Hypocrisy as a worldview: How evangelicals ignore their god’s direct commands

Hypocrisy is an endemic part of evangelicalism. All evangelicals are hypocrites, at least going by the official meaning of the term. In other words, they all behave in ways that run counter to the ideals they espouse. Evangelicals’ roadmaps are broken, so they cannot ever travel from Point Conversion to Point Good Christian Rule-Follower.

But evangelicals break rules that run far deeper than simple commands about not doing various things. Their entire worldview often runs counter to Jesus’ direct commands to them. Their hypocrisy amounts to their entire perception of themselves and their relationship to the people around them. When the hypocrisy is baked that deeply and set that firmly, how do evangelicals rationalize it? How do they see themselves as basically good Christians when they are anything but that? Today, we’ll take a ride through the evangelical psyche to get some answers.

(This post went live on Patreon on 2/20/2024. Its audio ‘cast lives there too!)

Hypocrisy in Christianity, defined

Generally, people commit hypocrisy when they say they’re following a particular rule or moral standard, but they’re really not. They’re breaking it. In Christianity, the Bible’s writers often depict Jesus railing against hypocrisy—and hypocrisy itself as one of the signs of someone who isn’t exactly sincere about their proclaimed faith.

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” [Matthew 6:1; Jesus speaking]

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. [Matthew 7:1-5; Jesus speaking]

Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? [Romans 2:3]

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. [2 Thessalonians 3:6]

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. [Titus 1:16]

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. [James 1:26]

Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. [2 Timothy 3:5]

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. [1 John 4:20]

So there’s no shortage of New Testament criticisms of hypocrisy in general.

Despite the overflowing well of criticisms of it, though, Christians have never managed to live according to their own rules and ideals. From the very first days of the newbie religion, outsiders criticized Christians for their hypocrisy. We even see hints of misbehavior all through the books of the New Testament. Just look at the tale of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5! Though it’s clearly a cautionary tale and clearly never really occurred, its depiction of hypocritical Christians must have rung true to whoever wrote it down around 200 CE, and to those who encountered it. If it’d described Christians in a way that sounded completely out of the realm of experience, it wouldn’t have made it into Acts in the first place.

Just think about that for a second: Uncial 0189, the literal oldest bit of parchment we have of the New Testament (not the oldest writing, just the oldest on parchment), was written around 200 CE. It contains Acts 5:3-21. And in that oldest bit of parchment Christians have containing their mythology, it talks about Ananias and Sapphira, two Christians whose hypocrisy was so bad that Yahweh himself struck them down for it.

Ya know, back when I believed Jesus allowed certain old manuscripts to survive for some divine reason, that would have made quite an impact on me if I’d known it.

We see similar examples of early Christian hypocrisy in the Book of Revelation, of course. All but one of the churches the writer addressed were hypocrites to one degree or another. But specific hypocrites catch the attention better, don’t they?

And now, all those boring rules the Bible lays upon Christians

Last time we met up, I mentioned a set of Bible verses that give evangelicals a list of very specific behavioral instructions, 1 Thessalonians 14:22. I’m going to begin the quote a bit earlier, though. Here’s the list starting with verse 9:

For God has not appointed us to suffer wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing.

But we ask you, brothers, to acknowledge those who work diligently among you, who preside over you in the Lord and give you instruction. In love, hold them in highest regard because of their work. Live in peace with one another.

And we urge you, brothers, to admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with everyone.

Make sure that no one repays evil for evil. Always pursue what is good for one another and for all people.

Rejoice at all times. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Do not extinguish the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt, but test all things. Hold fast to what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. [1 Thessalonians 9-22]

This isn’t the only set of rules Christians must follow, of course! Many others exist as well:

• The so-called “Love Chapter” found in 1 Corinthians 13. Evangelicals recite these rules at their weddings. Then, they forget them forever after.
• Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” starting in Matthew 5. In it, Jesus advises that he’ll bless the meek, the poor in spirit, the mourners, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, etc.
• The stuff in Romans 12 about what others should be able to perceive in Christians who are walking the walk, so to speak. It’s like the Love Chapter, but more geared toward how Christian groups should operate. Among other exhortations, its writer commands Christians to “detest what is evil,” He also tells Christians to be generous, patient, and peaceful with each other.
• The Book of James in general. He talks a lot about the value of faith and perseverance. He also admonishes Christians to avoid being angry.

I’m probably forgetting others here. But this is a good start. 

Uncoupling observable results from behavior leads straight to hypocrisy

Generally speaking, all of the rules mentioned have an external component. For instance, James 1:26-27 gives some specific guidelines about what it looks like when Christians follow their own rules:

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. [James 1:26-27]

We can consider this like a little checklist. That last bit is nebulous and subjective, but the rest is good. A good Christian:

• Doesn’t speak in anger
• Cares for orphans and widows

Similarly, Romans 12 offers a checklist that anyone should be able to translate into real-world, observable behavior:

• Be loyal and devoted to your fellow Christians.
• Maintain a good level of fervor.
• Be optimistic and patient, no matter how bad the circumstances or how mean others might be.
• Share with your fellow Christians. Be hospitable (which means sharing your home and comforts).
• Never seek vengeance. Do not display pride or conceitedness. 
• Look for a win-win in every conflict.
• Overcome your enemies with your sheer Jesusy goodness. Feed them if they’re hungry; give them a drink if they’re  thirsty.

I could go on and on here, too, but hopefully I’ve made my point:

There exists a best-case Christianity wherein members strive to produce these outward marks of their inward faith.

And that kind of Christianity is completely, utterly, and without question foreign to today’s evangelicals as a group. Worse than that, it is detestable to them.

But evangelicals ignore all of these annoying, boring orders

We’ve talked before about how evangelicals hand-wave away what they call sins. Sins are simply offenses against their god. They may or may not victimize others or even the people committing the sins, but Jesus gets cranky about them.

What we’re dealing with here today, however, goes far past sinfulness. We’re not talking about evangelicals breaking a rule they know is a rule or not doing what they know they should. Both of those examples do illustrate hypocrisy, of course, but let’s look deeper.

No, we’re talking here about the way that evangelicals square all these orders from their god with their entire hypocritical worldview.

We’re talking about how evangelicals can be the direct, physical embodiment of the phrase “cruelty is the point” (archive) and still be certain that they are nailing correct Jesusing. (Pun sorta intended.)

Evangelicals can see all those constant exhortations to feed the hungry in their Bibles, yet they still support the evangelical-pandering Republicans who wish to demolish all social safety nets for the poor (archive). At weddings, they piously nod along with a recitation of the “Love Chapter,” then rush right out to further stigmatize LGBT kids and stiff low-wage workers who rely on tips to survive. In church each Sunday, they sing about the love of their god for all people, then express vicious racism (archive) toward people they obviously view as dangerous inferiors (archive). 

When they read C.S. Lewis’ famous description of the worst, most evil tyranny imaginable, they cheer—and spring the weirdest C.S. Lewis boner I’ve ever encountered:

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

But they never, ever imagine—not even in their wildest dreams—that Lewis perfectly describes modern evangelicals here.

This is baked-in hypocrisy: Too deep to dig out, too acidic to approach, too diseased to recover

Evangelicals regard nothing described above as sinful. They’ve done nothing requiring repentance or forgiveness. They think they’re Jesusing just as Jesus commanded. Even their vehement opposition to human rights (archive) comes from their grotesque mischaracterization of biblical literalism and inerrancy, both of which they view as essential for proper Jesusing. 

This is why they can completely ignore and hand-wave away all criticism from outsiders. It’s not like there’s some shortage of such criticism, especially in recent years! Especially after evangelicals began slobbering on Donald Trump’s knob, heathens began to raise potent criticisms of evangelical hypocrisy.

• Pete Buttigieg in April 2019 (archive): “It’s something that really frustrates me because the hypocrisy is unbelievable.”
• George Cassidy Payne for KRWG in January 2020 (archive): “To cheer the killing of another human being may make good political sense, but it is not an act of Christian duty and it would not have pleased Christ.”
• Nathaniel Manderson for Salon in March 2023 (archive): “Generally speaking, the evangelical church is a place of loud, angry, judgmental and biblically-illiterate self-worship.”
• [A big gesture toward basically my entire body of work, 2013-2024.]

And none of it matters to the evangelicals who most need to heed it. To those evangelicals, we’re idiots. We don’t understand Jesus or Jesusing at all. In their view, we’re trying to dictate how they should Jesus, when we know nothing about it ourselves. They’d sooner take Jesusing tips from Satan himself.

And for those who suspect they have done exactly that, well, I’d agree. Within the confines of their mythology, that is exactly what would need to happen for evangelicals to be this soul-scorched of basic decency and compassion for others. The worst, most cruel people I’ve ever met have been evangelicals who think they are the very picture of love and kindness. (Outside of those confines, though, Satan is obviously the hero of the entire Bible franchise.)

So how do evangelicals deal with that baked-in hypocrisy?

I could be playful here and just quip that they don’t. But you know me. I’d never leave you hanging that way. There’s a reason why they don’t, and that reason matters.

An entire process played out here to bring evangelicals to their current sorry state of hypocrisy. Without each step in the process being completed, they would not be who they are now.

FIRST. 
Evangelical leaders needed to lose their powers of retaliation against hypocrites and rule-breakers. The flocks in general had to lose any power to hold anyone else accountable for anything. Remember the classic novel, The Scarlet Letter? Well, pastors can’t do that stuff to rulebreakers anymore, and neither can their most hypocritical flocks. We’ve got laws protecting people’s rights against religious overreach. Not only that, but Americans move around a lot. Even living in the same area, they may church-hop many times in their lives. There’s just not a way for pastors and control-hungry committee leaders to maintain control over any congregants who want to leave.

(One important method of stripping retaliatory powers from evangelicals has been their refusal to acknowledge any one authority figure to set rules for their end of Christianity. It’s hilarious to me that converted evangelicals in Catholicism are currently doing the same thing to the Pope that they were doing to opposing pastors as Protestants.)

SECOND.
Evangelicals as a group needed to disconnect observable results from their beliefs. I don’t think they did this purely to get away with blatant hypocrisy. It may also have helped them reconcile the abysmal results of prayer with the Bible’s promises about it. Thanks to this disconnect, what evangelicals believe about themselves now has no relationship whatsoever with reality. And they’re the only ones who don’t recognize that there’s a disconnect at all there.

THIRD.
Evangelicals needed to redefine a large number of words and phrases to allow them to be their very worst selves and still consider themselves loving, kind, compassionate, etc. Gosh, y’all, what could possibly be more loving than denying hungry, impoverished schoolchildren a nourishing lunch no matter what? Really, we all ought to thank evangelicals for their dogged opposition to school lunch programs! They’re keeping kids from getting all dependent-like on the state! 

And then evangelicals get all surprised-Pikachu-face when nobody buys their pathetic attempt to redeem their tainted brand with a billion-dollar ad campaign.

This 3-part process works for evangelicals suffering from dysfunctional authoritarianism, the ones who want to attain enough power to mistreat others with impunity. It ensures that they won’t even need to work to get that power. Through a few simple steps, they can step along to the victory podium—and immediately start indulging their most evil, most cruel desires. 

How that hypocrisy plays out nowadays

What a sorry state of affairs. Evangelicals have redefined what love and goodness even mean. They’ve severed any path to accountability for their behavior. They’ve uncoupled observable behavior from their beliefs. All of it means that they can Jesus in any way they want, and nobody can tell them they’re Jesusing wrong. Their beliefs are self-contained and self-perpetuating.

This is how we can have dozens, even hundreds of different evangelical groups that all have their own opinions about how to Jesus correctly. Some evangelicals are downright progressive and supportive of human rights (archive). Most aren’t, but differ in the exact redefinitions they use or what they think proper Jesusing should look like in lived reality. Some reject the racism and anti-gay/bi bigotry, but cling onto the anti-abortion views, for example. (I’ve run into a lot of deconstructed evangelical men who clearly have no idea why evangelicals became “pro-life” in the first place after being supportive of abortion for decades.)

Ah, well. They’re all the same in one way, at least:

Not one person in any of these groups has any ability to force any other Christian or group to accept their own quirky li’l take on Jesusing. For every single evangelical who thinks they’ve figured out how the perfect way to Jesus, there are a dozen others who think that person is Jesusing all wrong—and can support their opinions with Bible verses and “the original Greek and Hebrew.”

As always, the surest sign that Jesus doesn’t exist is the behavior of his most fervent followers.

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