There is a radical difference between those who follow Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, and those who seek certainty and power through imposing Imperial Christianity upon the world.
Those who seek to follow the simple teachings of the Sermon on the Mount can find kindred spirits across every religion, philosophy and walk of life. They find no problem in yielding to the new scientific discoveries of their day, nor in including every loving expression of our human family.
Those who lift up Christ as a kind of cosmic dictator are at war with any who do not submit to their understanding. They do not realize their “common sense” is simply privilege made into a sacrament. Sectarian Christians begin by scapegoating Pagans, Muslims, and Jews; but the circle inevitable gets smaller and smaller. Soon they even turn on members of their own group who disagree on some small matter of morals or theology. These wretched souls do not realize the “Christ” they are worshipping is actually their own disguised egos projected and divinized.
The Sermon on the Mount is one culture’s expression of the perennial wisdom, but so is the Dhammapada of Buddhism, the Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism and the Tao Te Ching of Taoism. No one holds the copyright on love. Versions of the same perennial wisdom can be found wherever people seek truth, kindness and the common good.