Moderate
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In politics and religion, a moderate is an individual who holds an intermediate position between two extreme or radical viewpoints. The word "moderate" can also be used as an adjective describing such a position.
Politics
In politics, a moderate is an individual who holds an intermediate position between those generally classified as being left-wing, liberal, or socialist and those seen as right-wing or conservative.
Political moderates usually seek conciliation between the views of various political parties, and often take positions partially derived from opposite views. For example, political moderates might not support the end of private property in the way advocated by Marxists, but they also might not support laissez-faire capitalism.
Some political moderates are "bi-polar" in the sense that they side with right-wingers on certain classes of issues, but with left-wingers on others, rather than consistently staking out intermediate positions across the board. In the United States, however, the term "libertarian" is often used to denote those who hold conservative views on economic issues such as taxes and welfare, but are liberal on social and moral issues like abortion and gay rights. A person holding views opposite to this on both counts—taking a liberal stand on economic issues while lining up with the conservatives socially and morally—is sometimes characterized as a "communitarian."
"Moderate" is by definition a relative term, since the position considered moderate depends on the nature of the two (or more) competing ideologies that the moderates are trying to conciliate. As such, the moderates in one country often do not share the views of moderates in other countries. Even within the same country or community, the position considered "moderate" changes over time. For example, in the Southern United States during the first half of the 19th century, supporting slavery was considered a sensible and moderate view to hold. Today, in the same geographical area, supporting slavery is considered dangerous and unacceptable extremism.
Religion
In religion, a moderate is someone who holds an intermediate position between the liberal or secularist view and the conservative, orthodox or fundamentalist view.
Religious moderates tend to take a doctrinal position that is not as strict as the orthodox or conservative religious members, but not as open as the secularist or liberal members. For example, a moderate Christian theologian might reject the conservative notion that the bible is inerrant, but might also reject the more liberal notion of universalism.