From time to time I am informed on Facebook that I am a bad Christian. That is just fine with me. I believe Jesus wasn’t trying to make us good Christians but good human beings.
The Christianity I fell in love with as a child was not that of Augustine, Luther or Calvin, but the message of universal love I found in Albert Schweitzer and Leo Tolstoy. A religion of love can embrace other religions, science, and even join common cause with Atheists who want to protect humanity from religious intolerance and superstition.
Jesus said, if you are offering your gift at the alter and remember you have wronged someone, leave your gift at the altar and go restore the relationship. (Mt. 5:23-2) To me, that verse implies Jesus was more concerned about reconciliation and social justice than religion and personal righteousness.
If we start with the actual teachings of Jesus, it would be very hard for us to end up as religious fundamentalists. Jesus taught in parables, not dogmas. Parables are a call to deeper understanding, not to unblinking belief. If we are called bad Christians because we question honestly, then so be it. It is the truth that sets us free, not Christian dogma.
Jesus taught a forgiveness that leads to reconciliation not a moralism that leads to ostracism. Jesus said if we forgive others we will be forgiven, period. There is nothing in the teachings of Jesus that calls us to social inquisitions or crusades. Jesus even seemed to prefer the company of his society’s scapegoats over the “righteous” ones doing the finger pointing.
To be healthy, religion must have a strong element of deconstruction about it. An early Christian mystic was asked why he didn’t carry a bible with him. The old Monk responded that the Bible teaches us to sell everything we have and give the money to the poor, so he sold his Bible and gave the money to the poor.
For Jesus, religion seems to have been a vessel to learn and teach love. Religion can be a communal husk to grow the seeds of love, but we must never forget the difference between the husk and the seed. If being good human beings makes us bad Christians, then so be it. When forced to choose between the kind of love Jesus taught and the Christian religion, we should choose love every time.