Conservatism--Some Fundamentals

Now that I've begun this series, I think it necessary to make one point very clear.

Conservatism and fundamentalism, something I've posted about in the past, are not different words for the same thing. There are some similarities, to be sure, but they are not identical. Conservatism, on the one hand, is a school of thought that generally finds its fullest voice in the realm of politics. Fundamentalism, on the other hand, generally finds its greatest expression in the arena of religious practice and belief.

Just to be totally clear, I'm going to be looking at the differences between Conservatism, in its broadest political sense, and the living expression of Christianity, which takes place in the real world, and sometimes in a political context. I will look at the underpinnings of these two ways of life, and try to tease out what Conservatism implies for spirituality, both personal and corporate. Christianity starts from a spiritual point, and has implications for personal and political action. We wind up at the spiritual/political interface from different sides of the looking glass, as it were.