A part of a Calvin-in-common conversation I want to keep:
The NY Times piece on Rick Santorum’s faith I thought was an excellent piece. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/us/politics/from-nominal-catholic-to-clarion-of-faith.html
I find many people I know assume that secularism and the draw to the left politically is a matter of evolution or gravity. I think that bias exists in communities that have a memory of conservatism so the movement seems obvious. It’s like a high school science experiment of sugar passing through a semi-permeable membrane and coming to the conclusion that things always move towards dilution. The Santorum piece nicely illustrates that conservatives are also often made, not born, sometimes out of chaos and pain.
Some of us born in conservative communities sometimes move to the left because we don’t find the indoctrinations of our youth as compelling as the clenched jaws of our former teachers. Others flee the pain and chaos of disordered living to the haven of order created by rigid norms.
In terms of the CRC both are always happening simultaneously but given the sample size in the history of rigid norms group the migration may appear one directional.
The dirty secret of conservatism maintained by earnest denial is always that the clenched act of preserving cherished remembered norms always changes that which they seek to preserve. The dirty secret of liberalism is that we’re never as original, free or creative as we want to believe about ourselves. Both sides are always changing even when we can’t see it in ourselves or admit it to ourselves.
About PaulVK
Husband, Father of 5, Pastor
Leadingchurch.com 
Conservative and Liberal Migrations
A part of a Calvin-in-common conversation I want to keep:
The NY Times piece on Rick Santorum’s faith I thought was an excellent piece. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/us/politics/from-nominal-catholic-to-clarion-of-faith.html
I find many people I know assume that secularism and the draw to the left politically is a matter of evolution or gravity. I think that bias exists in communities that have a memory of conservatism so the movement seems obvious. It’s like a high school science experiment of sugar passing through a semi-permeable membrane and coming to the conclusion that things always move towards dilution. The Santorum piece nicely illustrates that conservatives are also often made, not born, sometimes out of chaos and pain.
Some of us born in conservative communities sometimes move to the left because we don’t find the indoctrinations of our youth as compelling as the clenched jaws of our former teachers. Others flee the pain and chaos of disordered living to the haven of order created by rigid norms.
In terms of the CRC both are always happening simultaneously but given the sample size in the history of rigid norms group the migration may appear one directional.
The dirty secret of conservatism maintained by earnest denial is always that the clenched act of preserving cherished remembered norms always changes that which they seek to preserve. The dirty secret of liberalism is that we’re never as original, free or creative as we want to believe about ourselves. Both sides are always changing even when we can’t see it in ourselves or admit it to ourselves.
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About PaulVK
Husband, Father of 5, Pastor