Its Alleged Defenders are Destroying Christianity

An opinion piece in a UK online publication, ekklesia.co.uk, makes an argument that I have stated a number of times over the months and years - namely that bigoted self-proclaimed, and self-congratulatory Christians are destroying the image of Christianity and increasingly giving it a face of hate, intolerance and anything but love of neighbor. Indeed, these false Christians seem more centered on who they hate and malign than on following Christ's Gospel message. While the piece looks at situations in the UK, the same pattern applies in spades in the USA where increasing supposed Christians show themselves to be a brutal, unloving bunch. The article is entitled "Misrepresenting equality... and Christianity" and here are some highlights:
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With some bishops and hardline campaigning groups up in arms about the Equality Bill, you might think that Christianity per se had some basic problem with equality and social justice. Indeed, some people probably have come to think that, sadly. And who could blame them, given the shameful excuses, special pleading, scaremongering and misrepresentation (egged on by the Telegraph and the Mail) that has accompanied the attempt to consolidate a framework of equal treatment in employment and the provision of goods and services in the UK?
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As Simon Sarmiento, an Anglican who has been following the Bill with an open mind and unusual attention, says: there appears to be an air of panic around among some church leaders and their lawyers. Why? Because the era of special privileges for the Established church and for institutional religious interests is coming to an end. Beyond the complexities of the current legislative process, that is what lies behind the distress and confusion. For many more, of course, the demise of Christendom is an opportunity not a threat: and that, frankly, ought to include Christians.
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The "religion of power" is bad news in terms of the good news that the Christian message proclaims -- God's favour-free and transformative love. The gospels are full of Jesus' confrontations with religious leaders who put their own position above the needs of ordinary people. He forthrightly tells his followers not to hog "the best places at table" and even announces a "divine reversal". Those left out by the system are to be included; the excluders, by contrast, are in danger of finding themselves left out. . . . the real tension that we should be attending to is not 'liberals versus conservatives' but that between imperial and anti-imperial religion.
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The Cutting Edge Consortium is bringing together both faith and secular bodies to put the case for justice and non-discrimination. The fact that it is this kind of coalition is significant. For it would be wrong to suppose that all those who want to thwart this Bill, and the case for equal treatment in the public sphere, are religious. As Andrew Copson, the new CEO of the British Humanist Association, has (generously) put it: the real disagreement is not not between religious and non-religious people but between “people who believe in non-discrimination and equal treatment” and “people who don't”.
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Sadly, too many Christians rather than being known for their love of their fellow man are instead defined by their contempt of others and their thirst for power, control, and, of course, money.