High Noon vs Easy Rider
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As for [Jesus Christ's] philosophy, as attributed to him in the gospels, I find it abhorrent. It amounts to an all-out assault on the virtue of justice, replacing it by the alleged virtue of mercy.
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Understandable position.
The Left can interpret such a principle to mean inaction and submission, which is anathema when faced with social injustices; the Right can interpret the principle to mean unacceptable tolerance towards those who do wrong, hence rendering human law, as we know it, irrelevant.
Note, however, that there is a different implication of the principle of piety/mercy, in recognition of human frailty and nature. By seeking justice, in human terms, Man will usually, if not always, commit evil acts: national justice means slaughtering others, personal justice means personal violence -physical or otherwise-, social justice means oppression of one class by another, moral justice means punishing those that do not abide by the majority's norms, and so on.
Jesus, or perhaps more accurately that fellow known as Peter, who created the Christian Church, suggests instead a radical departure from the notions of justice and stepping back from "all that" ephemera in order to (re)capture Man's possibilities for thinking, for understanding, for a clearer path to Truth as we can know it -- all of which He called "closer to thee", etc.
The mysticism inherent in Christian religion is only due to temporal circumstances. I do not believe in a notion of God or supreme divinity, especially as propagated by organised religions, but I know a good thing when I see it.
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