[eeeeeeeeeeeee]

I completely agree. And considering forgiveness is such a core tenant of Christianity, it's surprising that people call the U.S. a Christian nation. Our use of capital punishment is also bizarre when you factor in the religious component. Or the utter lack of care for the poor.

And I'm not saying religion should influence our laws, but I find the hypocrisy astounding when the far right in this country is hell-bent on pushing their religious beliefs into our laws and government policies (abortion, birth control, marriage, etc).

[micaksica]

> I find the hypocrisy astounding when the far right in this country is hell-bent on pushing their religious beliefs into our laws and government policies (abortion, birth control, marriage, etc).

While I have met many Christians in America that do live by their beliefs, I have found the majority of these self-professed "Christians" I have met are simply using the term as a tribal banner in which to wage a cultural war that enriches them and continues their evolutionary propagation at the expense of those that are not of the typical WASP voting bloc. The Christian doctrine of acceptance and tolerance appears long lost, and this same bigoted crowd often seems to be those that wonder why it is many people have turned to secularism.

Those wishing extreme "punishment" on those we incarcerate -- and are supposed to rehabilitate -- are wishing to play the role of the God of the Old Testament, not follow the teachings of their messiah.

[sfrailsdev]

Maybe, but Martin Luther King Jr. was a reverend, and I have friends who attend GLBT or African American Churches that I'd never call part of the religious right. And even within the right, there are lots of different types of people.

I am not super informed about Christianity in America, but it strikes me as a topic more complex and nuanced then your words might suggest you believe, and as a group more varied then you seem to have experienced.

[nsxwolf]

I am Christian that does not claim the US is a Christian nation for precisely the reason you describe - forgiveness simply isn't an American value. We value punishment, stigmatization, and maintaining their permanence via information technology.

We only forgive when it's convenient or necessary - thus Apple's hypocrisy in hiring an abusive misogynist like Dr. Dre, with Tim Cook issuing a statement that more honestly should have read "This is a multi billion dollar deal, damnit! It needs to happen so you WILL forgive him!"

[BinaryIdiot]

> the far right in this country is hell-bent on pushing their religious beliefs into our laws and government policies (abortion, birth control, marriage, etc).

To be fair I know many conservatives who are atheists who still have issues with abortion and one of them even with birth control. True it's typically a religious set of ideas that guide those groups but I would hesitate to say it's all of them.

[kajjffkk]

> Or the utter lack of care for the poor.

In the United States, compared to all countries I know of, there is huge aggregate care for the poor on the private individual, NFP organization, state and federal level.

The baseline quality of life, again relatively speaking, is enormous even if your income is below the federal poverty line. The environment is great, services “just work", and people are generally pretty friendly.

I think its ok to focus on the shortcomings because you can then improve them. But relatively speaking, I couldnt think of a better place to be poor.

[stolsvik]

Check out Scandinavia..

[ausvisaissues]

> And considering forgiveness is such a core tenant of Christianity,

In civilization, individual members give up the right for revenge to the state, who punishes perpetrators. Individuals may forgive a perpetrator, but that doesn't mean he/she should not be punished by the state.

Compare this with societies with practices such as qisas or blood money: if an individual (or family) forgives a perpetrator, they are not punished.

Having the government punishing people and the main religion stopping revenge cycles is a really good system!

Furthermore, the USA is lenient in sentencing and family are forging towards convicts. Compare this to Asian countries (such as Japan). In Japan, parents will break off all ties to their children if they are sentenced for a crime -- even a fairly minor one.

Try to do some petty vandalism or other anti-social behaviour in Japan, Korea or Singapore and compare the result with the result in the US.

[selimthegrim]

Downsides of qisas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Allen_Davis_incident

[rblatz]

That's reads more like spies doing spy stuff with other spies. The guy was going to get out of it anyway, but blood money was the most politically sensitive way for the US and Pakistan to deal with the issue.

[zhemao]

On the other hand, those countries have very low crime rates and incarceration rates, so ...

[nicklaf]

According to René Girard, the defining characteristic of Christianity is the end of sacrificial violence against scapegoats.

So yes, it would make sense for a truly Christian nation to show far greater compassion than do Christian conservatives, who would have us believe that the United States was founded on Christian principles.