Sunspots 453

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:
Christianity: Threads from Henry's Web on not saying "This is what the Greek really means ...". (He also mentions that it's strange that so much effort is put into more, or updated, English translations, when there are language groups without the scriptures, or with old translations, or only part of the Bible.)
Computing: Wired reports on how the NSA "almost killed the Internet."
Humor: (and politics, and a lot of other things) A web page with 40 maps. Examples of what is mapped: the most common surnames in Europe, by country; where in the world the metric system is not used; which countries have cars drive on the right; and the occupation of the highest paid public employees in each state of the union.
Politics: Columnist Michael Gerson on liberals, libertarians, and conservatives.
Science: Wired reports on new designs for spacesuits, such as would be needed for an expedition to Mars.
Sports: An orthodox Jewish player for Northwestern wore a yarmulke during a game.


Image source (public domain)

Conservatism: What it's about

The Free Dictionary gives these first two meanings of conservatism:

1. The inclination, especially in politics, to maintain the existing or traditional order.

2. A political philosophy or attitude emphasizing respect for traditional institutions, distrust of government activism, and opposition to sudden change in the established order.

In discussing politics, or conservatism, if you want to have a hope of making sense, you have to define what you mean. That is not always done, unfortunately.

E. J. Dionne, Jr., in a recent syndicated column, wrote recently about conservatism. He seems to agree with the definitions above, and says, I believe correctly, that so-called conservatism, i. e., the Republicans, weren't usually at their finest during the recent debates about healthcare legislation. (The Democrats weren't, either, but that's another story.) Not all Republicans are conservative, and some Democrats are conservative.

Dionne, who is not a conservative himself, says that there have been three good and important characteristics of conservatives in the US. These are:

1) They are suspicious of grand plans to remake things, believing that such plans seldom, if ever, work to achieve the goals they were developed for, and that such plans have unfortunate serious unplanned consequences.

2) They respect traditional ways of doing things. As Dionne points out, this has been one of their largest weaknesses or faults, as in respecting slavery and racism, but it can also be a great strength.

3) A suspicion of human nature -- human nature is inherently prone to evil.

Dionne believes that, when Republicans, or pseudo-conservatives, questioned the effectiveness of plans to revise health care, they were at their conservative best. When they were screaming about "death panels," shouting racial epithets at Democratic legislators, claiming that passing health care legislation was the end of democracy as we know it, trumpeting that this was a government takeover while ignoring that medicare is a government healthcare plan that seems to work, or even threatening Democratic legislators with violence, they were at their non-conservative worst.

I think Dionne is right about all this. Some other cases where the Republicans have neglected conservative principles come to mind, but I'll not explore them here.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 190

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Science:
The Hubble Space Telescope has been able to detect Carbon Dioxide on a distant planet, according to a report in Wired.

Wired has also selected the ten best animal videos.

Christianity:
John Stackhouse says that conservative means a lot of things , and it's a serious error to confuse them.

Image source (public domain)

Conservative: What is That?

In a recent post, I labeled a prominent Christian as a "conservative." A commenter gently disagreed, pointing out that, in the case of this individual, that was wrong, or at least too simple. I confess that I know little about the person I labeled. I do know that not defining terms, and assuming that others agree with you on definitions is a common mistake -- way too common. I've done it, and so have you. The "others," whoever they are, won't always agree with you, or me, on those definitions.

There are several ideas about being conservative floating around in our discourse in the US, most or all of them somewhat negative:
1) A Republican
2) A Christian, or at least a Christian who is associated with certain denominations or institutions (for example, a Southern Baptist) as opposed to other liberal Christians, who are associated with other denominations or institutions.
3) A person who believes that government spending, and the role of government, should be minimized
4) A person who wants to go back to the past, or who resists change
5) A person who is intolerant of other ideas, or of other types of people
6) A person who is careful, maybe stingy, with her personal finances
7) A person who dresses and acts carefully
8) A racist
9) A person who interprets the Bible, or constitutional law, in such a way as to honor what she believes to be the original meaning, and opposes new interpretations
10) A person who favors the interests of businesses, as opposed to consumers, taxpayers, or the general public
11) A person who supports the use of weapons, both by individuals, and by the U. S.
12) A person who believes that human embryos and fetuses should not be destroyed, even in medical experiments

Some of these are related, and probably there are some people who would be rated as conservative on all twelve of these. But, of course, there are people who don't fit into all of them. For example, some so-called conservatives 3) were quite unhappy with the spending habits of the Republican Congress and the President 1).

A similar list could be produced for Liberal, also with lots of negative connotations. For example, in opposition to 10) above, a liberal is often thought of as favoring labor unions, as opposed to businesses, taxpayers, or the general public.

The Free Dictionary says the following, about the adjective form of conservative:

1. Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change.

2. Traditional or restrained in style: . . .

3. Moderate; cautious:

One area where "conservative" is often used is in relation to biblical interpretation. The Wikipedia, in its article on Higher Criticism, says that conservative Bible scholars oppose the "rationalistic and naturalistic presuppositions" of Higher Criticism, and, instead, operate within "supernaturalist and confessional frameworks." A Google search for the words conservative Bible scholar seems to generate a number of web pages where these words are found, but, except for the source mentioned in the first sentence of this paragraph, few, if any, definitions of what such a scholar believes.

I'm afraid that, as usual, someone using a word that can be controversial needs to define the meaning carefully. I didn't.

There are good aspects of conservatism, such as trying to preserve the good, or being careful, just as there are good aspects of liberalism, such as embracing new good ideas, and being generous.

The bible orders liberality, in one case, at least, and commends it in Proverbs 11:25. I don't believe that "conservative" occurs in the Bible, but there are commendations for being true to God's intent, for example.

A complex subject. Thanks for reading.