I'm leaving in the morning, for 27 days in southern Mexico. I would appreciate from those of you who are so disposed to pray for safe travels for me and my two companions
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I'm curious what was behind your reference to my political independence apropos my being Orthodox. In your experience, have most Orthodox you met been right-leaning? Before I came to my current parish, I thought that most Orthodox were pretty left-leaning. And when I found such right-leaning people there, I chalked it up to the large portion of converts.
But I wouldn't be surprised to find people in the OCA to be less inclined to be socialist, given the context of the Russian Church, and the circumstances under which many Orthodox were forced to flee.
I notice more left-leaning politics among Greek and Arab Orthodox, I guess.
But reading the Church fathers, I can't see voting for a neoconservative or neoliberal government in good conscience. I guess in the political realm, my faith informs my politics in a manner more akin to the Liberation Theologians than the Christian Coalition. (Not to say that I operate in the context of liberation theology. I like their social stance, but I don't think that the whole of the gospel is contained in a message of social justice.)
As for disliking the idea of any decisive victory, I agree with you. That's one of the reasons I find our current political state as of the last six years so alarming. We don't have any real opposition party.
In the end, I would like to see as Marcos says, power seized by the people so that it can be broken up into pieces and shared by all. This will not lead to utopia. But I think it is the only recipe that allows all parties to come to the table of their conflicts with relatively equal weight.
"I would like to see... power seized by the people so that it can be broken up into pieces and shared by all."
That is precisely my ideal. And by power, I mean power in every possible form--economical, governmental, even moral/philosophical (that is, certain types are not empowered to dominate solely through typological prejudices). No--this is not something that will be achieved, but its pursuit is intrinsically good.
I never thought of that explanation of the politics of the OCA, but it seems a plausible influence. Also, though, I suspect that the OCA has a larger percentage of converts than other churches. As you observed converts are often pretty conservative--probably because so many of them are attracted to Orthodoxy as a very dramatic antithesis to a despised modernity. (This article on "Romantic Orthodoxy" rings true.)
Also, I'm in the southeast. Should I have just said that first, maybe?
I'm curious what was behind your reference to my political independence apropos my being Orthodox. In your experience, have most Orthodox you met been right-leaning? Before I came to my current parish, I thought that most Orthodox were pretty left-leaning. And when I found such right-leaning people there, I chalked it up to the large portion of converts.
But I wouldn't be surprised to find people in the OCA to be less inclined to be socialist, given the context of the Russian Church, and the circumstances under which many Orthodox were forced to flee.
I notice more left-leaning politics among Greek and Arab Orthodox, I guess.
But reading the Church fathers, I can't see voting for a neoconservative or neoliberal government in good conscience. I guess in the political realm, my faith informs my politics in a manner more akin to the Liberation Theologians than the Christian Coalition. (Not to say that I operate in the context of liberation theology. I like their social stance, but I don't think that the whole of the gospel is contained in a message of social justice.)
As for disliking the idea of any decisive victory, I agree with you. That's one of the reasons I find our current political state as of the last six years so alarming. We don't have any real opposition party.
In the end, I would like to see as Marcos says, power seized by the people so that it can be broken up into pieces and shared by all. This will not lead to utopia. But I think it is the only recipe that allows all parties to come to the table of their conflicts with relatively equal weight.
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That is precisely my ideal. And by power, I mean power in every possible form--economical, governmental, even moral/philosophical (that is, certain types are not empowered to dominate solely through typological prejudices). No--this is not something that will be achieved, but its pursuit is intrinsically good.
I never thought of that explanation of the politics of the OCA, but it seems a plausible influence. Also, though, I suspect that the OCA has a larger percentage of converts than other churches. As you observed converts are often pretty conservative--probably because so many of them are attracted to Orthodoxy as a very dramatic antithesis to a despised modernity. (This article on "Romantic Orthodoxy" rings true.)
Also, I'm in the southeast. Should I have just said that first, maybe?
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