Confessions of a Recovering Catholic and Conservative

Some friends and I have an undisclosed location in the ether where we gather and discussion whatever we want.  This safe place came into existence because some of us had been encouraged to leave the site where we all met.

So the other day we were discussing a thread on that old site and a particular neanderthal’s conservative's posts in that thread.  I commented that the poster was an asshole, and explained why I thought that way, finishing my comment with, "I know he’s an asshole because, wait for it…  I use to be one of those assholes."  One person asked me for the story of how and why my political views change.  As I was groping for the words to explaining this conundrum, I realized just how convoluted that story was to tell.  I don’t know if you are going to find this interesting, helpful or entertaining, but here goes…

These are the journals, adventures, and confessions of a recovering Catholic and conservative.

If these posting piss you off, get over yourself, this about me and my journey not yours.  If you don’t agree with me, I don’t care…  I’m not telling you to believe or worship as I do, I’m telling how and what I believe and worship, and that is the beautiful thing about this country, I’m as free to believe what I want as you are to your beliefs.  I’m free to write about it and you’re free to read it or not.  So, if I piss you off with what I write here get over yourself or GO AWAY.

That said, I don’t not hate anyone who may be practicing and particular theological belief, nor do I wish you any harm nor bear you any animosity.   It will become obvious that I disagree with theological belief, but, I will never tell you that you are out rightly wrong to hold them.  I will be happy to enter civil discussion as to why I have come to the conclusion that those beliefs are wrong, and listen to real evidence as to why I might be wrong.  In the end, we can simply agree to disagree, and I can live with that outcome.

Politically, my views are probably going to extremely exasperate individuals on both sides of the spectrum.  I am a moderate.  I tend to lean to the left side of the spectrum on social issues, and to the right on fiscal issues.  On the social side, if someone is participating in social activities not intended to deliberately inflict physical, economic, or emotion harm on someone else…  well then, I don’t see any reason for citizens or the government interfere with such activity.  On fiscal side of things, I tend to be conservative in the sense of the root meaning of conservation, not the current fundamentalist view of conservative.  On matter anyone’s view, we have limited resources with which to address the need of social and human life.  I do not have issue with spending resources to deal with these problems.  But, I do want to see every effort made to spend those resources wisely and effectively.  I also understand that the realm of problems we face is so large that we do not have ready resources to fix every problem at once.  As such, there need to be a serious effort made to prioritize these issues, so as to benefit as larger a portion of society as possible.  As the highest priority issues are resolved, we can then move on to those at the lower end, with the understanding that even the higher priority made not be in a position to be fiscally addressed.

As with the comment before this last paragraph, that said, I don’t not hate anyone who may be practicing and particular political belief, nor do I wish you any harm nor bear you any animosity.   I hope It will become obvious that I disagree with political theories on both sides of the spectrum, but here, I gladly tell you when think you are wrong, but will not condemn you for your views, for I was once like you.  Again, I will be happy to engage civil discussion as to why I have come to my political, and listen to why you’ve come to yours.  In the end, we can still agree to disagree, however unless someone can actually convince that I wrong in my view, I will continue to champion them, as the fate of future generations will be affected by those actions we take in ours.

I call myself a recovering Catholic and Conservative because, like the alcoholic, we tend to easily slip back into old patterns and habits.  To have come to this place in my life is a journey which requires constant daily attention.

So now begins…  The Confessions of a recovering Catholic and Conservative!

Your comments or questions are always welcome, but be aware, I may just ignore them.