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    %CORRUPTION PERVERSION ABUSE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 960315

     Christian leaders  down  through  the  centuries have
managed to re-interpret the birth,  life, teachings, death
and resurrection  of  Jesus of Nazareth in many ways which
seem  quite inconsistent with the basic Biblical  accounts
regarding the kind of life he lived and the overall nature
of his teachings.

     Jesus was clearly a non-conformist who  offended many
religious leaders of his day---but often Christian leaders
have transformed the religion named after him into an echo
of the religious  views of the religious leaders  who were
so  offended  by  Jesus as a  non-conformist  as  to  have
conspired to have him crucified.    Such religious leaders
promote conformity and  preoccupations with  laws,   legal
systems, judgements, and condemnations---in great contrast
to Jesus whom they pay lip service to.

     Jesus   was    clearly   dedicated   to   liberation,
reconciliation   and   conflict   resolution---but   often
Christian  leaders  have  transformed the  religion  named
after him into an agent of enslavement, alienation and the
perpetuation of dis-integrative conflicts.

     Jesus was clearly dedicated to describing  situations
in truthful ways which  challenged traditional patterns of
addictive behaviors and  collusive  games  of  mutual self
deception---but  often   Christian   leaders  have  turned
Christianity  into  a religion which promotes subtle forms
of addiction and so rarely focuses upon promoting honesty,
personal integrity or communal integrity.

     Jesus called upon his disciples to be  peacemakers---
but  many Christian leaders have led followers into "holy"
wars in the name of Jesus the peacemaker.

     Jesus told his  disciples that they  would do greater
things than he had done---but often Christian leaders pass
judgement upon and condemn people  whose lives reveal that
it  is possible for  disciples of  Jesus  to  fulfill  his
prophesy, and do grater things that Jesus did.

     Jesus   was  clearly  disinterested   in   performing
elaborate  religious  rituals---but Christian leaders have
generated  an endless  collection of religious rituals and
opulent settings within which they pontificate and perform
such rituals.

     Jesus was clearly inclusive in his approach to people
who  were  not respected by powerful religious leaders  of
his   day---but  Christian  leaders  have  often  set   up
elaborate  systems  by which to make distinctions  between
those  people who  are to be regarded as acceptable,   and
those who are to be regarded  as  worthy  of rejection and
exclusion from Christian churches.

     Many  Christian  leaders have demonstrated  over  and
over that they are  dedicated to the use  and abuse of the
Christian  Church  as  a  tool for  the  manipulation  and
control  of  victims  who  are  imprisoned  by  ignorance,
confusion, dis-integrative ideals, burdensome rituals, and
debilitating expectations. This  in spite of the fact that
it is  recorded  that Jesus started his active ministry by
declaring   it  would  have  to  do  with  liberation   in
fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah.

                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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