Believe One Thing, Do Another

The Pew Research Forum on Religion & Public Life recently conducted a survey that tested people’s knowledge about religion. The test was taken by 3,412 randomly sampled adults and included people of various religious traditions, people who attend worship services and those who don’t, men and women, and college graduates as well as those who did not attend college. The results were surprising and seemingly counter intuitive. Atheists were one of the highest scoring groups and Evangelicals and born again Christians were one of the lowest. Why was this?

Stranger yet is the fact, revealed by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, that white Evangelicals and born again Christians are the least likely to support politicians or policies that follow the actual teachings of Jesus. These people, who profess a personal relationship with Jesus, who believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, who regularly go to church, pray daily, listen to Christian music and place Jesus at the center of their lives, are the very people most likely to reject His teachings.

• Jesus preached mercy and forgiveness where as Evangelicals and born again Christians support the death penalty, draconian sentencing, punishment over rehabilitation and the federal government’s use of torture.

• Jesus encouraged people to be loving, peaceful, and non-violent, yet Evangelicals and born again Christians want no regulation of handgun and semi-automatic gun ownership, support the right to carry concealed weapons and support the violent military invasion of various countries around the world.

• Jesus decried the pursuit of wealth, said the rich could not get into the Kingdom of Heaven and that they should give all their money to the poor. Jesus preached that people should help those in need, yet Evangelicals and born again Christians are the most supportive of corporate greed and capitalistic excess. They oppose institutional help for the nation’s poor, especially children. They also hate food stamp programs and all subsidies for schools, hospitals, job training and anything else that would help out those in need.

If Evangelicals and born again Christians are the true believers and place God and Jesus at the center of their lives how can they possibly promote these inhumane values? The reason is not what Jesus taught but it’s about what He can do for them. They believe that because Jesus died on the cross for their sins He will save them from eternal torment in hell. Not only that but they believe that they are guaranteed a special spot in heaven when they die. This is the reason Evangelicals and born again Christians are true believers.  Since they believe their sins will always be forgiven, they can be as greedy and selfish as they want.