The Ten Commandments in public places, school prayer and other Church-State issues: Well, here we have a confusion between sizzle and steak or form and substance. Somehow, those who believe that these icons of seemingly public Christian practice should not be disturbed, don't understand that part of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew: Chapters 5-7) where Christ advises not to pray in public, but in private, and explains why.
Those, who go for form, think that if we have the form of things Christian, we are okay. So they get "saved" and baptized, and by this form accept Jesus as their Savior. That's it. Do that and your troubles are over, and sorry but the rest of the Gospels not too relevant.
Forget living the example, of following In His Steps in the way Charles Sheldon describes in the late 19th Century book of the same name, which was, during the spiritual revivals of the 1970's, to lead to the very interesting What Would Jesus Do? movement. No point in being a Christian in action. The only thing required is belief.
Of course, we also have to blame the Media, which seems to want to only publish stories about the form of Christian practice and never the substance. I suppose that's why all the public posturing of the Jerry Falwells and Pat Robertsons. Like the hypocrites described by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount who pray in public, they are more desperate to be seen as Christian, than they are willing to suffer as Christians of substance in private.
These folks need to rediscover that the only true monuments to Christianity are in lived lives that effect others. That's why so many Saints are also martyrs. Its dangerous to be a real Christian - you can't do behind the safety of a desk, or a pulpit or on TV.
Then of course there's the political stuff. These pseudo-Christians want to remake the world in accord with their moral vision. Just like those who forgot the Sermon on the Mount, these folks never seem to think about Matthew 22:21: "Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are Gods."
Some of these pseudo-Christians want to trivialize this statement, since it seems to be about money. The problem with that is its theological inconsistency. If you think Jesus Christ was the Son of God, how can you imagine He ever spoke lightly about anything? Unfortunately for a lot of Christians, understanding this statement requires that you think, something hard for true believers to do. Once you idolize and worship a belief system, there's not much room left inside the soul for thinking about what the truth is.
Actually its very simple. There's heaven and earth. There's the realm of the Father and the realm of Caesar. Two different places, two different sets of rules. Understand the rules of both, and give to both what each legitimately needs.
Our relationship to the realm of the Father is private. We pray in private. So we are told that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart and all our spirit and all our mind. Do that, and prayer becomes something rather marvelous.
Our relationship to the realm of Caesar is public. So we are taught to be moral in public, to treat our fellows in such a way that we live the meaning of: "whatsoever ye do to the least of these my brethren, ye do so also unto me". Here we love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Makes for a very peaceful world, and if you find yourself on the end of someone else's anger and hate, then turn the other cheek, and walk the extra mile.
Not really that difficult.
Unless you are a serious hypocrite, the type which would get Jesus Christ the most angry. In which case you hate gays and gay marriage, and hate abortion and make an icon of life, but then forget to hate war and the death penalty, while voting as part of a group which also hates freedom for anyone's ideology and beliefs but their own. A lot of hate out there for what is different.
I like the recent effort on Sam Smith's Progressive News to stop calling these folks Christian fundamentalists or extremists, and instead call them Christian heretics, because the last thing they believe in is what Jesus Christ taught.
