by interjecting religion into our laws. And on some levels they’ve been successful.

But generally they’ve been defeated because our First Amendment is pretty clear that laws cannot be based on religion.

Though the newest “trick” Republicans have tried to employ is the argument they call “religious freedom.” Essentially it’s their way to try to discriminate against people, or deny others their rights, based on the argument that not allowing them to discriminate against certain individuals based on their religious beliefs is somehow a violation of their “religious freedom.”

Though I find it amazing how these people have convinced themselves that attempting to restrict the freedoms of others is somehow “defending liberty and freedom.”

So I thought I’d give 5 examples showing the differences between how liberals and conservatives view “religious freedom.”

1. Abortion

Liberals: Tend to support the right for a woman to decide for herself whether or not she will have an abortion. Even many Christian liberals are pro-choice. Though I’ve rarely met anyone who’s “pro-abortion.” There’s a difference between supporting someone’s right to have control over their own body and liking the decision they make. I’m pro-choice yet anti-abortion. Being pro-choice means that every single American woman has the right to decide for herself what she should do with her own body. If you want to have an abortion, go for it. If you don’t, then you don’t have to. But the point is, liberals support the right for every woman to have the freedom to choose for themselves. If a woman objected to abortions based on her religion she wouldn’t have to have one. But that would be her choice, someone else wouldn’t be making that choice for her.

Conservatives: Under their system of beliefs, abortion would be completely banned. No woman would have the right to have control over her own body. The moment she became pregnant she would lose almost all control she has over what happens to her body over the following 9 months. Under their belief system, every single American woman would be forced to adhere to the religious beliefs of a certain percentage of the population whether they shared those views or not. A woman who didn’t believe in any kind of god whatsoever would be forced to abide by laws restricting the control she has over her body based on a God in which she didn’t believe. Where under the liberal pro-choice banner every woman has the right to choose for herself, if conservatives had their way every woman in the United States would lose the freedom to choose for themselves.

2. Same-sex Marriage

Liberals: Most liberals support same-sex marriage. Under liberal beliefs every American (gay or straight) would have the freedom to marry whomever they love, as long as it was another consenting adult. Americans would have the freedom to choose for themselves who to marry. It’s pretty simple: If you don’t support gay marriage, that’s great, nobody is forcing you to marry someone of the same-sex. But at the end of the day, nobody’s right to marry another consenting adult is restricted – and no church’s right to perform those marriages is restricted either.

Conservatives: Most conservatives believe same-sex marriage is against what the Bible defines marriage as. If conservatives had their way, millions of gay Americans would lose their right to marry whomever they love based on the religious views of other people. Under this situation (as we still see in many states right now) rights of Americans are restricted based on the views of others. So even if a Christian church wants to marry a gay couple, if the state still doesn’t allow gay marriage, that church’s “religious freedom” is restricted because a few other churches don’t believe that they should have that right. Under conservative beliefs on marriage, millions of gay Americans would be denied their rights to marry the person they loved.

20 Reasons Why I’m Thankful That I’m a Liberal

Keeping with the theme of the day, I thought I’d keep it a little lighthearted and simply list some of the reasons why I’m thankful that I’m a liberal. It’s like I’ve said before, growing up as a liberal in a conservative stronghold such as Texas has not always been easy, but I don’t think that I would have had it any other way. See, while it would have been very easy for me to simply shutoff my brain and walk around this world aimlessly like a mindless conservative zombie repeating everything I heard on Fox News, I actually ended up a liberal due to the ignorance I witnessed growing up in such a beacon of conservatism.

So with all of that said, I thought I’d list 20 reasons why I’m thankful that I’m a liberal.

1. I don’t ignore scientific facts simply because they don’t support my political ideology.

2. I believe “freedom of religion” means freedom for, or from, all religions.

3. I believe that we should worry about helping the full-time worker at Walmart who still needs help from the government just to survive instead of the greedy company not paying them enough to take care of their family despite working 40 hours a week.

4. A woman – not the government – should have the right to have control over her own body.

5. I know the best way to prevent unplanned pregnancies (the leading factor behind most abortions) is by making sex education and contraceptives more readily available – not less.

6. I don’t think war should be the first option on the table, but the last.

7. I know tax breaks don’t create jobs – demand does.

8. I believe health care should be a right for every American who needs it, not just those who can afford it.

9. I believe that if a business can’t pay their workers a living wage then they shouldn’t be in business.

10. I don’t think that students should have to go into tens of thousands of dollars in debt just to get a college degree so our society flourishes in the hands of future generations.

11. I don’t think economic prosperity within a society is found by giving more to those who have too much already.

12. I would rather be wrong about climate change and turn this world into a planet sustained by wind, solar and water energy sources rather than do nothing until it’s too late and end up with an uninhabitable Earth.

13. I believe education is one of the most vital assets a person can have, not a tool for liberal indoctrination.

14. While I know guns aren’t the only reason why we have so much gun violence in this country, I know that they are an issue.

15. I believe we should be making it easier for Americans to vote, not more difficult.

16. I think a nation is judged best by how it treats its poorest citizens, not its richest.

17. I believe in equal rights for all Americans, not just those who look and act like me.

18. I don’t believe that if Jesus Christ were alive today, he would be a gun-loving anti-immigrant selfish prick who vilified the poor, judged others and loved war.

19. I understand capitalism can create great things, but it can also destroy them without proper regulations and oversight.

20. Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michele Bachmann, Ann Coulter, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Louie Gohmert and George W. Bush will never represent my ideological beliefs.

And, clearly, these aren’t the only reasons why I’m thankful that I’m a liberal. The list could have gone on much longer. But feel free to hit me up on Twitter or Facebook and let me know why you’re thankful to be a liberal.

What Did Liberals Do That Was So Offensive To The Republican Party?

From the wildly successful television show The West Wing: The Debate, season seven.

Written by Lawrence O’Donnell.
What did liberals do that was so offensive to the Republican Party?

What did liberals do that was so offensive to the Republican party? I’ll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, Senator. Because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.”

10 Questions Every Liberal Should Ask Every Republican

When it comes to politics, I think most people have a love/hate relationship.  When people ask me what I do, one of the followup questions I get asked quite often is, “Isn’t that incredibly frustrating?”  And the answer is yes, it is.

Politics might be one of the few areas I know of where facts, reality and history can suddenly be subjective.  I honestly never thought I’d live in a day and age where climate change would be something millions of people suddenly doubted.  All because a few rich tycoons decided to lobby a political party in the United States to perpetuate the idea that the science behind climate change was some big liberal conspiracy.
Literally every day I see comments from poor or middle class conservatives advocating for the policies of a political party that’s clearly used religion to manipulate many of them into voting against their own interests.  ”You’re going to cut benefits for programs that help me?  Oh, and you’re trying to privatize entitlement programs so rich people can profit from them?  That’s fine, because my church says gays are bad and so does the GOP.”
But when it comes to debating Republicans, I just like to ask them questions.  I’ve realized that unless I’m on Fox News they’ll never believe a word I’m saying.  So instead of trying to make them listen to facts, I just ask them questions to see if they can answer them.  That’s where the real hilarity comes into play.
See, it’s one thing to believe something — it’s quite another to understand why you believe it.
So here are 10 questions (though there are many more) I like to ask Republicans that they often seem unable to answer.