Can you be a Christian and a Liberal?

Being a christian liberal is like being a conservative atheist. It's almost an oxymoron...

Liberals get the stigma from conservatives that they're dangerous because they don't have a higher power to look up to. In fact, some conservatives even view fellow conservatives who are atheist as an attack from the left.

There is probably a simple explanation for this, what I call...

The generational complex

Since WWII, Europe has become less religious than almost anywhere else on the planet! This has caused many to theorize that sometime in the future, there will be a non-religious Europe.

And who best encompasses that? The young. The less affluent.

And what do they tend to be? More liberal.

Conservatives tend to be older and more affluent. Although there are cases of young and less affluent people being more conservative. They are the exception. Not the rule.

In the coming decades, I could quite easily see the right too becoming more secular. Although I certainly wouldn't rule out that it will take several decades or perhaps even a century for this to be accomplished.

But I haven't really answered the question...

Can you be a christian and a liberal?

There's physically nothing stopping a christian from being a liberal, or vice-versa.

Despite the fact that christian liberals do exist, and even vehemently defend their "right to exist". That is to say, they defend religion, but also hold liberal viewpoints of various degrees.

Even though christian liberals do exist, their numbers have been dropping for many years...

Changing views

Many christian liberals hold viewpoints that don't fit into many liberal parties anymore.

Beliefs such as strengthening labor unions are a thing of the past. There are much bigger fish to fry now... wealth taxes to be implemented... higher corporation taxes to be implemented...

These are things that have alienated many christian liberals.

As a result many formerly christian liberals have left the party. Some have become conservative, some have become independents. Others have no opinions now... their beliefs were implemented years ago...

Passing on

It's no secret that the vast majority of christian liberals tend to be slightly older than your average liberal.

Those christian liberals who have stayed true to their party, or have adapted their views alongside it, have eventually passed on. It's sad to think of it this way, but it's true.

This has obviously contributed to the declining numbers of christian liberals.

Ratio

Thanks to the previous two reasons, the ratio of christian liberals to atheist liberals has become astonishing.

In the west, we are currently seeing a population boom. More people are being born every day than dying. As these people grow up and get older, they are more liberal. Not to mention atheist.

This continues to artificially push down the overall numbers of christian liberals.

After all, there might be 100 million liberals but only 1 million christian liberals!