tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post7809780414069027014..comments2024-03-28T22:29:52.666+13:00Comments on Anglican Down Under: Sarah Palin and the Grace of GodPeter Carrellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09535218286799156659noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-51583819234898314582008-09-06T09:26:00.000+12:002008-09-06T09:26:00.000+12:00Peter, I was being ironic about Benson-Pope. ;-) H...Peter, I was being ironic about Benson-Pope. ;-) He was a silly leftwing blowhard thirty+ years ago, I doubt he has grown up since. But maybe tonight I should pray for him to know Christ, instead of just denigrating him.<BR/>My own political 'pilgrimage' has been from moderate left to moderate right, with the insistence that government should be in the business of encouraging (and rewarding) a virtuous character in its citizenry - a Christian version, I guess, of what the Roman republic was allegedly like at its best (if Sallust is to be believed). Enterprise, self-reliance, self-restraint, love of family and country, public spiritedness, a loving concern for the weak - that kind of stuff. Freedom in the libertarian sense is destructive of self and society, leading to greed, licentiousness and unconcern. That's why conservatism aslo needs the inculcation of virtue (including the 'vir' in 'virtus'). As a young person I always hated the right for its apparent unconcern for the poor; as an older person I came to hate the left for its apaprent wish to keep the poor in dependency.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-61041031441097685022008-09-06T07:11:00.000+12:002008-09-06T07:11:00.000+12:00There are not many audible voices on the Christian...There are not many audible voices on the Christian left in NZ. I am not sure why Tim Barnett is leaving politics, or why Benson-Pope would be missed ...<BR/><BR/>You might be under-valuing conservatism as a political philosophy: enabling choice through restraint in imposition of laws and taxes honours the dignity of humanity which is distinguished from animals by the gift of the ability to exercise free choice. My own critique of conservatism is that, when all is said and done, that is, one works out all the hidden taxes, there may be little or no difference between 'left' and 'right' - at least not in deomcracies such as ours!Peter Carrellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09535218286799156659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-35250673403945085942008-09-05T21:47:00.000+12:002008-09-05T21:47:00.000+12:00I tend to think political conservatism (loosely de...I tend to think political conservatism (loosely defined) without underpinnings in religious faith can become a free-floating, individualistic kind of thing, while religious leftism can tend toward messianism (like the 'Obamessiah'). Conservatism without faith usually ends up following social liberalism (e.g on marriage, abortion, sexuality) but just tries to be tighter on the pocketbook. Not much of a philosophy. One of the interesting things about US politics (and what distinguishes it from Europe - and Down Under too, I guess)is the way religion and politics intermingle, sometimes just at the rhetorical level ('hope'), sometimes more substantially. Certainly the Saddleback appearances of McCain and Obama made a big impact nationwide.<BR/>I enjoy the web columnist 'Spengler' of the Asia Times for his fascinating (if not entirely convincing) views on how evangelicalism and Puritanism largely created the American soul, and how that reverberates in the world today. <BR/>But what about the NZ left? Who speaks for Christ there? Are there any Catholic MPs in Labour's ranks?<BR/>Why is Tim Barnett stepping down? David Benson-Pope will be miseed, of course ...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-13568620103486857182008-09-05T20:35:00.000+12:002008-09-05T20:35:00.000+12:00Yes, Sarah has outflanked the evangelicals, and th...Yes, Sarah has outflanked the evangelicals, and there will have to be a new series of books on the influence of pentecostals on American politics!!<BR/><BR/>I do not know whether John Key is an atheist or not (I thought our Prime Minister was until she insisted she was agnostic) but he has openly acknowledged that he is not a church-going believer.<BR/><BR/>Brian Tamaki has a lower political profile these days, though the Destiny Party is still around.Peter Carrellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09535218286799156659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-27948954625382810562008-09-05T07:51:00.000+12:002008-09-05T07:51:00.000+12:00You do know Sarah Palin's a Penty (AoG), don&#...You do know Sarah Palin's a Penty (AoG), don't you?<BR/>Anyway, you'll have your chance soon to decide if you'll have three more years of Helen (not likely, on current form).<BR/>Is John Key an atheist?<BR/>& what's become of your once and future PM, HE Archbishop Tamaki?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com