07.06.2014 09:35 AM

Where the Christian Right is strong

Here. Wish we had a similar map for Canada. Anyone?

20140706-103435-38075628.jpg

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32 Comments

  1. Brammer says:

    Some interesting comments on the NYT site; the usual snark, others thought provoking.

    That map is just begging for an analysis by the master of data presentation.

  2. Jon Adams says:

    Surprised Orange County, CA isn’t represented on there given how influential it is.

  3. davidray says:

    Mason Dixon line with a big blip in Arizona aka Cheneyland.

  4. Liam Young says:

    For Canada: just look to Elections Canada and results where the Cons got at least 40% of the popular vote. Apply the broader category of ‘traditional religious’.

    • Liam Young says:

      Sorry … I should post that as a question. I don’t know if this is true, it’s not fair for me to suggest this and I don’t want to suggest anything negative about people holding traditional religious beliefs. Warren: feel free to delete my comment.

  5. Al in Cranbrook says:

    Not a map, but one might imagine one based on this info…

    http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/05/09/where-in-canada-are-the-most-christians-buddhists-sikhs-muslims-etc/

    Interestingly, BC @ 44.6% registers the least, closely followed by Alberta @ 60.3%. Atlantic Canada averages about 86%. Quebec comes in @ 82.2%, and Ontario @ 64.6%.

    Hard to make the case, based on this, for “Christian Right”. Indeed, given the political landscape, seems to suggest the opposite.

    If one starts with the assumption that historically, Liberals/Conservatives or Democrats/Republicans, represent the center of the spectrum, give or take, moderately religious voters are comfortable with either. Rather, their votes are swayed by policy vis a vis current economic and social conditions/imperatives.

  6. vicernie says:

    compare the Christian right map with the poverty map in this Daily Kos item – you have to scroll down. http://www.dailykos.com/#

  7. .. they’re all in Ottawa.. they’re our elected evangelical MP’s, Ministers.. Prime Minister, PMO ..f4bp

  8. Ron says:

    “As reported by religious bodies.”

    Politics and religion. That genie left the bottle about 5000 years ago and things have been quiet and peaceful ever since.

    Right ?

  9. Student501 says:

    They call it the Bible Belt for good reason.

    They are the strongest supporters of Israel for a very specific reason and it’s self interest.

    These 50 million Evangelical Christian Americans are waiting for Armageddon to happen and in order for that event to occur, they believe a series of events have begun to unfold leading to the “end times”.

    In order to accomplish this (they are very pro active) they support the Jewish State and the building of the Third Temple, which unfortunately would require according to their beliefs to be built on the 2nd holiest site in Islam, the Dome of the Rock.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Armageddon
    http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/End-Times/On-The-Road-To-Armageddon.aspx
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNvtA_q0e20
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNcPX9KbwSY

    “The Promised Land

    Even more frightening than the apocalypse, the documentary draws links between the American evangelical community and American relations in the Middle East, especially Israel.

    Israel is a homing beacon for many evangelicals. The filmmakers follow Dr. H. Wayne House as he leads twenty-some evangelicals on a tour of the Israel and parts of the West Bank. The film portrays House and his tour as a busload of indignant, anti-Muslim and selectively naïve foreigners. On a boat tour of the Sea of Galilee, where Christians believe Jesus walked on water, they fly the American flag and pump “The Star-Spangled Banner” from loud speakers. Standing on the plateau of Megiddo, where the battle of Armageddon is prophesied to take place, House wears a Disney World t-shirt. These religious tourists bumble around like so many Clark Griswolds in hotly disputed religious geography.

    Another stop on the tour is the al-Aqsa Mosque, which is situated next to the golden Dome of the Rock, the spot where Muslims believe the Prophet Mohamed ascended to heaven. To Jews it is the Temple Mount, site of the first two Jewish Temples. Regardless of what type of worship house stands there, it is an especially sacred location for Jews and Muslims alike. The site also has potent spiritual significance to evangelical Christians. As author Gershom Gorenberg says in film, the site is a “blasting cap of religious conflict.”

    Read more: http://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/evangelical-christians-wait-for-armageddon-2.aspx#ixzz36jd7OCB7

    • Student501 says:

      One can only wonder if our current Prime Minister’s strong support for Israel is also based in the same beliefs as the American Evangelicals.

      It would be an interesting reply indeed if any journalist would dare to ask our Prime Minister in a public forum if he is basing his support of Israel, even partially on the same premise as Evangelical Americans as in:

      Prime Minister do you believe that we are living in the “end of days” and does your current support for the State of Israel rest at least partially on this belief ?

      Harper’s creed

      Unknown to most Canadians, the prime minister belongs to the Christian and Missionary Alliance, an evangelical Protestant church with two million members. Alberta, a petro state, is one of its great strongholds on the continent. The church believes that the free market is divinely inspired and that non-believers are “lost.”

      Now let’s be clear: I am a Christian and a social conservative and a long time advocate of rural landowners and an unabashed conservationist. I have spent many pleasant hours in a variety of evangelical churches and fundamentalist communities. Faith is not the concern here.

      But transparency and full disclosure has become the issue of paramount importance. To date, Harper has refused to answer media questions about his beliefs or which groups inform them. If he answered media queries about his minority creed (and fewer than 10 per cent of Canadians would call themselves evangelicals) he’d have to admit that he openly sympathizes if not endorses what’s known as “evangelical climate skepticism.”

      http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/03/26/Harper-Evangelical-Mission/

      • Reality.Bites says:

        I think a lot of people are born into one faith or another and never formally leave it. They may even attend services regularly or semi-regularly.

        This does not mean they necessarily believe their faith’s beliefs. Or if they do, that they believe in imposing them on others through force of law. Pierre Trudeau, Joe Clark, Brian Mulroney, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and Justin Trudeau are all practicing Catholics, for example. None share the Church’s beliefs on birth control, abortion, stem cell research, divorce or gay rights.

        Stephen Harper has pretty much shown himself to not be terribly concerned with putting the beliefs of his church into law when not politically expedient.

      • Al in Cranbrook says:

        “Evangelical climate skepticism”

        And just when you think you’ve heard it all.

        Give me strength.

  10. Joe says:

    Does anyone know that protestant and evangelical mean the same thing? Kinda like ‘pizza pie’.

    Does anyone know that Mormons are not Christians – Evangelical, Protestant, Mainline or other.

    In the 40 years of evangelical church attendance I’ve only heard one political endorsement and that was for a Liberal government. In the churches I have attended Baptist, Mennonite, Pentecostal and Free I have never heard abortion, birth control, environmentalism being discussed. I have never had anyone tell me how to vote nor do I know how any of the other members have voted. I think the freedom from politics is one of the reasons I enjoy going to a evangelical churches. Yes politics is fun but in Church there are more important intellectual pursuits to engage the inquiring mind.

    • que sera sera says:

      Some share facts & public information, others apparently prefer sharing irrelevant anonymous personal anecdotes about their alleged evangelical faith based experiences.

      *yawn*

      • Kaspar Juul says:

        Well that’s about as credible as joes comprehension of science

        • Not Kaspar says:

          What is his comprehension of science? Please post a link here about Joe’s beliefs on science. We have no idea if he believed in creationism or evolution but as long as you throw out assertions I will challange you to back it with data or facts. Otherwise you are saying nothing.

          • Kaspar Juul says:

            Uh you didn’t present any data or facts in your comment. Nice fail

          • Not Kaspar says:

            You’re the one making the statements. I’m not. I’m asking you Kaspar Juul to back up your statements. Learn the concept of what a fail is and you’ll see yourself lol.

    • sezme says:

      When you say, “Does anyone know that?” Are you trying to assert a fact?

      If so, it seems your facts are at best subject to interpretation. A pizza is kind of pie, but not all pies are pizzas. Not all protestants would characterize themselves as evangelical. Similarly, if you ask Mormons whether they are Christian or not, the answer would surely be “yes”. I know some other sects say that Mormons aren’t Christian, but for my money, in this country people get to decide what they believe and how they define themselves. As to your last paragraph: great, though I don’t have a big problem with religions telling people how to vote. Getting them to behave in certain ways is one of the points of religion. I prefer to be given the tools to think for myself, and it sounds like that’s what you’re getting.

  11. Joe says:

    Here’s a challenge to both que sera sera and Kasper the clown er Juul. Prove me wrong. You go to any evangelical church of your choice for a month or a year and report back to us all about how many times you hear a political endorsement. Until then you’re acting/speaking from your own shallow bigotry.

  12. domenico says:

    Close correlation in the US between religious fundamentalism, Republicanism, poverty, and educational achievement. Res ipsa loquitur

  13. que sera sera says:

    @ Joe

    Some of us are talking about evangelical fundamentalists’ activities surrounding their theological beliefs about “Armageddon” and “The Rapture”, the geopolitical implications of First World Christian sectarian religious fanatics driving North American foreign policy, and the ramifications for non-sectarian Canadian citizens and all citizens of the world. (ie: where the Christian right is wrong)

    And while sharing your evangelical fellowship with Kinsella’s readers could suggest a deep commitment to your spiritual growth, it equally could signal (in light of your previous comments) that perhaps now is the time for you to drop the poisonous snakes and to quit talking in tongues.

    Did you know how odd it is for someone apparently as devout as you to publicly pretend someone died and appointed you God to judge other people and other Christian sects on whether or not they are “Christian enough” to suit your standards (ie: Mormons). Good grief.

    And while you are free to make as many wild-ass assertions you wish, it’s not up to any reader to prove your idiocy; your nonsensical comments already do that for you.

    Perhaps pray for a bit of humility (and guidance) the next time you are occupying space in a pew in your church of choice.

  14. Joe says:

    What you think I am butting into your judgement territory there que sera sera. I know you think that all Christians should just lay back and take all the bigotry thrown at them but I’m not one of those Christians. I call bigots bigots all the time and will continue to do so. Just like your bigoted and I might add thoroughly uninformed statements which makes you sound more like the KKK than a sentient human being. One can almost hear the “Well ALL THEM PEOPLES are the same they all ________ coming through your posts. How bigoted are you? You don’t even want to hear the other side! You would never dare go near one of ‘them’ cause ‘they’ are wrong. BTW the nonsense in your first line confirms my suspicion. NOBODY who has been a Christian for more than a year and a half believes in Armageddon or the Rapture in the way you seem to describe it. Nor do Christian fanatics drive US policy. Secular Humanist fundamentalists may drive the agenda but not Christians. Take the middle east policy (please) As many if not more Christians opposed the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as supported it. Those that did support it did it more out of a displaced sense of patriotism than Christian duty. Unfortunately, and this has been one of the areas I most disagree with my American friends is the way they wrap their Bible in their flag making their nation their religion. Not that this tendency is limited Christians as many Americans seem to feel as though their constitution is holy writ. Fortunately as a Canadian I don’t suffer such nonsense. I know that our constitution was a brain cramp dreamed up by 10 old white guys while the 11th looked on in anger.

  15. Patrice Boivin says:

    Wow Warren, I thought for a minute there that you had simply posted a US Civil War map.

    The more time passes, the more nothing changes.

    Compare and contrast:
    http://www.whiteheaddna.com/miltry_recs/cvlwar/mil_cvlwar_map.html

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