I have friends of all different political stripes.  The hardest thing for me to deal with is my pro-abortion relatives.  It breaks my heart and angers me that people in my family give money to Planned Parenthood, and deny the humanity of the unborn.

One of my closest friends is a card carrying, politically active, Obama-fan, tree-hugging, fallen away Catholic, atheist, liberal. She refers to me as her BCF. Best.Conservative.Friend.
We rarely discuss politics. We tend to stay where we have common ground. Homeschooling, large family dynamics (she has 5, I have 9 ), asperger’s and autism (we each have an Aspergian teenage boy) and other things like that. I’m sure we would be a lot closer if I was a liberal atheist or she a conservative Catholic but for now, we are what we are. We keep each other honest in our political discourse. Our friendship reminds each of us that there are real people behind the labels not just Us and Them.

I have thought of writing a blog post or essay about whether or not we should only seek companions that are “just like us” and is that even really possible.
Even if I think I have found someone ‘just like me’, they aren’t. No one holds exactly the same opinions and beliefs as I do, even my husband.

Hi,

When I was in college I had a roommate who was this extremely Catholic, pro-life, conservative right-wing nut.  I was the liberal, pro-choice atheist.  We became good friends despite our differences.  She always showed a lot of respect for my ideas and we had many heated debates.  Fast forward ten years and I am now a pro-life conservative who has become much closer to God.  I often think back to our debates and the mutual respect we had for each other.  She taught me a lot and I thank her for it.  If we had both written each other off I might never be where I am today.  I am sure at the time she prayed for me, and I believe it worked!

I meet so many peole because we are constantly moving due to being a military family. Thus, we stay connected through Facebook. We all enjoy posting our political thoughts/beliefs and even questions on our profiles. Then others reply. It’s fun and people seem to say what they really want to say because they are not face to face. In addition, it’s easy to link articles, etc. and put up when debating. Sometimes it can get heated, but never mean. I truly learn a lot about different view points, especially right now with the gov’t possibly shutting down.

My children, my mother, and most of my childhood friends and professional colleagues don’t understand why I want to de-fund PP. It is interesting to me because I am on the ‘liberal’ end of the spectrum on issues like home birth and midwifery (although to me I am a true conservative there as well!) and on the ‘conservative’ end of issues like same sex relationships and family planning options. I think the most important thing we can do is to listen first and only speak words that are sweet and tender.

I completely agree, Rebecca! I feel very fortunate to have family and friends all across the political spectrum. I love being reminded how often I can learn something from someone with a viewpoint different from my own.

I also wanted to add that I think this applies to different kinds of Catholics too. I think it can be really easy and comfortable to associate with other Catholics who share our prayer and worship preferences, our politics, our schooling choices, etc. But, I’m always pleasantly surprised by how much I learn from Catholics that seem really different from me on the surface. It’s nice to be reminded how much we share, instead of focusing on differences so much.

I have always had Catholic friends of radically different beliefs from a gay man to my cafeteria Catholic neighbors.  Strangely, I get along better with them than the conservative evangelicals I know through homeschooling or pro-life work who supposedly share more of my beliefs.  One thing I try to do now to get to know people with different beliefs is when meeting new people I don’t let on right away my beliefs but try to develop a rapport and trust first so I don’t scare them off.

I try not to feel threatened by my (mostly) liberal friends.  I often think about GK Chesterton and William F. Buckley who had good friends who were political opposites of themselves.  It’s ok to disagree.  Besides, I realized a long time ago, that most of my liberal friends don’t read.  They watch TV and listen to NPR.  That’s pretty much it.  So now I think of them more as just uninformed.

I am the token conservative friend in most of my circles. I don’t mind a fiesty political conversation;D