Hellobee Boards

I couldn't do it. Probably not a super helpful answer, but after attending private (Catholic) school my entire life, I finally got to a point in college when I disagreed with more than I agreed with, so I had to cut ties.

ETA: There is no mention of abortion in the Bible but there are several accounts of Jesus advocating for the poor (which I believe is more in line with the views of democrats), so it cuts both ways.

I don't know exactly what was said but I would be highly upset with my church if they were pushing me to go one way or the other politically. If we're taking a biblical perspective, this world is full of sin and injustice and as long as we are on this earth there is no perfect answer. I think it's wrong for a church to try to tell you otherwise

I think you can talk to your kids about religious beliefs vs rule of law in the US. You can explain how our country is built on a belief that church and state be different and that it's super important that these two things remain separated; otherwise whatever religion is in the majority is free to make their own rules. If one day we have say, a super religious-hindu majority and they want to outlaw the sale of all beef, how our constitution helps us make that scenario impossible.

You may explain that any person whose religion forbids abortion will never be forced to have an abortion--they can apply that rule/prohibition all day long to their own lives and never get an abortion. However, they can not force others to obey their own religious beliefs.

You may explain to your children that in your religion abortion is a terrible thing, so you and they may want to be an outspoken advocate of sex education, preventative methods, and free prophylactics for anyone who needs it, etc.

I think there are several conversations you could have with children where you talk about all of these things and reconcile your religious beliefs for what is best for how a country is run, how our laws work, how our government functions, etc.

As far as your particular church goes, I guess I would have to hear more about the views that were expressed on the panel--where they balanced and pragmatic? Were they more one sided? And then I would decide from there if that particular church is a good fit for my family.

@Mrs. Pickle: Totally agree.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Ok, I got it now. I think those were very fair answers, I am very careful not to apply labels to people's beliefs or choices, so I actually feel okay with the answers as provided by the panel. I don't I hear any of the love the sinner, hate the sin talk in those answers, so that makes me more open to them, if that makes sense.

I look at it this way: In this world, you do not have to be of a particular religion to have a relationship with God, you also don't have to be part of a church to be part of a community. But some people choose that and they are, in my mind, still a welcome part of the community, just with different viewpoints on things. And if the discussion is civil, I have no issue with it. That's what I want to teach my son.

Very interesting. DH and I think about this a lot. We're both politically very liberal. I'm an attorney for a nonprofit assisting people who are generally poor and struggling with mental health issues. I have very strong beliefs about this.

We're also very committed to raising DS (13 months) in the church; it's something that is important to us. I feel like my faith is also central to my political beliefs; personally, I feel like "new Testament Christianity" more supports voting Dem!

That being said, we're members of a local church with absolutely wonderful people, great kids' programs, tons of families that we are friends with. It is a great support structure for us and LO (lots of kids his age with parents we are friends with). Especially nice since our extended families are far away. Our pastor is a great guy. That being said... this denomination is very conservative and the larger church organization is outspokenly so. DH and I have major problems with this.

Thus far, the politics have stayed out of our home church. I feel like what @maisymay said is true. I am concerned that as LO gets older it will be an issue. How do I explain to him (larger church's stance on x issue) when we do not agree? I think some good explanations have been written in this thread already.

We don't want to leave our church and its great friends and family support. However, if we felt like we were getting a political message and hateful rhetoric from the church, we would absolutely leave. We're very sensitive to this especially as LO gets older. We do not want him exposed to that.

Duplicate

Every believer disagrees with something their church, their pastor, or their leadership says or does at some point. The body of Christ is supposed to be like a family - meaning, you're not always going to agree with your family, especially on things like politics. But like family, you have to figure out your boundaries and priorities and try to lovingly coexist with others, regardless of their beliefs.

That said, it doesn't mean you have to stay at your church. I'd suggest your husband and yourself take stock of what is good and bad about your church and then pray about whether or not this is the best fit for your family in the long run. Theology, political positions, doctrine, leadership, children's programs, ministry opportunities to serve, resources to help each family member grow - all these things are important to look at.

We are actually going through a similar situation right now with our church. Our's isn't a political issue, but we're trying to see if its a longterm good fit for our family. We're trying to figure this out before our boys are old enough to notice if we suddenly change churches, since DH and I both grew up in one home church for our entire childhoods.

We waffle back and forth because while we have disagreements and differences of opinion on things at our church, we've also felt strongly in the past that God wanted us to remain at this church and serve and if nothing else, offer differing opinions and suggestions. After all, how can a church evolve and grow if there isn't input from the membership on a variety of issues? And the children's programming is wonderful, but the jr. high and high school ministries seem weaker, which is when I'd WANT the programming to be relevant.

Anyways, I'm derailing. As to your specific issue of being pro-life and racial issues (I'm a person of color in a biracial marriage with mixed children at a multicultural, multigenerational church), there's a lot of be said about staying and educating and enduring growing pains together as a congregation. This is an article I saw recently that I thought was excellently argued on being pro-life and not caring about the Supreme Court:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/themackerelsnapper/2016/09/06/im-prolife-and-i-dont-care-about-the-supreme-court/

More churches need voices like that. To say "Fine, if our leadership's position is to be pro-life, then what are we doing to encourage and foster a GOOD life for these women and children? What are we doing for foster care families, what are we doing to assist in adoption, what are we doing to provide a robust MOPS or mother's day out program? Are we actively engaged in crisis nurseries, food pantries, women's health clinics, and the fight against sex trafficking? Are we surrounding women and families with resources, both spiritual and physical, to help them on their way?" If your church is NOT doing those things, I think its healthy to point out those shortcomings and say we're being hypocrites then.

I think any child growing up in a family that is aware, engaged, and doing something intentional about these issues, whether its consciously deciding to stay and be a dissenting voice or leaving for a better fit, is going to be better off as they form their own faith and beliefs. It should encourage you as a family to have your own discussions and Bible studies and as your kids get older, they can provide input into these family discussions on faith and whether a church is a good fit.

I will say, becoming a parent really affected my faith to the point where I no longer identify as religious. I was raised culturally Christian but personally was agnostic. Then I committed myself to Christianity in late college/graduate school. Soon after I got pregnant with LO 1, my faith started to falter. I felt like I no longer understood certain elements of Christianity. The social message certainly are a part of that (while my church does not talk politics on Sunday, it is pretty clear everyone is very politically conservative), but mostly the doctrine of hell started to bother me in a way it had not before. My husband also simultaneously fell out of the faith and one day I was doing laundry and admitted to him where I was spiritually, and he surprised me by agreeing with me. So we've slowly stopped going to church, and we haven't taught our kids about heaven, hell, etc. I will admit I find a lot of beauty in the "all we have is now" perspective and I see that my children are still very present minded and I admire them because they do not seek a reward outside of the present moment. We recently moved to a new town and there are some liberal churches, but l'm not ready. My son goes to a college daycare that is loosely affiliated with a Christian denomination and they do blessings at meals so he does them at home and we let him do it but we don't "make" him do it or encourage it. It is just something he chooses to do.