It Is Hypocrisy That We Hate Above All Other Things

I used to think that, whenever another Christian Minister/Priest/Deacon/Authority was caught molesting yet another little boy, child rape was part and parcel to the brainwashing that accompanies organized religions. That was when I had a much less nuanced understanding of the behaviors and motivations of religious leaders.

Now, I understand that what I (for lack of a better word) enjoy about watching these fuckers fall from grace is the utter hypocrisy of it all. I don't enjoy child rape, and I certainly don't get a kick out of watching repressed, sick men suffer complete moral, ethical, spiritual, and social collapses (anymore). But I do admit that there is a certain schadenfreude to be savored when yet another religious leader buggers yet another innocent child.

Not schadenfreude for the child, of course! All child molesters, religious or not, deserve to have their balls cut off and shoved down their throats while being beaten with a shovel. No exceptions. I'm referring to the schadenfreude one feels when hypocrisy, in all it's ugliness, is exposed. And there is no sweeter hypocrisy than that of the fall of a religious leader.

When someone who professes to follow a specific belief system....nay, not follow, but lead others through a belief system, they carry on their shoulders the weight of history entire. They have much smaller room for error. They must be more than human. They must purge themselves of their own human failings as they strive towards the God ideal. People actually believe they can do this. I've met them (though not recently, thank goodness), particularly in the more rigid belief systems. Successful, non-hypocritical spiritual leaders don't fall into this trap in the first place. But the majority do, and their clock is ticking.

So, when one who dedicates themselves to purging their humanity in order to help others do the same fails, it is a source of pleasure for me. You see, it's not watching a follower of a belief system fail that makes me giggle; that's a given. All followers will fail their own system of belief eventually. It's inevitable; there is no belief system in existence (not one with any followers, anyways) which is set up to be 100% "followable". They are set up to fail the follower, to be an unreachable ideal with the most dire punishments for failure.

But this post is not about failure to follow systems. It's about the hypocrisy in believing you that you even can, that leading people down a failed path makes one a better human, then watching that person explode in plain site. Public failure, public hypocrisy, public downfalls, public collapse. Moral, spiritual, ethical, personal failure, all in full view of your own false leadership, in full view of your sheeple.

You see, when a leader fails, it is always because of something in their environment. Something outside of themselves "made" them sin. It's never their fault. But when a follower fails, it's always due to some internal failing, some innate fault that is an integral part of their humanity. It's always the followers fault for not following the system better, thus "allowing" sin to enter their minds and their lives. It's sick. In cognitive psychology, we call it Fundamental Attribution Error.

A few things brought this post to mind. One, yet another youth minister has been charge with raping children here. While this story is local, you can't go a week without reading at least three similar stories nationwide. Two, modern Christianity is so broken, so fractured, yet continues to gain followers daily. How such a doomed belief system succeeds can only be explained by the enticing allure of the Great Lie perpetuated by the hypocrites who smoke from their own supply. I really don't want to get into that topic right now; there's a book to be written there, and there are many more articulate critics than I who are much further along in the thought process.

It's late. There isn't much time.