Does Eastern Rite Orthodox = right-wing conservative?

[Seven Severn]

I ask because I know someone who converted to Eastern Rite Orthodox Christianity about three years ago and went from a liberal, punk rock-loving Obama voter to a Glenn Beck-adoring, liberals-are-hateful-sinners nutjob. A little background: She's 48, was raised Catholic but for many, many years attended a tiny non-denominational church in a small town. Divorced for about 12 years with two kids (one is currently in college, the other in high school). Remarried to an Orthodox guy she met online (he's why she converted). She's been collecting disability for many years. Her complete turn around has been really stunning. Is being a right-winger required/encouraged in Eastern Rite Orthodoxy?

[finleeport]

As an Orthodox Christian, its not always true. Some of the Eastern Orthodox churches can be conservative, strict and even sexist, but most of them are non-legalistic and more concerned with spirituality. However, I'm Greek Orthodox, the other churches are Romanian, Coptic or Russian, I don't know about them. And there's even a group called Old Calendarists.

I am a liberal freethinker who supports equal marriage and feminism, and so do my other friends at Church.

[Deleted10]

That has not been my experience with Eastern Orthodox.

[ImNoSupermom]

I am an Eastern Orthodox Christian and I went from being a Republican to a Democrat. A number of my church friends voted for Obama, as did I. I used to be a Christian of the Reformed variety and I was CONSTANTLY heckled for voting Democrat in the last election. Heck, those people still heckle me sometimes. I've never had to justify my political leanings at my Church. I think its safe to say that most Orthodox Christians are moral conservatives, but not necessarily social or economic conservatives. My experience (however limited- its only been 2 years since I converted) has been that Orthodoxy is a fairly mixed political bag. Orthodox Christians aren't typically that political, from what I've seen...

[kaetrin]

I am an Eastern Orthodox Christian and I went from being a Republican to a Democrat. A number of my church friends voted for Obama, as did I. I used to be a Christian of the Reformed variety and I was CONSTANTLY heckled for voting Democrat in the last election. Heck, those people still heckle me sometimes. I've never had to justify my political leanings at my Church. I think its safe to say that most Orthodox Christians are moral conservatives, but not necessarily social or economic conservatives. My experience (however limited- its only been 2 years since I converted) has been that Orthodoxy is a fairly mixed political bag. Orthodox Christians aren't typically that political, from what I've seen...

The bolded part is my experience, too (5 years post conversion). There is definitely a tendency to be cautious about political activism and more emphasis is placed on paying attention to your own spiritual development and charity to others than on voting in a particular way or promoting a given political agenda.

[darareaksmey]

I only know two Eastern Orthodox personally (both co-workers) and they are both very socially and fiscally conservative. However, that is probably as much a function of living in this blood-red state as it is of their religious beliefs; I know Christians of all stripes who are equally conservative.

[Arete]

Another Eastern Orthodox Church member here, specifically Greek Orthodox. I concur with the other EO posters here so far. Greek Orthodox Churches tend to stay away from political activism on the congregational level. I have NEVER heard who to vote for from the pulpit, and we don't get discussions about birth control or abortion in homilies either. My specific congregation has a policy in stone that the church grounds cannot be used for ANY political purposes such as raising money, handing out literature, etc. My experience with other Church members is that outside church we tend to be a very mixed bag politically. Liberals, conservatives, libertarians, you name it at I can think of several of each I know off the top of my head. I'm sorry to hear about your friend. My guess is she is parroting her new husbands beliefs, but if he is GO, I doubt her learned it in church.

[Seven Severn]

The congregation that shepherded her through her conversion is part of The Orthodox Church in America, Diocese of the Midwest.

It's weird because the new husband never seemed particularly conservative or liberal or anything, really. They were both heavily involved in SCA (which is how they met online) and I'm assuming they still are. I haven't had any meaningful contact with them for a couple of years now, since she got so hateful.

Thanks to everyone who's responded. I wasn't sure what to think. Now I know it's just her and not the religion.

[Kishiria]

Just an FYI, Eastern RITE and Eastern ORTHODOX are two mutually exclusive things. Eastern Rite is Catholic. Most Catholics are "Latin Rite". Eastern Rite follow an Orthodox-style liturgy but are under the leadership of the Bishop of Rome.

Eastern Orthodoxy is the Orthodox churches in/based on the Orthodox churches in Greece, Russia, Ukraine, etc.

[dawn]

I was raised Greek Orthodox and like others said, even though the church has its own share of partiarchal craziness, people can be anywhere politically.

An also what Kishiria said. "Eastern rite" usually means the Eastern Catholic churches.

[holierthanyou]

I only know one persone who is eastern rite personally. She is actually a nun.....and she is gay(!). Her officiating priest knows. He doesn't "approve", but she also hasn't been kicked out over it, which surprised me (I had just assumed at first that she was deep in the closet).1

[Katiebug]

I have a coworker and a casual friend who are both part of the Orthodox Church in America (different congregations/parishes/whatever they're called). Both are pretty quiet about politics.

The coworker, as best any of us can tell, went from being fundie lite (homeschooling to avoid "evil" influences, having a bunch of kids in a short period of time, etc.) to Orthodox. I get the feeling he tends toward moral/social conservatism, though. He has a slightly-disturbing propensity to ask for prayer for coworkers in his church bulletin without asking the coworker if it's OK to publish names and personal/medical information for his entire church to read.

My friend is my age and has been Orthodox her entire life. She's pretty quiet/low-key about it and I have no idea what her political leanings are.

[Seven Severn]

Just an FYI, Eastern RITE and Eastern ORTHODOX are two mutually exclusive things. Eastern Rite is Catholic. Most Catholics are "Latin Rite". Eastern Rite follow an Orthodox-style liturgy but are under the leadership of the Bishop of Rome.

Eastern Orthodoxy is the Orthodox churches in/based on the Orthodox churches in Greece, Russia, Ukraine, etc.

Thanks for the clarification; I hadn't realized there was a difference. My bad, as the kids say. (Do the kids still say that?)

[pomology]

I have a friend who is Eastern Orthodox who is incredibly liberal. However, she is cradle Orthodox and she has often asserted that although she disagrees with the Church's views on women and homosexuality, she feels a strong connection to the Church's ritual aspects. However, she is also not exactly a person who has fervent religious passion. When her parents (who were converts to Orthodoxy in the first place) started attending a mainline Protestant church she said that it was really weird for her and commented, "Either I'm Orthodox or I'm not Christian." Also, her father was born Jewish and converted to Christianity and she talked about how she couldn't imagine being compelled enough by a love for Jesus to actively convert to Christianity. Being raised to believe that he was the Messiah was one thing and she did, but she didn't really understand how her father, who had not been raised that way, could be that moved to believe so. Nonetheless, she loves being Eastern Orthodox but is very liberal.

However, she did also mention that for the longest time her parents were pretty strongly anti-choice and today are still not completely comfortable with abortion. She, on the other hand, is completely pro-choice. On the other hand, she is bisexual and one of her sisters is married to a woman and I don't believe her parents ever had a problem with that. And apparently her sister that is married to a woman was excommunicated by her local priest for being gay.

So, I think Eastern Orthodoxy, like most religions with a strong ritual aspect, encompasses a very wide range of beliefs and political orientations, not to mention motivations for being a member. (That's probably true with religions without strong ritual aspects to some extent, but I think being culturally Jewish or culturally Orthodox or culturally Catholic is a pretty common thing, whereas if you're, say, Southern Baptist, it's more likely that is because you agree with the majority of the tenets of the denomination and not because you feel some cultural connection. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's just my impression.)

[nokidsmom]

The most liberal friend I have is Eastern Rite. She's had to move around parishes to find a congregation where she fits in as a single, independent woman, but she's in one she's happy with now.

[Arete]

holierthanthou,

Your friend the nun will never be kicked out of the eastern orthodox monastic system for being gay. Orthodox theology considers sex outside marriage to be the sin (gay or straight) NOT sexual orientation. Now that is a catch-22 for gay couples as the Orthodox Church does not marry then, however orientation itself is a non issue from an EO perspective. Orthodox monks and nuns certainly do not have to keep their orientation in the closet. Your friend's bishop sounds like a real asshole who let his personal feelings about gay people override what he has been taught to do from a pastoral perspective.

Ditto to other posters who say that being Eastern Orthodox can have a very strong cultural component. A lot of people identify with it because it is how they were raised and they love the ritual and holidays long after they leave the theology behind. Greek Orthodox in US joke: I never set foot in a Church, but the Church I don't set foot in is Greek Orthodox. ;)

[liltwinstar]

In my experience with Eastern Orthodox church, politics is a really mixed bag. And, as other posters have said, you don't often get political lectures in church, you don't really talk about who's a Republican/Democrat, etc. There are some parishes that have gotten involved with the anti-choice movement, and they trot out their bishops and the icons of Mary with Jesus in her womb to go to rallies and such. From my observation, it seems to be OCA parishes that do that sort of thing.

When I was Orthodox, I'll be honest, church kept me so busy (and so exhausted and so freaked out over the state of my soul) that I didn't have time to worry about politics. The basic belief is that if you work on your own salvation, and everyone else works on his/her own salvation, we won't have to worry about abortion, the president, etc etc. Plus, in the US in parishes that have a high immigrant population, if they're going to worry about politics, it will be the politics of their home country - Russia, Greece, etc. In Russian church, many older people (or their parents) experienced extreme hardship either because of Communism, the Second World War, or the immigration process, so they don't tend to get as worked up about the details of US tax policy or whatever. Ask them about Stalin, though, and you'll get an earful :)