Mystic Politics

Conservative Republicans Happy, Liberal Democrats Neurotic? http://mys.tc/2at

Do People Get Less Religious When Societies Grow More Egalitarian?

When countries embrace progressive social policy, that tends to create a decline in religious belief. Why?

Is it due to better education or is it that the impoverished don’t need to depend on the church for help any longer?

Patriotism and Piety: Not For Conservatives Only

Don’t we on the left actually believe that conservatives policies are repellent? Don’t we hold our responsibility to the natural environment as a sacred trust and get outraged when it is fouled by conservative policies? Decency is as much a value for us as for the right-wingers. So is a deep reverence for human life. If that’s what conservatives mean by spirituality, then we should not hesitate to proclaim the spirituality of our politics.

Conservative Politics linked to Racism, Low Intelligence, and ‘Lazy Thinking’

‘Conservatives and liberals don’t seem to agree about much, and they might not agree about recent studies linking conservatism to low intelligence and “low-effort” thinking.’

The Church of Reproductive Rights: You Can’t Compromise on Religious Liberty

‘Hasn’t it always been liberals telling us to keep religion out of politics, legislation and government? Now, our liberal president and his administration have proven that they are committed to trying to do just that. The federal government has targeted Catholics and pro-life religiously affiliated organizations, schools, and hospitals by using the power granted to the executive branch in ObamaCare, underscoring warnings made by the ACLJ and other organizations that the 2,700+ page law was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the new power made available to the federal government. Most importantly, it grants broad administrative regulatory authority that bypasses Congress.

Social issues are now at the center of a national debate because liberals have had enough of religious people standing in the way of their policies.’

Conservatism Thrives on Low Intelligence and Poor Information

Read more: Conservatism Thrives on Low Intelligence and Poor Information‘Self-deprecating, too liberal for their own good, today’s progressives stand back and watch, hands over their mouths, as the social vivisectionists of the right slice up a living society to see if its component parts can survive in isolation. Tied up in knots of reticence and self-doubt, they will not shout stop. Doing so requires an act of interruption, of presumption, for which they no longer possess a vocabulary. Read more: Conservatism Thrives on Low Intelligence and Poor InformationPerhaps it is in the same spirit of liberal constipation that, with the exception of Charlie Brooker, we have been too polite to mention the Canadian study published last month in the journal Psychological Science, which revealed that people with conservative beliefs are likely to be of low intelligence. Paradoxically it was the Daily Mail that brought it to the attention of British readers last week. It feels crude, illiberal to point out that the other side is, on average, more stupid than our own. But this, the study suggests, is not unfounded generalisation but empirical fact.’

A Few Words On The Infuriating Liberal Media Argument http://mys.tc/1sk journalism news minstream

Low IQ & Conservative Beliefs Linked to Prejudice, Racism, & Bias

‘There’s no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.

The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found.’

Is Liberalism Islamic?: An Interview with Mustafa Akyol

‘I argue that Islam, as its very core, is a religion that liberated the individual from the bond of the tribe and similar collective bodies. But I also show how the initial impetus of the faith was partly overshadowed as a result of some early theological controversies, and, moreover, political decisions. This also means that some of those early debates can be reopened, and coercive elements in Islamic law and culture can be reformed. And I am saying all these within a particularly Turkish outlook, as I explain the little known history of “Muslim liberalism” that emerged in the late Ottoman Empire and modern-day Turkey.’

Are Ron Paul Supporters Bigots? Maybe Not, Says Sirota

‘The other camp tends to acknowledge those ugly truths about Paul, but then points out that the Texas congressman has been one of the only politicians 1) fighting surveillance, indefinite detention and due-process-free assassination policies almost exclusively aimed at minorities; 2) opposing wars that often seem motivated by rank Islamophobia; and 3) railing against the bigotry of a drug war that disproportionately targets people of color. Summarizing this part of Paul’s record, the Atlantic Monthly’s Conor Friedersdorf has written: “When it comes to America’s most racist or racially fraught policies” affecting the world today, “Paul is arguably on the right side of all of them (while) his opponents are often on the wrong side.”’