I came across this wonderful quote on the subject elsewhere on Medium this week:

“A concrete way to be more like Jesus: listen to people, no matter what they say, and truly focus on understanding, empathizing, forgiving, and loving them without judgment or blame.”

The point they were making was that most of the American church, or at least the public, conservative evangelical side is the complete opposite of what Jesus actually taught or how he wants them to be.

So wound up in dogma, rules and scripture they forget that at the centre was a man who had something meaningful to say about the human experience. The 1st century church didn’t have any of the structure or religion it is bound up in now.

None of the rhetoric stands up to critical thinking but love, empathy, forgiveness and respect are universal ideals worth striving for. There are still many of us within the church that try to follow this example.

Religion shouldn’t be anywhere near politics or education. Here in the UK we have a largely secular society despite God save the King and all that. The church normally minds its own business and concentrates on helping those that society and policy has left behind.