On the current Rec list is a diary I won't be silent - this is not Christian. Lot of truth there. People hijack religion just as they do political parties. Christians should speak up when that happens. It is sometimes obvious that speakers are Christian in name only (CINO). Praying some someone's death is a good sign, as is lying to advance the "truth".
But it is a little more complicated that that.
Over on Street Prophets is a diary titled It was my fault. I accept that. I did not read nor understand.
I risk oversimplification by trying to paraphrase a longer argument, especially since I have been on the other side of that argument, so I recommend you read it there.
But how does a believer deal with someone who claims to share the same core belief but reaches radically different solutions? In the case of nut cases who preach at the Third Church of the Holy Ghost on Main Street, it is easy to distance yourself and say, not me, I'm not like him. One can also refer to the "real" religion which you follow and they do not. That lets you off the hook I suppose, but doesn't help those being targeted by your fellow Christians.
It is weak indeed to love the sinner and hate the sin - something that Jesus certainly never preached. Somehow he managed to leave out the but and stop there.
For me the problem is worse. I am a faithful Catholic and have no intention of leaving my Church, no matter what the idiots in nominal charge do. So what do I do when, after half a century of supporting the provision of health care as a basic human right, bishops and Catholic organizations come out strongly against all proposed health care reforms? How can I react when the Church has officially supported labor organizing for more than a century, but fires teachers who mention the word union? My local pastor even preached that someone in "govmint" was going to seize his wireless microphone if he used it to preach the Word of God (he saw it on the Internets).
So what is left? Quietism doesn't work for me. I can't live either my faith or my politics in some private sphere quarantined from the rest of my life. Yet trying to mix politics and religion is destined to cause problems. I canvassed for Obama and spent election day holding a sign on the most prominent street corner in town. There were complaints to my pastor and my wife (who worked for the parish) was in trouble by association.
So do I leave my parish and look for the perfect church? No perfect church would have me. Do I quit organized religion? I am certain that my faith involves community. In a perfect world (or church) we might agree on the end results we wanted but disagree on how to achieve them. In this world, we have to agree on the means as well as the end, or we start shouting at each other.
It is unfair to ask those targeted by so many Christians (let's see...gays, women, most of the world) to keep track of which Christians are OK and which are not, especially since it changes at the drop of a hat.
I don't have a real solution here, but I am reading Rembert Weakland's Pilgrim in a pilgrim church. He writes about taking a vow of obedience and how that troubled him. It was explained that his first obedience was to God, then to his vocation and finally to his monastic superiors. That seems like the start of a solution for me. Well, that and a whole lot of humility (Lord let me achieve humility) when dealing with those I disagree with and those I mostly agree with.