beholders.org

The USA has 85% of the people who call themselves Christian. Israel, by way of comparison, is 77 percent Jewish. Yet only 40 percent of Americans can name more than four of the Ten Commandments, and less than half can cite any of the four authors of the Gospels. 50% of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were married. According to surveys, more Americans know the ingredients on the Big Mac than the 10 Commandments. Twelve percent believe Joan of Arc was Noah's wife and less than 30% have ever read any part of the the bible themselves.

 

Three quarters of Americans believe the Bible teaches that “God helps those who help themselves.” That is, three out of four Americans believe that this selfish American idea, a notion at the core of our current individualist politics and culture, which was in fact uttered by Ben Franklin, actually appears in Holy Scripture. Not only is this not a verse of the Bible, but the Bible actually teaches the opposite of this.

The bible itself was written over a period of 1400 to 1800 years by more than 40 different authors. The current bible didn't even exist until 300 years after Christ's death. It's been greatly edited, with huge sections having been not only removed, but destroyed. Yet, even without considering some of the most recent discoveries of gospels that were found hidden in the desert by the dead sea, even if one takes just the current text, literally and without interpretation, Jesus is still one who has disregard for riches, hierarchies and power struggles and who wanted his followers to focus on the needy and on inner, spiritual growth.

The main messages of the bible:

"Love your neighbor as yourself": although surprisingly simple, is a revolutionary notion. It could be responsible for a change in world politics, in societal interaction as well as poverty and geopolitical distribution worldwide. Especially since Jesus, in all his teachings, made it very clear who the neighbor you were supposed to love was: the needy, the poor person, the sick person, the naked person, the hungry person. 

The lessons don't stop there:

"The last shall be made first";

"turn the other cheek";

"a rich person aiming for heaven is like a camel trying to walk through the eye of a needle".

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. "

On and on and on—a call for nothing less than a dramatic reordering of power relationships and social focus based on the principle of love. Compassion as a main social order and as a pre-requisite for those who call themselves Christians. 

Yet, in a country of mega churches that fill stadiums to hear "Christian stars" who don't always preach tolerance, where events that focus on donations and buying products generating hundreds of millions of dollars to those same churches seem to be the norm, the message seems to be going askew. How much of those millions are actually used to bring to fruition any of the teachings of Jesus? And why have over 10% of church goers asked to vote a certain way during each election? Should churches be about helping the inner growth of their parishes or pushing their political messages and financial interests across? How about the thousands of Christian radios and TV stations? Shouldn't they be helping spread the peaceful and loving word of Christ?

If the message is about loving thy neighbor, then why is it that 35.9 million people live below the poverty line in America alone, including 12.9 million children (about 18% of American children)? According to UNICEF, 25,000 children die each day, worldwide, due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death." This is despite abundance of food resources. Almost 100 billion pounds of food is wasted in America alone each year. And the USA also ranks second to last among developed countries in government foreign aid. Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen. How can that be explained in a world that has 2.1 billion Christians? Why are words like:  "I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despite-fully use you, and persecute you" or "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" being so blatantly ignored?

In fact, by pretty much any measure of caring for the least among us you want to propose—childhood nutrition, infant mortality, access to preschool—we come in nearly last among the rich nations, and often by a wide margin. Now, even the idea that all should have access to help when sick is being seen as a partisan and religious discussion. Interesting approach since Jesus spent his teaching years trying to heal the sick and help the suffering. 

The point is not just that America trails badly in all these categories; it's that the people who most vehemently call themselves Christians trail so badly in all these categories, categories that were the core of the teachings of Jesus. 

Despite the Sixth Commandment (thou shall not kill), we are, of course, the most violent rich nation on earth, with a murder rate four or five times that of our European peers. Support for wars seem to come overwhelmingly from the loudest of Christian groups, the mega churches. We have prison populations greater by a factor of six or seven than other rich nations. Having been told to turn the other cheek, we're the only Western democracy left that executes its citizens, mostly in those states where Christianity is theoretically strongest. And the bible has been used to justify discrimination against all kinds of groups in our society and to deny equal rights to an equally large number of people, in spite of teachings like: "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?" or "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account." 

We do, of course, have those who follow what they preach. And those who don't need to be told what the right thing to do is. They are usually those who quietly attend to the sick in hospitals, or the nuns who carry food to the hungry during holidays. Church groups who travel around the world bringing relief and care to the poorest parts of the planet. The individuals who don't waste time trying to bring more people to their supersized churches and sell them cds and promises of salvation, but who focus, instead, on spreading tolerance and understanding. The ones who go and have a smile to someone in need, have a toy for a child without Christmas, a hug for someone who has lost everything. Those who don't profess hatred, war or discrimination, but care, compassion and equality. Those people, the ones without the labels, the screaming crowds and the angry tones are the real Christians. As for the rest of them...well, Jesus would be ashamed...