Problem? What problem?

 Humans generally, and conservative Christians particularly, have this problem:

They don't believe a problem is real unless they or someone they know are directly, undeniably affected.


Today I talked to an Evangelical pastor who didn't believe in masks or vaccines until he nearly died of COVID-19. NOW he tells whoever will listen to take it seriously. 

Today I read an article pointing out that the most frequent Biblical command - helping the poor - is the most ignored. But I suspect that's only true of Christians who have never been poor or been close with anyone who was poor. When you've worked 60-hour weeks and budgeted and STILL been unable to pay your bills, or known people who didn't work because a physical/mental health problem rendered them unable to do so, you're less likely to assume that poverty is the result of laziness.

Today I heard about the very real possibility that Roe vs. Wade will be overturned, which would fulfill the lifelong wishes of people my age who grew up in my childhood church. But I suspect that those who have had real-world experience with a pregnancy that wasn't viable, or endangered the mother's life, or resulted from a sexual assault, or meant that the mother would have been stuck raising a child they weren't ready to raise, are less likely to see abortion as "always murder".

Conservative religious people don't think that climate change is real, until it's their own city that has extreme weather which should be impossible for that city. Conservative religious people don't think that our gun laws are too lax, until they find that they're in the midst of a mass shooting and they can't actually neutralize the shooter with their own guns. Conservative religious people don't think that systemic racism is real, unless they're black. Conservative religious people don't think that the way they treat LGBTQ people is a problem, until their own kid comes out (if even then). 

Conservative religious people DO think that property taxes are too high because they are wealthy enough to own sizeable properties. They DO think that the VA is underfunded and soldiers are underpaid because most of them have a veteran in their family. They DO think that inheritance taxes are too high because their elderly parents have money (but not lots). They DO understand that a problem is real when it hurts them. But a problem that doesn't hurt them? That's clearly the result of bad choices people made. 


Conservative religious people, for all their talk of compassion, generally have none for anyone but conservative religious people.

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