When did so many (not all) "christians" become hateful psychopaths?

[Zorra]

107. +1. IMO, too many people mistake selfishness, and ruthlessness, as signs of good leadership skills.

"Fundamentalism is the triumph of Paul over Christ."--Will Durant

(Caveat: I do not consider myself to be a Christian, but I'm quite sure that I genuinely understand far more about essential Christianity than any RW fundamentalist christian.)

In the history of Christianity, we see instance after instance, ad nauseum, of murderous, evil, authoritarian sociopaths gaining control of people's minds and actions.

It's basic group dynamics.

Authoritarians take power and control over groups by being selfish, aggressive, and ruthless. Too many people are cowed by by bullies. Instead of standing up to them, they submit. Far too many people are insecure and under confident, and frightened by bullies, and are afraid to challenge their authority. That's why Christ has been usurped by Paul, and why most Democrats won't stand with Occupy to remove the 1% from power. (Occupy recognizes that individual authoritarians will eventually assume control of Occupy if not prevented from doing so. Our fail-safe mechanism for preventing this is our non-wavering insistence on collective leadership. And this is also why so many Democrats have a problem with the collective leadership ideal of Occupy. They need an authority figure, a queen or king, to shepherd them, and cannot conceive of living life without an authoritarian leader.)

IMO, it's the same with fundy Christians, when viewed in the context of material reality vs. the reality of the Christ Consciousness. Instead of recognizing their own metaphysical leadership of the collective, of what is often called the "Body of Christ" ("I am the Vine, you are the Branches&quot , the connection with the Christ consciousness (being "Born Again of the Spirit&quot that exists in each member of the Body, they delegate authority over their beliefs to an authoritarian person, most often a male, - ie Paul, an authoritarian Pope, a Pastor, a Bishop, whatever, and give up their faith and belief in the Spirit of Christ and any possibility of genuine real time interaction with a Living Deity to the authority of flawed, often very egotistical, men, and the Bible. They abandon the "Love of Christ" for the authoritarian material precepts and approval of Saul of Tarsus and his modern day representatives, the interpretation of Paul's words respective to their sect, and what has primarily become Paul's doctrine, the book known as the Christian Bible.

Anyway, that's only my very humble and incomplete POV on this, as someone with maybe too much time on their hands and who has always been interested in history, politics, theology, and metaphysics, as vehicles for attempting to gain a better perspective on the conditions that exist today, and those that may exist in the future.

Why Nice Guys Don't Make It to the Top

The first two experiments found that selfishness and displays of 'out-group hate' - unnecessarily depriving the members of another group - boosted dominance but decreased respect and admiration from others. In contrast, showing in-group love - generously sharing resources with fellow group members - increased respect and admiration but decreased dominance.

The third experiment found that "universalism" - that is, sharing one's resources with both in-group members and outsiders - had the most dire net outcomes on a person's status. The researchers discovered that universal generosity decreased perceptions of both prestige and dominance compared with those who shared resources only with members of their group.

In short, being generous can boost prestige if an individual is selectively generous to his or her own group; this increases respect and admiration from others. However, being selfish or belligerent (unnecessarily harming members of another group) decreases respect and admiration from others but it increases perceptions of personal dominance.

The intriguing consequence is that dominant individuals were more likely than prestigious individuals to be elected as a representative for the group in a mock competition with another group. Thus, being too nice can have negative consequences for leadership.

"For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous." (1 John 3:11-12).

Historical Quotes Concerning Paul and his doctrines from Historians, Philosophers and Theologians:

<<<>>>