Jesus Christ was a born to an unwed mother. He was a social deviant, going against the laws of both political and religious leaders to spread his message. He was a Middle Eastern Jewish man under Roman rule. He spent time with sex workers and pagans and people with disabilities, was sympathetic to Samaritans, and he blessed the poor and the sick. He was vehemently against hypocrisy, and he treated everyone equally.

Even people who don’t identify as Christian can agree that the message of Jesus Christ is a fundamentally great one. Jesus preached about serving others. Placing people above yourself is the main goal; that’s the best way to reach them, after all. Loving other regardless of what their stories were was much more important than interpreting irrelevant laws from religious texts. In Christianity, Jesus put all the rules of the Old Testament to rest and said the second most important commandment after serving God was to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39, NIV).

Two thousand years on, scholars are still locked in heated debate over various translations of the Bible and what should really be part of Christian theology and what else has been grossly mistranslated. However, there is no dispute over “love your neighbor as yourself.” That thought isn’t even strictly Christian. Variations of it appear in plenty of other religions. That being said, Jesus was not a political figure intentionally, but his actions had political consequences, and his actions relied on that simple message: love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus went against the status quo and made enemies because of it. He reached out to the most oppressed and downtrodden groups and instilled hope in them. Scolding others was reserved for hypocrites and people who thought themselves to be superior. Jesus was, in a word, radical. Christians should be the same.

It’s hard to make a modern day comparison for Jesus. Many go about saying he’s a socialist hippie, and while it’s an amusing idea, it’s hard to translate him that simply, since the context of ancient Rome is vastly different from the context of the modern world (which also varies greatly depending on which culture in the modern world is being discussed). However, his very simple message of serving others is easily transferrable to today, and yet, it seems that it’s become lost with time and the rise and global prominence of Christianity.

In some parts of the world, Christianity is just as much of a persecuted religious minority as it was during the times of Roman Empire, but in others, mostly the West, it serves as the domineering force. Instead of being a religion of serving others, it’s become a weapon used in a game of asserting one’s self-righteousness over everyone else. Of course, it goes without saying that this isn’t a universal trait found and each and every Christian, but those who use their religion with disregard for others unfortunately make their way to the forefront.

By that I mean Christians who celebrate when another Planned Parenthood closes, ignoring the fact that Planned Parenthood primarily helps people with their sexual health and with conception, and ignoring the contexts that many people need abortions find themselves in.

I mean Christians who constantly fight to keep their religious liberties just as hard as they fight to remove Islam from this nation.

I mean Christians who preach love and tolerance as an essential part of their religion, but push back on a lesbian couple trying to marry, telling them they’re sick and disgusting all the while.

I mean Christians who say God doesn’t make mistakes and loves all His children while accusing transgender people of being sexual predators and treating them as though they are fundamentally inferior.

I mean Christians who donate money to help the poor but turn their noses up when the working class demands better pay and won’t take into consideration how difficult it is to leave the snare of poverty.

I mean Christians who would rather blame bouts of physical and mental illness and disabilities as a result of moral failings than getting genuine help for their loved ones.

I mean Christians who twist the words of the Bible to maintain a frame where a man rules the household and can do no wrong.

I write this not out of malice for the Christian faith, but as a plea from someone who was born and raised in the Church and was terribly hurt and disillusioned by its hypocrisy. Jesus never spoke with condescension or judgement, because Jesus was firm in his belief that the way to change others was not through the standard I’m right-you’re wrong attitude so many find themselves encompassed in, but rather through unconditional love and the ability to believe that all are equal in the eyes of God.

Using one’s faith to suppress other people’s actions that harm no one else isn’t what Jesus preached. Western Christians are extremely fortunate to be of the religious majority, but it’s also important to remember that Jesus wasn’t, and that he, instead of being indignant about it, made his life about helping the outcasts and anyone who came to him. That’s what being Christlike is all about, and it’s time for Western Christians to look past the comfort of their church and embrace that simple message. Jesus broke the religious status quo by associating with various social groups ostracized from the rest of the respectable, religious society. When will Christians do the same?