Forgive my rant, have to vent...

[rustydog]

My Conservative Christian co-worker who refuses to donate to charity because he does not agree with some of the poor the charities help. He hates the thought of people suckling off the govt teat and hates all the social programs in America and union wages (people should get paid what they are worth!dammit). This guy fails to see the hypocrisy when he takes FMLA to be with sick kids and then argues for an extra day because the kid was sick on a paid holiday and he wants the holiday pay and another FMLA day! (a benefit brought about by unions!)

Recently, our place of employment created an employee fitness gym and staff can join for a VERY affordable monthly sum. This "own bootstrap" self-made man wants our department to pay for his membership because he is expected to be in shape to perform his job!
gimme, gimme, gimme....

PLUS he holds everyone to a standard. (ethical and moral) that he refuses to hold himself to.

Why are these people so blind to their hypocrisy?

[LiberalAndProud]

1. It has been my experience that many of my anti-gubmint

neighbors will be the first to put their hand out for a hand up.

[pipi_k]

3. Got me a couple of RW friends who

are the same way.

They are almost rabidly anti-government. Don't trust a damned soul...hate it with a passion.

But wherever there is a government giveaway, there they are taking advantage of it.

Go figure

[Salviati]

11. Once again it's republican projection at work

These are the type of people who will take every unearned advantage they can get, who have a sense of entitlement the size of Alaska, and feel no obligation to help out their fellow man. And because this is the way they operate, they assume everyone else is the same way.

Hell, their decrying of others who get government assistance makes sence in their twisted logic as well, since if others are benifiting from it, it leaves less for them.

If you ever want to know what a republican is guilty of, just check out what they are accusing others of.

[bluethruandthru]

2. Yep, they all hate the government and government programs

unless they need the programs. Their programs are good...a program that helps someone else is bad. Greedy, hypocritical fucks.

[Betty Karlson]

4. What has his religion got to do with it?

From your post, I would gather that the man rather exhibitingly dons himself with his Christian convictions. But the rest of the post only exhibits rather mundane cases of hypocrisy.

Don't get me wrong, hypocrisy is hardly Christian. But I would have liked to understand exactly how a man who opposes charity practices his "brand" of Christianity.

B.K.

[TankLV]

6. His religion has EVERYTHING to do with it - the RELIGIOUS are the bigest fucking HYPOCRITES!!!

but I'm sure you know that already...

[Betty Karlson]

9. Of course I know...

Wasn't it Xeppelt who wrote:

"Nowhere in history are human baseness and the pretention of holiness found in closer connection than in church history"

However, a 1994 study in religious psychology found that hypocrisy was more likely to occur among irregular church-goers than among either regular church goers or people who avoided church altogether.

So it would seem that the man is maybe not that religious after all. Not from a conservative Christian point of view.

And while I shouldn't be doing this, I may actually venture a hypthetical assessment of the man's religious being.

I would assume he is an irregular church-goer, as is about every second American Christian. I would also assume he would describe himself as an evangelical or reborn Christian. The lineair doctrine on sin and absolvation in evangelical theology is extremely fitting to self-excepting individuals. He would probably not read the Bible regularly; and if he does, not all of it in equal measure. He would believe in his minister's sound-bites rather than in the Word of God. The latter is thought-provoking, after all, whereas this man would be annoyed by provocations of his religious beliefs.

I would place him in the "My opinion is the Lord's opinion" crowd if this or most of it were true. If I were him, I would be very worried of using the Lord's name in vain. (But truth be told, I worry about that even without being him.)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

7. It's got a lot to do with it -

he identifies himself as a Christian, there is an assumption that he is living the precepts of his religion - the Golden Rule, for openers, and the admonition to "love thy brother as thyself."

Taking, taking, taking, and then bitching about it isn't terribly Christian.

See?

And enjoy your stay at DU.................

[Betty Karlson]

10. Self-identification versus religion

First of all thank you for welcoming me in your midst.

We couldn't agree more with each other about "taking, bitching" being un-Christian. I am afraid I should have been more specific in my first post in this topic.

I did not mean imply that his religion was not connected to his hypocrisy, I just meant to ask how it was connected, "how it fitted into the equation" if you will. WHAT has his religion got to do with this?

If his hypocrisy is mundane, than his professment of "Christianity" is likely to be superficial. Does he use it as a justification of his hypocrisy, or is it just that his words and actions are at odds with each other? The answer to that question would interest me greatly. In the first case, he would be more likely to be a "soundbite believer"; in the second case a suitable subject for a stern sermon.

[rustydog]

8. Wow, that is easy! Let us visit the teachings of Jesus Christ, Ok?

As you treat the least among you, you treat me?
What else does the Bible espouse that these so-called followers of Christ live their lives by:
Thou shall not covet, thou shall not take the Lord's name in vain. ( It is not cursing, but professing to live according to the word of God, justifying your bad actions in God's name.)


Jesus taught us to help each other and love one another.
This person, who gets very angry when they refer to HIS God as that kind white-haired man in the sky thinks allpeople should raise themselves by their bootstraps and not rely on handouts, they are just weak.
He espouses Christian values but does not live by them.

Does this answer your question?

[Betty Karlson]

12. No, it doesn't

But I very much understand your anger. And I'm sorry you have such a lousy Christian for a co-worker.

If my memory serves me right, it was Kierkegaard who said:
"Whenever I am among unbelievers, I see a thousand reasons to be a Christian. And whenever I am among Christians, I see a thousand reasons to not be one."

(Mind you, I may ascribe the quote to the wrong man.)

[Laelth]

13. Welcome to DU.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. It's what Robert Burns wrote:

"O would some power the giftie gie us to see ourselves as others see us.
(O would some power the gift to give us to see ourselves as others see us.)

Those people, like your charming co-worker, have absolutely no aptitude for self-examination. They lack the gift for introspection, self-criticism, the ability to analyze their actions within a larger context.

They see only themselves. They exist only in their universe, which is comprised of their needs and their WANTS.

In Early Childhood Development, which all good psychologist study, this is known "The Illusion of Central Position." It's how a child survives from birth until around the age of two. The child sees the world only as how it serves to take care of his needs - food, nurturing, comforting, safety, shelter, love.

Once kids hit the age of two, or thereabouts, they begin to relate to the rest of the world, and begin to see themselves as part of a greater organism.

Your co-worker, and those like him, got stuck in The Illusion of Central Position and never developed anything remotely resembling self-awareness........................