u/Aggressive-Cod-6312

I would describe myself as left-leaning, even a socialist in the context of American politics. I used to firmly support the legalization movement of euthanasia. But I’ve since become increasingly conservative on this and other related issues.

I now think that while the policy is well-intentioned, it fundamentally undermines the basic values a moral obligations of a civilized society. Those being, at the very least, a basic respect and commitment to human life and social welfare.

Society should not condone self-destructive tendencies such as alcohol/drug abuse, gambling, suicide, etc. by setting up commercial markets that profit off of these behaviors. In a capitalist society, many people make these decisions under coercion I’d argue, not “freedom of choice”. You enter a dangerous dynamic when you introduce markets that only exist to profit from social failures.

I believe many individuals who “desire” their own death due to chronic health conditions are people who were ultimately failed by society throughout their lives. Nutrient-poor diets, sedentary lifestyles, social isolation and more are all considered common features of modern society. These people who fall through the cracks, our profit-centered society views them as a burden and is eager to get rid of them. Allowing the healthcare system to present this as a viable option to people, who are often under coercion mind you, allows society to start valuing some human life less than others.

I argue that instead of legalization of physician-assisted suicide, we should make serious investments and reforms to our system to hopefully prevent these decisions from having to be made in the first place.

I am open to discussing this however. What are your thoughts?

I’m a 25 year old man. I am at a point in my life where I have a desire to take my spiritual life more seriously especially as I continue maturing into adulthood.

I grew up in a conservative, Protestant church. As tends to happen to many of us, I questioned a lot of things about the faith as I emerged into adolescence. This was around the peak of the New Atheism movement, I was heavily influenced by arguments of science that challenged the established theology I was taught in church. I soon became an ardent atheist myself, believing that rational people were forced to choose between either science or religion, not both.

Now I’m a little older and I sharply disagree with that sentiment. In fact, science in a weird way has made me feel more spiritual. The awe you experience when you realize how incomprehensibly big, complex, and beautiful this creation is. You feel the need to surrender to something much bigger than yourself. The only sense you can make is that there has to be a cosmic order behind it all. Now I’m not exactly sure what label I fall into today. I know I feel deeply inspired by the teachings of Christ, commitment to a social justice and humanitarianism. I feel the need to align myself to the moral order of the universe. In these ways, I feel personally drawn to the long traditions of Catholicism in the feelings I just described.

However I would of course have deep theological disagreements with any organized Christian doctrines today. Namely, I believe many things in the Bible are to be taken as metaphorical, as beautiful poetry to take inspiration and meaning from but not necessarily as absolute truth in it of itself. I am also gay, which of course was a source of personal pain in my history with the faith community.

The point of this long winded post is to see if there’s anyone with a similar experience, wrestling with wanting to rejoin a faith but not necessarily understanding where they fit. Do you keep many of your personal interpretations to yourself? How do you navigate a space that feels fundamentally at odds with you? Ultimately, I’m looking for a community that would bring guidance, discipline, and most importantly closeness with God.

Thank you for anyone that takes the time to read this and respond. 🙏