AMERICA'S NOT SO CHRISTIAN CHRISTIANS

Christianity Revisited: America’s Not-So-Christian Christian Society

“A Harsh Judgmental Theology”

Western Christianity, as an espoused spiritual entity, shot wide of the mark when its religious dogma anchored in punishment rather than rehabilitation of the human condition. A punitive or "imposed suffering" focus to manage the faithful equates a mean theology which then creates an intolerant, mean, and sometimes quite cruel society. Christianity's theological compass needs to be tweaked, fine tuned, and redirected back to spirituality and away from judgmentalness and punishment i.e. back to the rebuilding of fallen human beings rather than their condemnation and destruction. This commentary is all about Christianity's punitive-type theological intolerance and the multiple social persecutions such intolerance has resulted in regarding different targeted classes of people in U. S. History, especially those among us who, at one time in our lives, found ourselves on the wrong side of the law. The commentary suggests a needed shift in theological perception from seeing human beings as good or bad only, black or white, good or evil only, rather than the imperfect human condition, to instead seeing fallen human beings as individuals in need of help and rehabilitation. In essence, a shift in perception and attitude from intolerance and punishment to tolerance, forgiveness, compassion, and rehabilitation. If you will, a shift from theological evil to theological good. Axiomatically, whereas punishment destroys, forgiveness and rehabilitation rebuilds - the human condition. Such a path represents the spiritual as no human life should ever be rendered hopeless by law or theology. All human existence remains sacred at least in the eyes of God, regardless of the sometimes aberrant perceptions of social man. No human life should be reduced, abandoned, or rendered valueless. Such social perceptions, religious or not, reveal the unmistakable face of evil.The reader's careful consideration of the following commentary could very well save the lives of 30 million people.

“Judge not least ye be judged” is a fundamental tenet espoused by the Christian persuasion. Forgiveness is another. Axiomatically to not forgive is to punish. To continue to not forgive is to continue to punish i.e. to continue to hate i.e. to continue to persecute. If persecution is directed towards a social class rather than an individual, it becomes social persecution. Webster's Dictionary defines evil as "a fact of suffering", hence, anyone or anything causing suffering is defined as evil. Logically then, a theology which causes suffering is an evil theology and pathological i.e. "unwholesome" according to Webster. If Western Christianity's theology teaches heavy judgmentalness, the theology is teaching its faithful to attack and harm others, as judgmentalness is the attack gear of the brain. Negative judging is to attack i.e. to harm and punish another. A theology into heavy punishment, which translates into heavy human suffering, is, hence, an evil and unwholesome theology by definition. Western Christian leaders, if their theology is to retain any spiritual legitimacy, need to extricate this wicked portion of their theology which circumvents forgiveness and pathologically advocates only judging, punishment, and continuing human suffering i.e. social persecution, or have their religion run the risk of being branded a destructive, pathological, and evil theology. Historically, such Christian theological pathology, needing strong reformers from time to time such as Martin Luther, has been quite verifiable when considering the multiple social persecutions Christianity's faithful have engaged in again and again and again, due to judgmentalness and a lust to inflict punishment and human suffering. Consider Christians' targeting social classes such as Jews, Mormons, Masons, Muslims, and even African Americans who some Christian doctrine at one time considered "soulless. Evil is not new in Christianity as, historically, it took the high ground in Christians' massive witch burnings in Europe (100,000 women in Germany alone), the murderous seven Crusades, and the Spanish Inquisition. SOCIAL PERSECUTIONS have been replete in different Christian Societies in Europe and the United States.

Christianity's greatest social persecution throughout history has target individuals with criminal records. This heavy Christian persecution of individuals with criminal records has continued for centuries unabated with theologians even misquoting Jesus as stating that it was a sin for anyone to show any mercy and charity at any time to any individual convicted of a crime. Hence, this portion of Christianity's theology has imposed permanent suffering upon a class of people who once ran afoul of the law, for over 1,000 years, making it Christianity's longest and most enduring social persecution of a certain class of people. By definition, such portion of the Christian theology imposing permanent human suffering for so long a period represents abject evil, rendering Christianity pathological i.e. "diseased and unwholesome" (See Webster's Dictionary) regarding its persecution of criminals i.e. individuals with criminal records. With respect to this targeted class, Christian leaders must end this social persecution of criminals or anyone with a criminal record and change its theology from judgmentalness, punishment, and persecution to rehabilitation of the 30 million fallen and economically broken Americans with criminal records, repairing and lifting these human beings back up onto their feet, or be branded a mean, unforgiving, cruel, and wicked religion. Reformers need to clean up this cruel and unsavory portion of the Christian theology and finally end such centuries of abject human suffering regarding individuals with criminal records. The Bible warns and mandated "Judge not least ye be judged" to alert the faithful to the incredible human suffering judging and a mindset of continuing punishment i.e. social persecution can result in. Such a mindset of imposed continued human suffering, by Webster Dictionary definition, is evil, not good, hence, not from God but born of and rooted in hate and human cruelty. Until forgiveness is applied to this class of errant, imperfect people, punishment and human suffering will go unabated and continue to be directed towards the un-forgiven. This is especially true regarding those human beings among us who once crossed the line and wound up with criminal records and then were subsequently reduced by the American Christian Society to permanent, irreversible social lepers, disenfranchised from any quality of life to speak of. There is no love in this Christian mindset. Just hate. This is not spirituality but persecution. Christianity's perception of individuals with criminal records as only evil and non-human must change before this centuries old social persecution is finally lifted.

Perpetual punishment is the state of the “un-forgiven” i. e. the perpetually punished. It is a cruel mindset. To continue to wish to harm another is a form of serious hate and, as such, an evil state of mind. If theologically rooted, logically such hate represents an evil theology. Any theology that teaches its faithful to not forgive is a theology of hate and not a theology of love. Just the fictional concept of a Hell represents a mindset of extreme hate if not a psychology of sadism. To religiously mandate perpetual punishment of criminals instead of therapeutically focusing upon repairable flaws of imperfect human beings, for the sheer satisfaction of it. Indeed, that is hate. A theology that teaches its faithful not to forgive is not a spiritual religion but one mired in the graceless and the aberrant. A theology that is against love, joy, hope, and personal fulfillment is a theology that is anti-life i.e. demonic. Axiomatically, a theology that relegates the life of another human being to permanent cruelty, suffering, and pain is, in essence, demonic. An evil, destructive theology. An evil religion is one which glorifies in human suffering. One that has fallen from grace and spirituality. Such a theology of hate followed by a particular society can result in enormous damage to the lives of millions of people under its influence. Such a theology would represent an unhealthy religion to align with. Pathological. Western Christianity has some inherent problems, unhealthy to society, which should be revisited, reconsidered, and cleaned up by its church leaders at this juncture, if it is to remain in the good category rather than the evil.

Such a theology as described above, anchored in punishment and the infliction of human suffering, may be modern day Christianity especially in Puritanically rooted America. The irony of it is such a "punitive" Christianity is the anti-thesis of the teachings of its leader, Jesus Christ, who ,some historians suspect, was more Buddhist than a follower of Judaism. They believe that, in the three years of his Biblically documented disappearance, Jesus became a student of Buddhism which teaches love, understanding, tolerance, and forgiveness. Buddhist theologians declare that Christianity is too much into right and wrong, good and evil, seeing only black and white, and not into forgiveness and compassion regarding the imperfect human condition, nor hope, or rehabilitation, or into the Buddhist tenet that holds every human existence sacred and valuable, regardless of one's personal indiscretions or imperfections. That no life is hopeless or rendered hopeless by regional theologies.. That "To err is human". To heal is divine. Such tenets represent a spiritual path.

Modern day American Christian society, in its social behavior, is into non-forgiveness which is, interestingly enough, theologically not aliened to the teachings of their leader, Jesus. Hence, the not-so-Christian Christians. The model and example, which their Jesus represented which separated him, theologically, from Judaism and got him killed as a heretic, was “forgiveness” i.e. “Turn the other cheek”. A great number of American Christians do not follow the Jesus model of forgiveness especially in their secular life.Hence, what are these not-so-Christian Christians, theologically speaking? They do not appear to be Jews or Christians but some theologically lost hybrid. Let us test these hypothesis stated above to determine how credible and reliable they are by examining the social behavior of the American Christian Society.

Upon closer examination of the American Christian Society, what is historically revealed are social persecutions of classes of people, centuries old, which perpetually persecute and harm different segments and ethnic elements in American society. A theological narrow mindset of hate towards some classes of individuals in U. S. society which persecutions sometimes approaches the sadistic and a lust to harm. Passing over Mormons, Jews, Masons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses (but not forgetting Christian society previously relegating African Americans as cursed descendants of Cain for killing Able and not really having souls and, as such, at least in the South, alright to lynch by photographed churchy types), modern Christian social persecutions target all Americans, without exception, with criminal records, within a mindset that places all people into two categories only. Good and evil. Such narrow minded Christians only see white and black and never see the imperfect human being in need of help and rehabilitation. If one sees only evil in another, this is hateful and renders the perceiver evil as opposed to good, represents a crushing and cruel attack upon another, completely denying the latter his or her humanity, and further renders the human condition of the targeted person hopeless. If any individual, at some time in his or her life, ran afoul of the law, America’s unforgiving Christians classify such imperfect human beings as permanently evil and bad, and disenfranchise these individuals in every aspect of American society and social life, from conviction to grave, and reject them from any social intercourse, including gainful employment after a background check, even though these individuals have fully paid their debt to society. a social double jeopardy if you please. Some of these convicted individuals may also have been innocent. When a Christian Society only wishes the destruction of another class of people with criminal records, which class is the evil class? It is the class operating from hate and not love. By Webster's Dictionary definition, the evil person is the one who desires the continued suffering of others. In this scenario, the evil class would be none other than America's Christian Community which continues to seek further punishment and disenfranchisement for these fallen and broken human beings stigmatized as permanently evil because they were once on the other side of the law, rather than operating from forgiveness and rehabilitation of a downed fellow American, especially in the job market as income is everyone's survival, including people with criminal records. To socially persecute this class from working to allow them and their children to physically survive, via permanent universal wholesale employment discrimination, represents abject evil. The intentional infliction of gross human suffering.

Such cruel, brutal, and un-forgiving Christian thinking results in America’s Christian Society permanently distancing themselves from all such errant individuals who once broke the law, as social pariah. Individuals with criminal records are ostracized from American society from conviction to grave. They are not forgiven by many modern Christians which is the anti-thesis of love but rather a mindset anchored in hate, and, ironically, wholly contrary to the tenets of Christianity and which refutes the teachings and model their leader, Jesus, set when he forgave the thief of the cross, a criminal. “This day thou shall be with me in Paradise”. Narrow minded Christians stigmatize everyone with a criminal record for life, never forgiving those human beings, and perpetually discriminating against them in every spectrum of social life. Instead of being forgiven, reaccepted, and rehabilitated back into the social mainstream, individuals with criminal records remain rejected by Christian Society as permanently evil. Forgiveness is out of the question for these unfortunate individuals. The only visible Christian emotions, regarding these fellow human beings, are contempt, resentment, hatred, and rejection. Permanent punishment of these once errant fellow Americans is the only notion in the cruel, persecutorial mindset of great numbers of judgmental modern day Christians as the latter regard individuals with criminal records no longer human but only symbols of permanent evil. Never to be forgiven i.e. condemned for life.

In our Christian society, Americans who ever ran afoul of the law or were innocent and wrongfully convicted in our prosecutorial society are not hired for jobs, encounter crushing employment discrimination, not allowed to socially integrate being kept out of clubs, not allowed to be Boy Scout leaders, coaches, teachers, or work for the government on the local, state, or federal level and are universally barred from corporate employment. Employment agencies refuse to even list them for jobs. Licenses in most of the professions such as accountancy, medicine, law, and real estate are denied to them regardless of their educational qualifications or the fact that they have fully paid their debt to society. This is crushing social persecution in its ugliest and most hateful form.

As this unforgiving social persecution of individuals with criminal records goes unabated, human hope is extinguished from these also Children of God. Christian society relegates these ostracized souls, now designated as social pariah, to a life of permanent abject deprivation, unable to feed themselves or their children. Without employment, these human beings, numbering 30 million in America, cannot even buy shoe laces or chewing gum from conviction to grave. As stated, such a cruel Christian mindset is wholly contrary to the teachings of their leader, Jesus Christ, who taught “Turn the other cheek”, and forgave the thief on the cross, stating to the errant individual, “This day thou shall be with me in paradise”.

So who are these cruel, persecutorial people who claim to be Christians? They are the not-so-Christian Christians who follow a theology of judgmentalness, hate, and persecution. At some point in American History, its Christian society took a wrong turn and theologically went down the wrong rabbit trail and evolved into a non-forgiving, cruel religion which only lusts in punishment to the complete abandonment of rehabilitation of broken and fallen human beings who once ran afoul of the law. Another example of portions of America’s unloving, hateful Christian society’s losing its way by having been detached and separated from the teachings of its leader, Jesus, is the Biblical quote of Jesus where he said “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”. America’s Christians have become unforgiving indeed, persecutorial, and cruel and, in this respect, appear to have theologically lost their way.

To retain its spiritual legitimacy, America’s Christian Society needs to return to Jesus’ examples of love, understanding, tolerance, forgiveness, and compassion which are Buddhist tenets, and abandon their lust and mindset of hate and persecution of some social classes, especially those fallen Americans who have at one time run afoul of the law, many from gross economic injustices existing within this Nation. Unless America’s Christian Society adjusts its compass to return its perceptions to a spiritual realm of love, forgiveness, understanding, tolerance, and compassion, Christianity will remain a negative theology rooted in hatred, punishment, and intolerance. For the Christian theology, the stakes are high and its future imperiled unless its leaders direct their followers away from social persecutions and hate, and back in the direction of grace and forgiveness. Many modern Christians might even reconsider returning to the teachings of Jesus who appears to have gotten it right.

An about face and a good start in returning to the tenet of forgiveness would be for Christians to support an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to add individuals with criminal records as a protective class from employment discrimination in order to rehabilitate these human beings by putting them back to work so they can afford shoe laces - and feed their children. Love has always been a better choice than hate, and spiritually no human life should be rendered hopeless by a brutally intolerant Christian society. God doesn’t think these human creations are hopeless so why should America’s Christian Society, which persists in its rejection of individuals with criminal records, and distance themselves from them? When a Christian Society’s mindset departs from the dimension of forgiveness, compassion, love, peace, and tolerance and becomes judgmental, hateful, un-forgiving, and persecutorial, there is fallout in many other areas such as America’s high divorce rate with heavy fault finding and the many wars America is starting around the globe

A society’s or theology’s mindset can be anything. Forgiveness and rehabilitation, being positive concepts, tend to build human beings rather than biases and hatreds which destroy human beings. The joy of helping and saving a fallen and broken human being is far stronger than the lust to destroy another. America's Christian Society must end its social persecutions of those classes of people that they perceive as permanently evil and black, rather than imperfectly human, starting with individuals who were unfortunate enough to acquire a criminal record. Love begets love, Hate begets hate. And persecutions beget persecutions. Today – people with criminal records. Tomorrow – Masons and Mormons. The next day – Jews, and so on. Christian theologians should strive to eliminate all forms of social persecution, without exception, if their theology is to retain its legitimacy. Otherwise, they run the risk of falling from grace, and transforming into something destructive, hateful, if not demonic. History has certainly documented the demonic side of Christianity in the mass witch burnings in Europe, the murderous Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and the killings of homosexuals, blacks, Jews, and Mormons. Christ forgave and turned the other cheek. It is time for America's persecutorial Christian Society to return to Jesus' path and walk in his shoes, especially regarding their perceptions of and persecutorial attitudes towards imperfect human beings with criminal records.

No religious society can exist very long within a theology of cruelty and hate replacing love, tolerance, and forgiveness. This theological malignancy will eventually take that religious society down. Axiomatically, there can be no love as long as there is no forgiveness. American Christians, as stated, can depart from their mindset of over judgmentalnesss and being punishment orientated, and start back on the path to spirituality and grace by backing the above mentioned amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, listing individuals with criminal records as a PROTECTED CLASS from employment discrimination so they can once again return to work, earn income to feed their families, and be permitted to regain some semblance of self respect and personal dignity. No life is without value and no one can survive without income. And no theology, espousing to be spiritual, should render the life of another human being permanently valueless and hopeless. Contact your Congressperson. The lives of 30 million Americans with criminal records, being denied employment from conviction to grave, and their children’s survival hang on the actions you eventually take as members of America's Christian community, from your deep spiritual convictions, - and your personal claim to be spiritual and a legitimate Christian..

Food for thought.