Am I wrong to have higher expectations of those who proclaim to be "Christians"?

Their beliefs aren’t Christian, they’re tribal. Most religious people have very little knowledge of the tenets of their faith. Atheists on the average know more about Christianity than self-described ‘Christians’.

I attended a conservative Christian college for a year, and, while I’ve never been religious, I was saddened by the apathy and ignorance among the students regarding religion and ethics.

The professors were great. They would work actual Christian values into the courses. For example our Econ 101 professor would ask how economic practices fit with Jesus’ example. The students would sit silent, they had no idea how to answer.

But I think maybe you are wrong to have higher expectations, because human behavior isn’t going to change.

It isn’t, for me, a matter of “higher expectations”, but rather that someone who declares themselves part of a group that is better than anyone else will be held to the standard they declare as necessary for non believers.

You understand the KKK leaders of the past were the southern community’s secular and religious leaders.

Yep. “We do NOT accept Jews, because they REJECT Christ! And their control over the International Banking Cartels are at the root of what we call Communism today. We do not accept Papists, because they bow to a Roman dictator! We do not accept Turks, Mongrels, Tartars, Orientals nor Negroes because we are here to protect Anglo-Saxon Democracy, and the American way! ” Mississippi Burning.

I find it best to expect very little from people and make no assumptions about their beliefs or what I think they should believe. I try not to stereotype people and so think of each person as an individual, not a member of this group or that group.

Maybe you have a way too rosy picture of what “Christianity” is.

No, you’re absolutely correct, though it runs through church history as well.

Well, I was a Christian for most of my life. I’m speaking from an insider’s perspective.

^ I am going to supplant ”Christian” with something with more meat and also more accurate, and say Believers. Erroneously mentioned in earlier post, Believers are no better than secular people, they just been decontaminated making them fit for heaven. It is no error in expecting Christians to behave better, but them which Christians from what other Christians or people? The reason so many saints don’t know because they are not truly saints but ”ain’ts”. [Matthew 7:21]

Well, I was a Christian for most of my life._
Wow man…...wow, speechless to say the lkeasdt. ~~~

Why does that leave you speechless?

Not sure what you are getting at here @Dutchess_III?? The Christians/Catholics I grew up with and know are a very generous, caring benevolent group. Can I ask what caused you to think they were not?

@Dutchess_III Why does that leave you speechless?
Would that not be like me revealing I speak from a perspective of being gay because I discovered I was homosexual in my teens? The venom and malice you have against God and His church makes me wonder how you got that way. Either you never experienced the goodness of God, or if you had and still was able to walk away and go back to where you were before just brings to mind 2 Peter 2:21–22.

Many of the Christians I know are kind too. But the most intolerant and vocal people who are against Muslims and gays and whomever, also profess to be Christians. One woman, older, in particular is the wife of a Catholic minister. They are completely against same sex marriage.

My Mom was raised Catholic. I’ll never forget, when I was about 9, the oldest of 3 girls, Mom got a letter from the church, in the Pacific Northwest where she’d been raised. The letter said they did not recognize her marriage to my dad becasue he’d been married once before, briefly, about 6 months, right out of high school. She was summarily excommunicated.
Mom was so angry! She said, “I’ve been married to this man for 10 years, I have had 4 children with him (one was stillborn) and they don’t RECOGNIZE my marriage?” That was the dumbest damn thing she’d ever heard.
She walked away from the Catholic church at that point.
As an aside, someone had to have “turned her in.”

I can’t have malice against something that doesn’t exist @Hypocrisy_Central. And I certainly bear no ill will against any church, other than Westboro.

The “Christian” pastor chosen by Trump for his inauguration day sermon says he would never vote for a president who follows the teachings of Jesus Christ.

I am not kidding or exaggerating.

The audio is included at the page linked below, as a courtesy, attempting to prevent certain parties from embarrassing themselves crying “fake news!”

Robert Jeffress his own words:

“You know, I was debating an evangelical professor on NPR and this professor said, ‘Pastor, don’t you want a candidate who embodies the teaching of Jesus and would govern this country according to the principles found in the Sermon on the Mount?’ I said, ‘Heck no.’ I would run from that candidate as far as possible, because the Sermon on the Mount was not given as a governing principle for this nation.”

Wow.

Pastor Jeffress is a wise man….

”“Nowhere is government told to forgive those who wrong it, nowhere is government told to turn the other cheek. Government is to be a strongman to protect its citizens against evildoers. When I’m looking for somebody who’s going to deal with ISIS and exterminate ISIS, I don’t care about that candidate’s tone or vocabulary, I want the meanest, toughest, son of a you-know-what I can find, and I believe that’s biblical.””

I like the Pope a lot, too.

Some of the kindest, most gentle, and most wonderful people I’ve known have been Christians.

And some of the most selfish, abusive, angry and hostile people I’ve known have been Christians.

@Darth_Algar Sadly can’t think of any religion that is immune from your assessment.

What’s scary is when the selfish, abusive, angry and hostile people band together and make their own church.

I don’t expect more from people who say they are Christian. I do point out to them when they are being hypocrites when I think they are doing something that hurts other people. When it doesn’t hurt others I don’t care, because generally I’m fine with people interpreting or using their religion how it suits them.

@Cruiser Do you call yourself a Christian?

Yes, it is. Christians are a group of people that follow a faith and are trying to be better people. Not all succeed. I’ve met good and rotten Christians and good and rotten atheists.

Only if they wear their religion on their shirtsleeve. If you claim that your faith makes you better than or holier than me then you had better be so.

No. One of the main agendas of Christianity is love and peace among people, charity and forgiveness. That is what is expected of people who call themselves Christians, but alas…

@Call_Me_Jay No I do not. Why do you ask?

I asked because endorsing a minister who rejects Christ would be an odd stance for a Christian.

In hindsight I am sorry I asked, because it was unnecessarily personal.