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Diana Butler Bass Profile picture
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19 Oct, 4 tweets, 1 min read
It saddens me that we've come to think of our lives with the thin labels "left" and "right."

Life is poetry, prose, love, joy, hope, surprise, mystery, wonder, awe, beauty, challenge, suffering, question, doubt, faith, transformation, tenderness, compassion, empathy, sadness...
None of that is "left" or "right."
To look at the world as see "left" and "right" is to see the most narrow rendering of humankind, to limit the possibility of love breaking in, to shrink our own souls.
*and (sorry typo)

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More from @dianabutlerbass

Diana Butler Bass Profile picture
19 Oct
FYI: to reporters re: Arizona, Mormons, and Democrats.

The Arizona's powerful Udall family were mostly Democrats - there's a proud tradition of Mormon D's in the SW. And the Udalls specifically opposed Goldwater-style Republicanism.
In Arizona, Mormons and evangelicals do NOT generally get along. They are often religious competitors. Mormons often find evangelicals full of hubris and not appropriately humble enough about their faith.

Evangelicals think Mormons are going to hell.
What was surprising to me (having grown up in Arizona) was when Mormons and evangelicals (along w/AZ white Catholics) formed a kind of political truce around the religious right's vision of "family values."

But this was never an easy truce.
Read 7 tweets
Diana Butler Bass Profile picture
19 Oct
For the last 2 months, I've been writing about faith, spiritual practices, politics & religious change. Visit The Cottage where you'll find timely reflections on issues that vex our souls & the body politic.

Readers tell me it gives them hope.

dianabutlerbass.substack.com
Some popular recent posts:
On the importance of voting in this election:
dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/no-pearl-clu…
Read 6 tweets
Diana Butler Bass Profile picture
18 Oct
My neighborhood getting decorated for the season.

Which is scarier?
Another angle on House #1:
Also: House #2 is the ONLY house in the neighborhood opting for that decor.
Read 4 tweets
Diana Butler Bass Profile picture
12 Oct
May we please put to rest the "mainline decline"/"evangelical churches grow" nonsense? Let's talk about the most dramatic story - a decade of precipitous decline in white evangelical churches.
The percentage of white mainliners and white evangelicals is now the same: 15% of the population.

The mainline percentage have stayed within a 13-17% range for a decade; while the evangelical percentage has dropped 6-7 points at the same time.
*has stayed
Read 9 tweets
Diana Butler Bass Profile picture
27 Sep
It is very clear how Trump is using a race strategy in this election.

What is less discussed is his gender strategy.

He's trying to swing some percentage of Latinos and black men to join white men; and he's also trying to hold/swing certain white Xian women to vote w/men.
I've seen some analysis of the small shifts in support among some men of color (not a lot of them, but higher percentages than in 2016).

But the real prize is playing off the ideal of wifely submission in evangelical circles - and getting white Xian women strongly on board.
ACB is a perfect example of the Proverbs 31 wife, the ideal of many white evangelical women.

You don't even have to say that. They just know.
Read 12 tweets
Diana Butler Bass Profile picture
26 Sep
Analyzing and critiquing how a person interprets and practices their faith in relation to their world-view and political policies, especially in application of the law in a pluralistic nation, is a significant aspect of vetting.
Critics who don't understand religion may (and sadly often do) verge into intolerance & even bigotry.

And that's not a good thing.

But recognizing when leaders have theological positions that might harm or endanger others' rights or freedoms is necessary.
This is especially true for those who hail from religious traditions that value the life of the mind. Theology isn't a side issue, can't be compartmentalized. It is foundational to how people define basics like rights, human nature, and even to the meaning of the law itself.
Read 8 tweets

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