“The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, and then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle.  That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable” – Brennan Manning

I am sure there are plenty of people in this world who look to philosophical and theological arguments to account for their rejection of God, but I believe that the biggest cause for people giving up on God, Jesus, or the church can be summed up in one word:  hypocrisy (with unjust suffering a close second).  There is no greater opponent to God than hypocritical Christians, no bigger turn-off to the world than a church who claims to follow Jesus but shows no love for their neighbor. 

Perhaps this is why Jesus reserved his harshest criticism for the religious leaders of his day.  I’ve been looking over the past few weeks at some of Jesus’ slams of the Pharisees in Matthew 23, and it is especially noteworthy that he begins each diss this way – “woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites.”  Remember that Jesus spoke Aramaic, and the New Testament was written in Greek, so it can be instructive to check out what certain words meant in their original context.  The word “hypocrite” referred to an actor on a stage, one who is playing a part, pretending to be someone he is not.  Jesus takes this word and brings it into the religious arena, forever labeling religious types who pretend to be holy, loving people when the reality is far from it as hypocrites.  For an example of what Jesus meant, check out Matthew 23:25-28:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.  “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Both criticisms highlight the same offense – the religious leaders of Jesus day were far more concerned with appearing holy, clean, and righteous than actually being that way on the inside.  In Jesus’ excellent analogy, they were like “whitewashed tombs,” beautiful on the outside but full of dead man’s bones on the inside.  They appeared righteous and saintly, but in reality were full of greed and self-indulgence, hypocrisy and wickedness.  They claimed to be speaking for God, but their actions were driving many people away from Him.

The temptation to pretend to be righteous has never really gone away.  There is still the temptation to dress up in your Sunday best and do your best to appear perfect and together, while the reality is far from pretty.  The temptation for religious leaders is to appear holy and righteous and to hide any hint of immorality.  It is far too easy for a Christian to act, to pretend, to play a part, to be the hypocrite.  And nothing will turn someone off from God like a church full of hypocrites.

This weekend, I read a phenomenally powerful and disturbing column that illustrates how damaging hypocrisy in the church is to people’s relationship to God.  It was written by William Lobdell and appeared in the Saturday’s Los Angeles Times (thanks to Todd Rhoades at mondaymorninginsight.com - the top religious blog around, in my opinion - for the link).  Lobdell became a Christian in 1989, and was so offended by the mainstream media’s portrayal of Christians as nuts or simpletons that he lobbied his editors at the Times to let him write a weekly religious column about faith in Orange County.  His hope was “to report objectively and respectfully about how belief shapes people’s lives,” and he was finally given the chance in 1997.  Four years later, he found himself investigating and reporting regularly on the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal, and was deeply disturbed at the level to which the diocese had gone to protect known molesters and hide their crimes.  In one prominent example, a priest who was also a high school principal had confessed to molesting a student to church officials, but was sent to a treatment center and was eventually allowed to continue working as a priest despite a psychological report which revealed that he was attracted to adolescents and had likely molested multiple boys (his case eventually settled in 2001, with the molested student receiving $5.2 million from the church).

Unfortunately, Lobdell found that the hypocrisy was not confined to the Catholic Church.  He saw former Mormons being ostracized by other Mormons, who were being taught to disassociate themselves so as to not contaminate their faith.  He also spent a long time investigating Trinity Broadcasting Network, a Christian television network that convinces its viewers that if they send money to the network, then God will repay them with great riches and good health.  Lobdell interviewed countless people who had gone into debt or lost their faith trusting that message, while TBN televangelists like Paul and Jan Crouch and Benny Hinn lived in multi-million dollar mansions, flew $20 million corporate jets, ate lavish meals, and stayed in five-star hotels wherever they went (all paid for with tax-free donor money, of course).  The last straw for Lobdell was watching a court rule against an unemployed mother who was trying to get increased child support for her sickly 12-year old son from the boy’s father, a priest who had impregnated her while in seminary.   The priest, who had never seen or spoken with his son, had an attorney paid for by his religious order who convinced the judge that because of his vow of poverty, child-support laws should not apply to him.  After eight years of seeing firsthand how hypocritical religious leaders can be, William Lobdell decided to give up not only his religious column but his faith in God as well. 

Now, admittedly, all of these examples are stories of human beings who disobeyed God’s commands to love their neighbor and show compassion and mercy on people, so it would be improper to place the blame on God.  But try telling a thirty year-old man who has been molested by a priest to whom he looked up to as God’s representative on earth to put his trust in God.  Or try telling a 20 year-old man in kidney failure who has gone off dialysis in faith that God will heal him at a Benny Hinn conference only to get worse that God is good.  Try telling someone who has seen church leaders treat those under their care like worthless dogs that the church is your family.  There is no doubt that a huge obstacle to faith in God in this world is hypocritical Christians.

At the heart of the Christian message is this truth, as put so eloquently by the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 1:15:  Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners– of whom I am the worst.  I am under no illusion as to who I really am – a person capable of Pharisee-like wickedness and hypocrisy, but in whom the redeeming power of Jesus Christ is working to transform me into a person of love, mercy, and integrity.  I am sure that my actions will contradict my ideals and standards many times before I die, and despite my best intentions, there will be people who will see me as a hypocrite.  But I have learned that the best antidote to hypocrisy is this:  stop pretending to be someone you are not.  Stop playing the part of the righteous, together Christian.  Stop acting and just be who you are before God and the world.  Only then will people recognize how foolish it is to put their trust in us or any other human being, and give their allegiance to the only One who can make something beautiful and good out of such a hypocritical group of people.

The single greatest cause of atheism is hypocritical Christians.  Perhaps the greatest cause of faith would be authentic, flawed Christians through whom the captivating, redeeming, and transformative love of Jesus Christ is displayed.

We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us - 2 Corinthians 4:7

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