by Paul Fiorilla, journalist.

Ignoring the words of Jesus has led to the introduction of tragic error into orthodox Christian theology, as readers of this newsletter well know. Reducing Jesus’ words to window dressing before his all-important death has an equally insidious effect on the behavior of people who call themselves Christians.

This point was hammered home to me recently while sitting in church listening to yet another sermon about how the world has “gone to hell in a hand basket.” The pastor asserted that people are by and large more immoral than they were at some unspecified time in the past. He bemoaned the evaporation of societal “shame,” which in better times served to modify the behavior of potential sinners. And moving on to politics, he spoke out against the lack of moral fiber in our elected leaders, which — after hearing the sniggering from the audience — I realized was a coded reference to the gay sex scandal that prompted the resignation of New Jersey Governor James McGreevey.

Anyone who attends an evangelical church or listens to mainstream Christian media is bombarded with the notion that the world is a more immoral place than it was in the past. And it is getting worse all the time. I’ve heard this so much since I began attending evangelical churches some 35 years ago that my brain normally lets it pass by without notice, chalking it up to simpleminded generic pining for the “good old days.”

But in truth such grumbling is not a harmless pastime, not among Christians, who have been commanded by God to cast aside their human nature and follow the example of Christ. Not only are the ideas wrong, and therefore promoting untruths, but the attitudes involved contradict the attitude and actions of Jesus, who should be our example.

Biblical support for the idea that the world will grow gradually worse often comes from quoting I Timothy chapter 3, in which Paul declares that there will be “terrible times” in the “last days,” and lists a litany of sins that people will commit in such times. But it is far from clear that Paul was referring to any particular year in this current generation, as many would believe.

The idea also is contradicted by any rational review of history. When was this magical time when people were “better” than they are today? Was it earlier this century, when good Christians in the southern U.S. used to pack lunches on their way to lynchings? Was it the last century, when men killed each other by the tens of thousands in the Civil War? Was it in centuries past when Protestants and Catholics warred in Europe, when reading the Bible was illegal and John Calvin burned heretics? Was it during the Crusades? Was it in the Middle Ages when people converted to Christianity at the point of a sword? Was it in antiquity when much of the populace was enslaved and many religions had official prostitutes?

A new and growing trend among evangelical Christians is a sense of outrage at being slighted by secular culture. Christians across the country have sprung into action to fight the use of the greeting “Happy Holidays” at stores and parades rather than “Merry Christmas.” Not only is there rich irony in protesting the commercialization of Christmas by demanding that religious symbols be exhibited at shopping malls, but it is impossible to imagine that Jesus would have had the same lust for power and entitlement. Jesus lived in a society that was truly oppressive — after all, he and 11 of his disciples were executed for their faith. But he did not resent his situation, telling his followers to cooperate with the hated Romans.

The pining for better times goes hand in hand with the frequent call for the return to a societal shame in an effort to prevent immoral behavior. While this may sound good, rarely is it explained how exactly this shame would be resurrected. Do we prosecute doctors that perform abortions? Do we spit at single mothers or label their children as bastards?

The bottom line is, whatever the details, such shame mongering is completely contrary to the actions of Jesus. Confronted with those accused of immoral behavior by the good religious people in his society, Jesus displayed a profound sense of love and mercy. He freed the woman accused of adultery, and spoke respectfully to the woman at the well, as much to her surprise as that of his closest followers. In those cases and others, Jesus clearly felt a closer bond to the sinner than the “pious.” And he repeatedly warned against judging others, saying that God would measure mercy toward individuals as much as they doled it out to others. One could imagine Jesus responding to the call for shaming by reciting the story of the Pharisee at the temple who thanked God that he did not act like the sinners. The evangelical church of today seems often more interested in recreating the behavior of the Pharisee than reproducing the attitude of Jesus.

The disconnect between church behavior and Jesus’ words is most clear with the issue of war and peace. Evangelical churches in the U.S. today are by and large nationalistic and militaristic, and public polls would indicate that most people who call themselves Christians support the war in Iraq. It is clear that many Christians are more offended by a homosexual act than they are by the senseless slaughter and/or torture of tens of thousands of civilians in Iraq.

But this does not reflect the ideals of Jesus, who spoke frequently about nonviolence. The meek will inherit the earth. The peacemakers will be called the sons of God. Love your enemies. Do not resist those who aim to harm you (a principle which he followed to his death). Now it can be logically argued that a nation is better off not adhering to nonviolent principles. But that can never be the Christian principle, because Jesus calls us to be like him, not the world.

Reviewing two books about Iraq in the New York Review of Books, senior war correspondent Chris Hedges describes war in profound terms: “The vanquished know the essence of war — death. They grasp that war is necrophilia. They see that war is almost a state of pure sin with its goal of hatred and destruction. They know how war fosters alienation, leads inevitably to nihilism, and is a turning away from the sanctity and preservation of life.”

The bottom line is that the church takes on the characteristics of its teaching. If people are taught that the most important aspects of Jesus’ life are his birth, death and resurrection — and not his words — they will certainly fail to follow his instructions and the example of the life he lived. That leaves an almost incomprehensible situation in which millions of people claim the name of Jesus yet act completely contrary to the lifestyle he both espoused and lived.

“Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’…”