I was out with a neighbor, who is a devout Christian, she was driving me to do some errands, as I don't drive. We passed a man begging on the corner, and I wanted to pull over and give him a buck or three. She tsked-tsked at me and refused, asking why do I want to support his bad habits.

I said, who are we to judge what he does with that money? All I know is, Jesus said, whatsoever you do to the least of these, you do to me.

Her reply: He said, the least of these my brethren. This is something a lot of people don't understand. That doesn't mean everyone. That means, other Christians. People who go to church. He's not brethren, he's just some dopehead out on the street and if you support his lifestyle you're as bad as he is.

I was appalled into silence. After a moment the quote ran thru my head, something along the lines of, good people do good and bad people do bad according to their natures -- to make a good person do bad, that takes religion!

I almost got out of the car to walk home. She was doing me a kindness, apparently because she thought I'm Christian. But I don't call myself Christian because I don't want to be associated with the crap they do in God's name -- although I do my best to live by the red letters in the Bible. So by her reasoning, I don't go to church so I shouldn't be in the car with her. But it was cold out and I needed to get groceries. We all do what we have to do.