Many
people who like to call themselves Christians are in fact an abomination of the
founder of the religion and use their alleged faith as an excuse to
discriminate against those who do not share their bastardized version of what
it means to follow Jesus.
I
was raised in the Roman Catholic Church. Although I am not a practicing
Catholic today, what I learned as a student of the Catholic religion and
further enhanced by my study of the foundations of Christianity is this: forgiveness, acceptance, refusal to judge
others, and compassion are the tenets of the preaching of Jesus of Nazareth.
If
one relies upon the stories and parables of the New Testament one will accept
that one must not judge lest he/she be judged; that he/she who is without sin
can throw the first stone; that the prodigal son is always welcomed home; that
one should give to the poor, shelter the homeless, offer food to the hungry,
reach out to the shunned, clothe the naked, forgive those who have sinned,
embrace those who are in sorrow, and love the unlovable.
These
are not just the tenets of Christianity but of all of the major world
religions. However – corruption, ego, desire for power, and hubris have caused
leaders to support those who have misappropriated the concept of the conscientious
objector for political expediency. 
The
true conscientious objector is one who refuses to serve in the military as a
soldier because he/she does not believe in taking another life for any reason.
This is the foundation of the Quaker faith. This can hardly be equated to one
who denies a person his/her constitution rights because of bigotry – which is
not a tenet of Christianity or any other religious faith. Bigotry is
unacceptable and relying on the excuse of religion to support a position o
bigotry is neither legal nor in tune with the beliefs of the founders of the
faith upon which that bigot relies.
http://girightshotline.org/en/military-knowledge-base/topic/conscientious-objection-discharge
Regretfully,
there are any number of politicians, pundits, individuals, clergy and BIGOTS
who have reinterpreted, corrupted, twisted, hijacked, and subverted what was in
its inception a faith of acceptance, peace, forgiveness, kindness, generosity
and love for thy neighbor.
And
people wonder why I’ve strayed.
hy·poc·ri·sy
həˈpäkrəsē/
noun
- the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.
synonyms: dissimulation, false virtue, cant, posturing, affectation, speciousness, empty talk, insincerity, falseness, deceit, dishonesty, mendacity, pretense, duplicity; More
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