via huffingtonpost.com.

Jesus unambiguously preached mercy and forgiveness. These are supposed to be cardinal virtues of the Christian faith. And yet Evangelicals are the most supportive of the death penalty, draconian sentencing, punitive punishment over rehabilitation, and the governmental use of torture. Jesus exhorted humans to be loving, peaceful, and non-violent. And yet Evangelicals are the group of Americans most supportive of easy-access weaponry, little-to-no regulation of handgun and semi-automatic gun ownership, not to mention the violent military invasion of various countries around the world. Jesus was very clear that the pursuit of wealth was inimical to the Kingdom of God, that the rich are to be condemned, and that to be a follower of Him means to give ones money to the poor. And yet Evangelicals are the most supportive of corporate greed and capitalistic excess, and they are the most opposed to institutional help for the nations poor — especially poor children. They hate anything that smacks of “socialism” even though that is essentially what their Savior preached. They despise food stamp programs, subsidies for schools, hospitals, job training — anything that might dare to help out those in need. Even though helping out those in need was exactly what Jesus urged humans to do. In short, Evangelicals are that segment of America which is the most pro-militaristic, pro-gun, and pro-corporate, while simultaneously claiming to be most ardent lovers of the Prince of Peace.

While I can’t completely buy some of this (Jesus never condemned the rich simply for riches for example), the point is very well taken. Christianity has not been about the teachings of Jesus for a VERY long time. The trouble is, it has become about Conservative/Republican ideology to such a thorough degree the adherents of such actually think it is the teachings of Jesus. And, then it jaded the rest to such a degree that they have swung to such opposite and polarized positions that pretty much everyone hates Him. What used to be the territory of a few radicals:

You find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of the colored races, or every mitigation of slavery, every moral progress that there has been in the world, has been consistently opposed by the organized churches of the world. I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world.”
– Bertrand Russell, Why I am Not a Christian

well, now, it’s half of the internet. The result? No one is listening to the complexity of a message of freedom and socialism, personal productivity and group accountability and unconditional love that never compromises truth. And, no one is noticing that Jesus considered every society to be fundamentally screwed up and was unquestionably at war with ALL of the systems of this world.