I think those phrases cause any self-respecting historian or theologian to cramp up. What traditional religion? What does that even mean?
For most Americans, "traditional" really means "Great Awakening evangelical Protestantism," which basically equates with license for willful ignorance when it comes to doctrine. (Since, you know, it is the only religion that has EVER EXISTED EVER.) It also means they can ignore their history; many evangelicals were at the forefront of both emancipation and women's suffrage in the early/mid-1800s, and it was mostly Northern Methodist and Baptist churches that sponsored education and housing programs for blacks after the Civil War. While I hate the sort of condescending "teach the simple black folk who don't know no better" attitude in church-sponsored education pamphlets, at least these people were aware of intrinsic human rights and the hypocrisy of people who insisted on robbing a whole group of individuals of their rights in the name of economic expedience.
Try to tell someone that now, in an argument as to why gay marriage is not the great evil conservatives make it out to be, and they'll calmly tell you it isn't a moral crime to be black, but it is to be gay. Try to tell someone that gay marriage (or for that matter homosexuality) isn't actually 1.) in the Ten Commandments, or 2.) in the Gospels as spoken by Christ--and, to my knowledge, isn't even in the Pauline letters because Paul is too busy being a misogynist and they look at you and say even the Devil can quote scripture.
no subject
For most Americans, "traditional" really means "Great Awakening evangelical Protestantism," which basically equates with license for willful ignorance when it comes to doctrine. (Since, you know, it is the only religion that has EVER EXISTED EVER.) It also means they can ignore their history; many evangelicals were at the forefront of both emancipation and women's suffrage in the early/mid-1800s, and it was mostly Northern Methodist and Baptist churches that sponsored education and housing programs for blacks after the Civil War. While I hate the sort of condescending "teach the simple black folk who don't know no better" attitude in church-sponsored education pamphlets, at least these people were aware of intrinsic human rights and the hypocrisy of people who insisted on robbing a whole group of individuals of their rights in the name of economic expedience.
Try to tell someone that now, in an argument as to why gay marriage is not the great evil conservatives make it out to be, and they'll calmly tell you it isn't a moral crime to be black, but it is to be gay. Try to tell someone that gay marriage (or for that matter homosexuality) isn't actually 1.) in the Ten Commandments, or 2.) in the Gospels as spoken by Christ--and, to my knowledge, isn't even in the Pauline letters because Paul is too busy being a misogynist and they look at you and say even the Devil can quote scripture.
Oh, for a lightning bolt.